1-28-2013

The Clote (Water-Lily)

"O zummer clote! when the brook's a-gliden

So slow an' smooth down his zedgy bed,

Upon they broad leaves so seafe a-riden

The water's top wi' thy yollow head,

By alder sheades, O, 

An' bulrush beds, O,

Thou then dost float, goolden zummer clote!

The grey-bough'd withy's a leanen lowly

Above the water thy leaves to hide;

The benden bulrush, a-swayen slowly,

Do skirt in zummer thy river's zide;

An' perch in shoals, O,

Do vill the holes, O,

Where thou dost float, goolden zummer clote!

Oh! when they brook-drinken flow'r's a-blowen,

The burnen zummer's a-zetten in;

The time o' greenness, the time o' mowen,

When in the hay-vield, wi' zunburnt skin,

The vo'k do drink, O,

Upon the brink, O,

Where thou dost float, goolden zummer clote!

Wi' earms a-spreaden, an cheaks a-blowen,

How proud wer I when I vu'st could swim

Athirt the deep pleace where thou bist growen,

Wi thy long more vrom the bottom dim;

While cows, knee-high, O,

In brook, wer nigh, O, 

Where thou dost float, goolden zummer clote!

Ov all the brooks drough the meads a-winden,

Ov all the meads by a river's brim,

There's nwone fo feair o' my own heart's vinden 

As where the maidens do zee thee zwim,

An' stan to teake, O,

Wi' long-stemm'd reake, O,

Thy flow'r afloat, goolden zummer clote!"

-William Barnes--

Do not seek me in the arm-chair, with the keys upon my lap, and the Dandelion tea untasted on the table. I am not here. Oh no, I am not here. I am on the other side of sleep, tumbling in the warm undertow, gone, gone, gone, going, gone. I am amidst the clover, and the scent of hyacinths, and the drowsy emeralds of midsummer in the meadow, of midsummer in the glade. If you wish to find me, to meet me, to join me--oh how I hope you will join me!--you must come to the place where the June birds sing; you must settle yourself down in the dappled dusklight and presss your belly to the blades on the bank, and skim your fingers just-so through the clover. Turn you face this way, my friend, for I am right by your side. You have found me! Ah, I am so glad you have found me! Let us watch the clotes till our lids slide shut, and sleep, and rise elsewhere tomorrow.