Classic Poem

'Twer when the op'nen dawn wer still,
I took alone the road up hill
Toward the eastern sky, in gloom,
Or touch'd wi' peälest primrwose bloom;
An' there the moon at mornen-break,
Though not a-lost, did glimmer weäk,
An' aïr a-fresh'nen up did pass
All vaïceless over darksome grass,
Avore the zun had now begun
To dazzle down the mornen moon.

By Maÿcreech knap did sleep the cows
Below the ash-tree's nodden boughs,
An' foam did vall vrom block to block
O' mossy stwone down Burncleeve rock,
By poplar trees a-grown so slim
'S a veather, by the stream's green brim,
As down toward the mill, that stood
A-darken'd off below the wood,
The ramblen brook vrom nook to nook
Did glide below the mornen moon.

Where mother's hillzide house did stand,
Noo soul did stir wi' voot or hand;
Noo smoke above the tun did ream,
Noo wink above the well wid scream,
Noo ceäsement open'd out to catch
The aïr below the oves o' thatch,
Nor down avore her tidy vloor
Did open back her heavy door;
An' there the hatch wi' clicken latch
Stood vast below the mornen moon.

An' she that there, so good an' kind,
Awoke to thought my childhood's mind,
Did long outsheen in love an' greäce
All other souls about the pleäce.
But now my wife to heart an' zight
Do seem a-come a vuller light;
An' as the zun, a-come in view,
Do dim the moon vrom peäle to blue,
My comely bride do seem to hide
My mother, now my mornen moon.

But still 'tis wrong that men should slight
By day the midnight's weaker light,
That show'd us, though its gleams wer dim,
Where roads had risk ov life or limb.
An' though the day my wife ha' meäde
Mid sheen in jaÿ 'ithout a sheäde,
So long's my life shall hold in flight,
By zunsped day an' moonsky'd night,
Still never let my heart vorget
My mother, now my mornen moon.