Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Farewell And Defiance To Love

Love and thy vain employs, awayFrom this too oft deluded breast!No longer will I court thy stay,To be my bosom's teazing guest.Thou treacherous..

© John Clare

Farewell

Farewell to the bushy clump close to the riverAnd the flags where the butter-bump hides in forever;Farewell to the weedy nook, hemmed in by..

© John Clare

Evening Primrose

When once the sun sinks in the west,And dewdrops pearl the evening's breast;Almost as pale as moonbeams are,Or its companionable star,The evening..

© John Clare

Evening

'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 back,Clings to..

© John Clare

Emmonsail's Heath In Winter

I love to see the old heath's withered brakeMingle its crimpled leaves with furze and ling,While the old heron from the lonely lakeStarts slow and..

© John Clare

Earth's Eternity

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 of greatness..

© John Clare

Early Spring

The Spring is come, and Spring flowers coming too,The crocus, patty kay, the rich hearts' ease;The polyanthus peeps with blebs of dew,And daisy..

© John Clare

Early Nightingale

When first we hear the shy-come nightingales,They seem to mutter o’er their songs in fear,And, climb we e’er so soft the spinney rails,All stops as..

© John Clare

Dyke Side

The frog croaks loud, and maidens dare not passBut fear the noisome toad and shun the grass;And on the sunny banks they dare not goWhere hissing..

© John Clare

Distant Hills

What is there in those distant hillsMy fancy longs to see,That many a mood of joy instils?Say what can fancy be?Do old oaks thicken all the..

© John Clare

Dewdrops

The dewdrops on every blade of grass are so much like silver dropsthat I am obliged to stoop down as I walk to see if they are pearls,and those..

© John Clare

Decay

O Poesy is on the wane,For Fancy's visions all unfitting;I hardly know her face again,Nature herself seems on the flitting.The fields grow old and..

© John Clare

Death

Why should man's high aspiring mindBurn in him with so proud a breath,When all his haughty views can findIn this world yields to death?The fair, the..

© John Clare

Country Letter

Dear brother robin this comes from us allWith our kind love and could Gip write and allThough but a dog he'd have his love to spareFor still he knows..

© John Clare

Clock-O'-Clay

In the cowslip pips I lie,Hidden from the buzzing fly,While green grass beneath me lies,Pearled with dew like fishes' eyes,Here I lie, a..

© John Clare

Christmas

Christmas is come and every hearthMakes room to give him welcome nowE'en want will dry its tears in mirthAnd crown him wi' a holly boughTho tramping..

© John Clare

Braggart

With careful step to keep his balance upHe reels on warily along the street,Slabbering at mouth and with a staggering stoopMutters an angry look at..

© John Clare

Bonny Mary O!

The morning opens fine, bonny Mary O!The robin sings his song by the dairy O!Where the little Jenny wrens cock their tails among the hens,Singing..

© John Clare

Bonny Lassie O!

O the evening's for the fair, bonny lassie O!To meet the cooler air and walk an angel there,With the dark dishevelled hair,Bonny lassie O!The bloom's..

© John Clare

Birds In Alarm

The firetail tells the boys when nests are nighAnd tweets and flies from every passer-bye.The yellowhammer never makes a noiseBut flies in silence..

© John Clare

Bantry Bay

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 the harbour..

© John Clare

Ballad

A faithless shepherd courted me,He stole away my liberty.When my poor heart was strange to men,He came and smiled and stole it then.When my apron..

© John Clare

Badger

The badger grunting on his woodland trackWith shaggy hide and sharp nose scrowed with blackRoots in the bushes and the woods, and makesA great high..

© John Clare

Autumn Birds

The wild duck startles like a sudden thought,And heron slow as if it might be caught.The flopping crows on weary wings go byAnd grey beard jackdaws..

© John Clare

Autumn

The thistledown's flying, though the winds are all still,On the green grass now lying, now mounting the hill,The spring from the fountain now boils..

© John Clare