The Courtship (excerpt)

Where are you going lovely maid

The morning fine & early

“I’m going to Walkerd”, Sir she said

& made across the barley

I asked her name she blushed away

The question seemed to burn her

A neighbour came & passed the day

& called her Patty Turner

I wrote my better poems there

To beautys praise I owe it

The muses they get all the praise

But woman makes the poet

A womans is the dearest love

Theres nought on earth sincerer

The leisure upon beautys breast

Can any thing be dearer

I saw her love in beauty’s face

I saw her in the rose

I saw her in the fairest flowers

In every weed that grows

Poems of John Clare's Madness

ed. Geoffrey Grigson (RKP, 1949)