LONE AND WEARY.

Deid winter’s nūt sa dark to me As t’ lang leet days o’ t’ spring;— I hate to see a swallow flee, Or hear a throssle sing; I greàn at t’ fresh green leaves on t’ trees; I turn frae t’ flooers o’ May, For t’ croft was white wid dog-daisies When Jwohn was teàn away. We coortit lang, dud Jwohn an’ me— We waitit lang an’ sair— He thowte oor weddin’ mūdn’t be While beàth war poor an’ bare; An’ sep’rat’, I gat past my prime, Jwohn barrow-back’t an’ grey;— Reet sair I grudg’t that wastit time, When Jwohn was teàn away. Jwohn pinch’t an’ spar’t, an’ tew’t an’ streàv, Till t’ heart wid-in him brak’— Still aimin’ brass aneuf to seàv, Some lal bit farm to tak’: An’ when he’d gitten t’ farm an’ me, ’Twas plain he mūdn’t stay;— He dwined through t’ winter dark an’ dree— I’ t’ spring was teàn away. We may’d hed many a happy year, If thowte to t’ winds we’d flung, An’ join’t oor strength life’s leàd to beear, When beàth war lish an’ yūng: But widdert was oor flooer o’ life Afoor oor weddin’ day; An’ I’d nūt been ya year a wife When Jwohn was teàn away. Sooa t’ spring o’ life na sūmmer browte, To my poor man or me; An’ t’ spring o’ t’ year noo brings me nowte But t’ mind o’ misery. I can’t see what anudder sees I’ t’ fields an’ t’ flooers o’ May, For t’ croft was white wid dog-daisies When Jwohn was teàn away.