Winter geese

Yon ponds thick ice for waiting stock to drink 

A wild confusion momentary wakes 

From gabbling geese that loiter on the brink 

Long lockd from water by the winter grim 

They mope & linger round their haunts in vain 

Till such scant chances gives them leave to swim 

& there they clamour till its froze again 

Now as one fails the beaten track to meet 

Of milking maids & early foddering boys 

The snow harsh presses neath ones hastning feet 

Crumping & crumping with incessant noise 

& brushing branches bye till then unstird 

A powdery shower keeps constant pothering round 

& een from movments of a startld bird 

The trees white cloathing shivers to the ground 


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Modern Love

Modern love like to traffic turns all upon gain 
& beautys shov'd out of the fashion 
False curls paint & patches all labour in vain 
For ex[c]iting an amourous passion 
Since wrinkld old shadows—wrong side o' four score 
Where mouldy old coin is in plenty 
Are prefer'd by our modern love jobbers before 
The plump rosey beautys o' Twenty 
So now fusty maidens your sorrows lay by 
Sin' your blest wi' a friend in your riches 
Your hearts need no longer to dwindle & sigh 
Nor ache at the sight o' the breeches

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Schoolboys

The schoolboys still their morning ramble take 
To neighboring village school with playing speed
Loitering with passtimes leisure till they quake
Oft looking up the wild geese droves to heed
Watching the letters which their journeys make
Or plucking haws on which their fieldfares feed
& hips and sloes -- & on each shallow lake 
Making glib slides were they like shadows go 
Till some fresh passtimes in their minds awake
Then off they start anew & hasty blow 
Their numbd & clumpsing fingures till they glow
Then races with their shadows wildly run 
That stride huge giants oer the shining snow 
In the pale splendour of the winter sun

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The sooty crow

How peaceable it seems for lonely men 
To see a crow fly in the thin blue sky 
Over the woods & fealds oer level fen 
It speaks of villages or cottage nigh 
Behind the neighbouring woods—when march winds high 
Tear off the branches of the hugh old oak 
I love to see these chimney sweeps sail by

& hear them oer the knarled forest croak 
Then sosh askew from the hid woodmans stroke 
That in the woods their daily labours ply 
I love the sooty crow nor would provoke 
Its march day exercises of croaking joy 
I love to see it sailing to and fro 
While feelds & woods & waters spread below

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A vain life?

Well have I learnd the value of vain life 
Long have I stood the worlds reproach & scorn 
& braved fates sea full many a cloudy morn 
Long bristling many a waves contending strife 
Long curs'd the luckless day that saw me born 
& brought to light my miserys & me 
But now vain life & use me how ye will 
Ill kiss the rod & smile at every ill 
Ive learnd thy value & I've learnd thy end 
A mad braind wanderer & without a friend 
Age learnd me little & experience much 
& as a beggar leans upon his crutch

On my last hope a pilgrim here I bend 
For peace beyond the grave were all my woes shall end

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Memory

I would not that my memory all should die
And pass away with every common lot
I would not that my humble dust should lie
In quite a strange and unfrequented spot
By all unheeded and by all forgot
With nothing save the heedless winds to sigh
And nothing but the dewy morn to weep
About my grave, far hid from the world's eye
I fain would have some friend to wander nigh
And find a path to where my ashes sleep
Not the cold heart that merely passes by
To read who lies beneath, but such as keep
Past memories warm with deeds of other years,
And pay to friendship some few friendly tears

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Sir Winter

Some two or three weeks before valentine day 
At a time when Sir Winter grew kind & in play 
Shook hands with Miss Flora he wooed her to spare 
A few pretty snowdrops to stick in his hair 
Intending for truth as he said to resign 
His throne to Miss Spring & her priest Valentine 
Which trifle he asked for before he set forth 
To remind him of all when he got in the north 

& this is the reason that snowdrops appear 
Mid the cold of the winter so soon in the year 
Flora gladly complied & the instant she heard 
Flew away with the news to each bachelor bird 
Who in raptures half moved on loves errands to start 
Their songs muttered over to get them by heart

Nay the Mavis at once sung aloud in their glee 
& looked for a spot where loves dwelling should be

(Mavis = thrush)

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