John Clare

"How sweet is every lengthening day,      And every change of weather,      When Summer comes, on skies blue grey,      And brings her hosts to"

"Winter's gone, the summer breezes     Breathe the shepherd's joys again,     Village scene no longer pleases,     Pleasures meet upon the plain"

"When the dark ivy the thorn-tree is mounting,     Sweet shielding in summer the nest of the dove,     There lies the sweet spot, by the side of"

"Mary, I love to sing      About the flowers of Spring,      For they resemble thee.      In the earliest of the year      Thy beauties will a"

"A beautiful flower, that bedeck'd a mean pasture,     In virgin perfection I found;     Its fair bloom stood naked to every disaster,     And d"

"Above the russet clods the corn is seen     Sprouting its spiry points of tender green,     Where squats the hare, to terrors wide awake,     L"

"Full many a sharp, sad, unexpected thorn     Finds room to wound Life's lacerated flower,     Which subtle fate, to every mortal born,     Guid"

"The cockchafer hums down the rut-rifted lane      Where the wild roses hang and the woodbines entwine,      And the shrill squeaking bat makes"

"The Spring is come forth, but no Spring is for me      Like the Spring of my boyhood on woodland and lea,      When flowers brought me heaven a"

"Age yellows my leaf with a daily decline,     And nature turns sick with decay;     Short is the thread on life's spool that is mine,     And f"

"O spirit of the wind and sky,      Where doth thy harp neglected lie?      Is there no heart thy bard to be,      To wake that soul of melody?"

"Now as even's warning bell     Rings the day's departing knell,     Leaving me from labour free,     Solitude, I'll walk with thee:     Whethe"

"Sweet brook! I've met thee many a summer's day,         And ventured fearless in thy shallow flood,         And rambled oft thy sweet unwear"

"Where slanting banks are always with the sun     The daisy is in blossom even now;     And where warm patches by the hedges run     The cottage"

"I would not wish the burning blaze     Of fame around a restless world,     The thunder and the storm of praise     In crowded tumults heard an"

"With careful step to keep his balance up     He reels on warily along the street,     Slabbering at mouth and with a staggering stoop     Mutte"

"On the eighteenth of October we lay in Bantry Bay,     All ready to set sail, with a fresh and steady gale:     A fortnight and nine days we in"

"O happy spot! how much the sight of thee     Wakes the endearments of my infancy:     The very trees, through which the wild-winds sigh,     Se"

"Come hither, my dear one, my choice one, and rare one,      And let us be walking the meadows so fair,      Where on pilewort and daisies the e"

"I seek for Peace--I care not where 'tis found:     On this rude scene in briars and brambles drest,     If peace dwells here, 'tis consecrated g"

"Sweet type of innocence, snow-clothed blossom,     Seemly, though vainly, bowing down to shun     The storm hard-beating on thy wan white bosom,"

"The snow falls deep; the forest lies alone;     The boy goes hasty for his load of brakes,     Then thinks upon the fire and hurries back;"

"Among the orchard weeds, from every search,     Snugly and sure, the old hens nest is made,     Who cackles every morning from her perch     T"

"I hid my love when young till I     Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly;     I hid my love to my despite     Till I could not bear to look at li"

"Tis evening; the black snail has got on his track,     And gone to its nest is the wren,     And the packman snail, too, with his home on his b"

"Up this green woodland-ride lets softly rove,     And list the nightingale - she dwells just here.     Hush ! let the wood-gate softly clap, fo"

"These little window dwellers, in cottages and halls, were always     entertaining to me; after dancing in the window all day from sunrise     to"

"The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon;     And, if the sun looks through, tis with a face     Beamless and pale and round, as if the"

"Arise, my Isabel, arise!      The sun shoots forth his early ray,      The hue of love is in the skies,      The birds are singing, come away!"

"Peggy said good morning and I said good bye,     When farmers dib the corn and laddies sow the rye.     Young Peggy's face was common sense and"

"He could not die when trees were green,     For he loved the time too well.     His little hands, when flowers were seen,     Were held for the"

"I love thee, sweet Mary, but love thee in fear;      Were I but the morning breeze, healthful and airy,      As thou goest a-walking I'd breath"

"The hawthorn gently stopt the sun, beneath,     The ash above its quiv'ring shadows spread,     And downy bents, that to the air did wreathe,"

"I cannot know what country owns thee now,     With France's forest lilies on thy brow.     When England knew thee thou wert passing fair;     I"

"He waits all day beside his little flock     And asks the passing stranger what's o'clock,     But those who often pass his daily tasks     Loo"

"The maple with its tassel flowers of green,     That turns to red a staghorn-shaped seed,     Just spreading out its scolloped leaves is seen,"

"[From HONE'S "Year Book"]      The insect world, now sunbeams higher climb,      Oft dream of Spring, and wake before their time:      Bees st"

"Gay was the Maid of Ocram     As lady eer might be     Ere she did venture past a maid     To love Lord Gregory.     Fair was the Maid of Ocra"

"Let brutish hearts, as hard as stones,     Mock The weak Muse's tender moans,     As now she wails o'er Titty's bones     With anguish deep;"

"Sweet chestnuts brown like soling leather turn;     The larch trees, like the colour of the Sun;     That paled sky in the Autumn seemed to burn"

"The cocks have now the morn foretold,     The sun again begins to peep,     The shepherd, whistling to his fold,     Unpens and frees the capti"

"Dear brother robin this comes from us all     With our kind love and could Gip write and all     Though but a dog he'd have his love to spare"

"Beside a runnel build my shed,     With stubbles cover'd o'er;     Let broad oaks o'er its chimney spread,     And grass-plats grace the door."

"Dark creeping Ivy, with thy berries brown,     That fondly twists' on ruins all thine own,     Old spire-points studding with a leafy crown"

"Sweet comes the morning      In Nature's adorning,      And bright shines the dew on the buds of the thorn,      Where Mary Ann rambles"

"The Sabbath-day, of every day the best,     The poor mans happiness, a poor man sings;     When labour has no claim to break his rest,     And"

"He loved the brook's soft sound,     The swallow swimming by.     He loved the daisy-covered ground,     The cloud-bedappled sky.     To him t"

"On Martinmas eve the dogs did bark,     And I opened the window to see,     When every maiden went by with her spark     But neer a one came to"

"Dropt here and there upon the flower     I love the dew to see,     For then returns the even's hour     That is so dear to me,     When silen"

"The small wind whispers through the leafless hedge     Most sharp and chill, where the light snowy flakes     Rest on each twig and spike of wit"

"In Fancy's eye, what an extended span,     Time, hoary herald, has been stretch'd by thee:     Vain to conceive where thy dark burst began,"

"How sweet it us'd to be, when April first     Unclos'd the arum-leaves, and into view     Its ear-like spindling flowers their cases burst,"

"The prim daisy's golden eye      On the fallow land doth lie,      Though the Spring is just begun:      Pewits watch it all the day,      An"

"How beautiful the summer night     When birds roost on the mossy tree,     When moon and stars are shining bright     And home has gone the wea"

"The yellow lambtoe I have often got,     Sweet creeping o'er the banks in summer-time,     And totter-grass, in many a trembling knot;     And"

"The morning road is thronged with merry boys     Who seek the water for their Sunday joys;     They run to seek the shallow pit, and wade     A"

"Here sparrows build upon the trees,      And stockdove hides her nest;      The leaves are winnowed by the breeze      Into a calmer rest;"

"My love, thou art a nosegay sweet,      My sweetest flower I'll prove thee,      And pleased I pin thee to my breast,      And dearly do I lov"

"I hid my love when young till I     Couldnt bear the buzzing of a fly;     I hid my love to my despite     Till I could not bear to look at li"

"Man, Earth's poor shadow! talks of Earth's decay:     But hath it nothing of eternal kin?     No majesty that shall not pass away?     No soul"