The photo is the famous one taken in the early 1860s of Clare, by J. Taylor & Sons of Northampton. I guess, but only a guess, the Taylor of ‘Taylor & Hessey’ Clare’s publishers? The faded, signed photo is my own prized possession, the second an unfaded copy from the internet. I’ve no idea how many of these prints were produced, but I have seen three (including mine) over the years; and yes, that is Clare’s signature. The poem? Another little known, this time late poem from his ‘captivity’.
Left in the world alone
Where nothing seems my own
& everything is weariness to me
'Tis a life without an end
'Tis a world without a friend
& everything is sorrowful I see
Theres the crow upon the stack
& other birds all black
While novembers frowning wearily
& the black clouds dropping rain
Till the floods hide half the plain
& everything is weariness to me
The sun shines wan & pale
Chill blows the northern gale
& odd leaves shake and shiver on the tree
While I am left alone
Chilled as a mossy stone
& all the world is frowning over me
Where nothing seems my own
& everything is weariness to me
'Tis a life without an end
'Tis a world without a friend
& everything is sorrowful I see
Theres the crow upon the stack
& other birds all black
While novembers frowning wearily
& the black clouds dropping rain
Till the floods hide half the plain
& everything is weariness to me
The sun shines wan & pale
Chill blows the northern gale
& odd leaves shake and shiver on the tree
While I am left alone
Chilled as a mossy stone
& all the world is frowning over me
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