THE primrose in the sheade do blow, The cowslip in the zun, The thyme upon the down do grow, The clote where streams do run; An' where do pretty maidens grow An' blow, but where the tow'r Do rise among the bricken tuns, In Blackmwore by the Stour. If you could zee their comely gait, An' pretty feaces' smiles, A-trippen on so light o' waight, An' steppen off the stiles; A-gwain to church, as bells do swing An' ring 'ithin the tow'r, You'd own the prettymaidens' pleace Is Blackmwore by the Stour. If you vrom Wimborne took your road, To Stower or Paladore, An' all the farmers' housen show'd Their daughters at the door; You'd cry to bachelors at hwome -- "Here, come: 'ithin an hour You'll vind ten maidens to your mind, In Blackmwore by the Stour." An' if you look'd 'ithin their door, To zee em in their pleace, A-doen housework up avore Their smilen mother's feace; You'd cry -- "Why, if a man would wive An' thrive, 'ithout a dow'r, Then let en look en out a wife In Blackmwore by the Stour." As I upon my road did pass A school-house back in May, There out upon the beaten grass Wer maidens at their play; An' as the pretty souls did tweil An' smile, I cried, "The flow'r O' beauty, then, is still in bud In Blackmwore by the Stour." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLNEY HYMNS: 49. JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING by WILLIAM COWPER EPIGRAM: 27. THE FRUIT by THOMAS WYATT CHRIST TO HIS SPOUSE by WILLIAM BALDWIN PSALM 39, VERSE 4 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE YOUTH AND KNOWLEDGE by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE WALL by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN TO A WILD BEE by MARY ANN BROWNE A CHILD'S GRACE AT FLORENCE; A.A.E.C. by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |