I remember it well

The green where I tended my sheep when a boy
Has yielded its pride to the plough

& the shades where my infancy revelled in joy
The axe has left desolate now

Yet a bush lingers still that invites me to stop
What heart can such whimsies withstand
Where Susan once saw a birds nest in its top
& I reached her the eggs with my hand

& so long since the day I remember it well
It has stretched to a sizable tree
& the birds yearly come in its branches to dwell
As far from a jiant as me

On a favourite spot by the side of a brook
When Susan was just in her prime
A ripe bunch of nutts from her apron she took
& planted them close by my side

It has grown up with years & on many a bough
Groweth nutts like its parent agen
Where shepherds no doubt have oft sought them ere now
To please other susans since then

#poetry #environment 

#honesty

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Of dandelions

Tis May & yet the March flower Dandelion 

Is still in bloom among the Emerald grass 

Shining like guineas with the suns warm eye on 

We almost think they are gold as we pass 

Or fallen stars on a green sea of grass 

The[y] shine in fields on waste grounds near the town 

They closed like painters brush when even was 

At length they turn to nothing else but down 

While the rude winds blow of[f] each shadowy crown

#poetry #environment 

#honesty

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Three ‘fragments’

Three of the many Clare ‘fragments’ – poems with very few lines or those started and forgotten. 

Sweeter than roses was the face
Sweeter than roses was the face
For whom I pluckd the flower
Sweeter than heaven was the place
In that delightful hour

Beautiful woman visions dwell
Beautiful woman visions dwell
Of heavens joy about thee
& every step I take is hell
That walks thro' life without thee

Loves memories haunt my footsteps still
Loves memories haunt my footsteps still
Like ceaseless flowings of the river
Its mystic depths say what can fill
Sad disappointment waits for ever

#poetry #environment 

#honesty

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Clare the Naturalist

May 25 1825
I watched a bluecap or blue titmouse feeding her young, whose nest was in a wall close to an orchard. She got caterpillars out of the blossoms of the apple trees and leaves of the plum. She fetched 120 caterpillars in half an hour. Now suppose she only feeds them four times a day, a quarter of an hour each time, she fetched no less than 480 caterpillars.

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#honesty

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Weedlings wild

The hawthorns here were hung with may
But still they seem in deader green
The sun e'en seems to lose its way
Nor knows the quarter it is in
I dwell on trifles like a child
I feel as ill becomes a man
& still my thoughts like weedlings wild
Grow up to blossom where they can

#poetry #environment 

#honesty

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Sweet freedom

The crows upon the swelling hills 
The cows upon the lea 
Sheep feeding by the pasture rills 
Are ever dear to me 
Because sweet freedom is their mate 
While I am lone & desolate 
I loved the winds when I was young 
When life was dear to me 
I loved the song which nature sung 
Endearing Liberty 
I loved the wood the dale the stream 
For then my boyhood used to dream 
Then toil itself was even play

#poetry #environment 

#honesty

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Woodland Spirit

While I brush the branches by

& this woods still ways forsake

Woodland spirit meet my eye

Genius of the woods awake

Breath[e] thy wildness in my ear

[To thy trees] I do belong

Genius of the woods appear

Sound thy roughness in my song

#poetry #environment 

#honesty

Comments welcome below