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").

The Vanities Of Life

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.--_Solomon_What are life's joys and gains?What pleasures crowd its ways,That man should take such painsTo seek them..

© John Clare

The Universal Epitaph

No flattering praises daub my stone,My frailties and my faults to hide;My faults and failings all are known—I liv'd in sin—in sin I died.And oh!..

© John Clare

The Tramp

He eats (a moment's stoppage to his song)The stolen turnip as he goes along;And hops along and heeds with careless eyeThe passing crowded stage coach..

© John Clare

The Thrush's Nest

Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bushThat overhung a molehill large and round,I heard from morn to morn a merry thrushSing hymns to sunrise, and..

© John Clare

The Swallow

Pretty swallow, once againCome and pass me in the rain.Pretty swallow, why so shy?Pass again my window by.The horsepond where he dips his wings,The..

© John Clare

The Stranger

When trouble haunts me, need I sigh?No, rather smile away despair;For those have been more sad than I,With burthens more than I could bear;Aye, gone..

© John Clare

The Soldier

Home furthest off grows dearer from the way;And when the army in the Indias layFriends' letters coming from his native placeWere like old neighbours..

© John Clare

The Sleep Of Spring

O for that sweet, untroubled restThat poets oft have sung!--The babe upon its mother's breast,The bird upon its young,The heart asleep without a..

© John Clare

The Skylark

The rolls and harrows lie at rest besideThe battered road; and spreading far and wideAbove the russet clods, the corn is seenSprouting its spiry..

© John Clare

The Shepherd's Tree

Huge elm, with rifted trunk all notched and scarred,Like to a warrior's destiny! I loveTo stretch me often on thy shadowed sward,And hear the laugh..

© John Clare

The Shepherd's Calendar - September

Harvest awakes the morning stillAnd toils rude groups the valleys fillDeserted is each cottage hearthTo all life save the crickets mirthEach burring..

© John Clare

The Shepherd's Calendar - October

Nature now spreads around in dreary hueA pall to cover all that summer knewYet in the poets solitary waySome pleasing objects for his praise..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - November

The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon;And, if the sun looks through, 'tis with a faceBeamless and pale and round, as if the moon,When done..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - May

Come queen of months in companyWi all thy merry minstrelsyThe restless cuckoo absent longAnd twittering swallows chimney songAnd hedge row crickets..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - March

March month of 'many weathers' wildly comesIn hail and snow and rain and threatning humsAnd floods: while often at his cottage doorThe shepherd..

© John Clare

The Shepherd's Calendar - June

Now summer is in flower and natures humIs never silent round her sultry bloomInsects as small as dust are never doneWi' glittering dance and reeling..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - July (2nd Version)

July the month of summers primeAgain resumes her busy timeScythes tinkle in each grassy dellWhere solitude was wont to dwellAnd meadows they are mad..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - July

Daughter of pastoral smells and sightsAnd sultry days and dewy nightsJuly resumes her yearly placeWi her milking maiden faceRuddy and tand yet sweet..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - January- Winters Day

Withering and keen the winter comesWhile comfort flyes to close shut roomsAnd sees the snow in feathers passWinnowing by the window glassAnd unfelt..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - February - A Thaw

The snow is gone from cottage topsThe thatch moss glows in brighter greenAnd eves in quick succession dropsWhere grinning ides once hath beenPit..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - December

While snow the window-panes bedim,The fire curls up a sunny charm,Where, creaming o'er the pitcher's rim,The flowering ale is set to warm;Mirth, full..

© John Clare

The Shepherd's Calendar - August

Harvest approaches with its bustling dayThe wheat tans brown and barley bleaches greyIn yellow garb the oat land intervenesAnd tawney glooms the..

© John Clare

The Shepherds Calendar - April

The infant april joins the springAnd views its watery skyeAs youngling linnet trys its wingAnd fears at first to flyeWith timid step she ventures..

© John Clare

The Secret

I loved thee, though I told thee not,Right earlily and long,Thou wert my joy in every spot,My theme in every song.And when I saw a stranger faceWhere..

© John Clare

The Sailor-Boy

Tis three years and a quarter since I left my own firesideTo go aboard a ship through love, and plough the ocean wide.I crossed my native fields..

© John Clare