Mice

Unperceived through key-holes creep

When all around have sunk to sleep 

To feast on what the cotter leaves 

Mice are not reckoned greater thieves 

They take away as well as eat 

& still the housewifes eye they cheat 

In spite of all the folks that swarm 

In cottage small & larger farm 

They through each key-hole pop & pop 

Like wasps into a grocers shop

With all the things that they can win 

From chance to put their plunder in

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Peaceful quiet dwells

Yet even there prolific summer dwells

& garnishes its sides in vivid green

Of flags & reeds the otters pathless den

Now lane without a guidepost plainly tells

The homeward path while from a stile is seen

The open church tower & its little bells

& chimneys low where peaceful quiet dwells

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Image by my friend #CarryAkroyd

Quiet musing lye

Beech trees tho their bloom is flown

Still fragments of the autumn wear

Muffld in leaves of rustling brown

Coy beautys wildness lingers there

& milking hovels passing bye

In some close nook were shelter dwells

& cows at quiet musing lye

Whose breath steams up in savourey smells

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Image by my friend #JohnAbbott

I love the green

I love the luscious green before the bloom
The leaves & grass & even beds of moss
When leaves gin bud & spring prepares to come
The Ivys evergreen the brown green gorse
Plots of green weeds that barest roads engross
That pleases little birds & makes them sing
I love the green before the blooms of spring

Like pavements of rubies where angels may tread

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

A carpet of gold

This morning I marked in what splendour he rose
Like a king of the east ere his journey he goes
His bed in the skys any fancy might trace
With a curtain of scarlet half hiding his face
Then as he rose up to his throne for a seat
It changed to a carpet of gold at his feet
Then as a majicians wand touched it there came
A dye oer the east of all hues ye can name
A dappled profusion of gold blue & red
Like pavements of rubies where angels may tread

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Marshy flats

But in these marshy flats these stagnant floods

Security pervades

From year to year

Places untrodden lie

Where man nor boy nor stock hath ventured near

Naught gazed on but the sky

& fowl that dread

The very breath of man

Hiding in spots that never knew his tread

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Splendid feathered things

Look where two splendid feathered things

Sit on that grey & stretching bough

That from the leaning willow hings

Half o'er the gulling flood below

Like foreign birds' their plumage shines

In splendours rich and varied hue

The peacocks tail is scarce as fine

Rich-shaded orange green & blue

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Clouds

Clouds rack & drive before the wind 

In shapes & forms of every kind 

Like waves that rise without the roar 

& rocks that guard an untrodden shore 

Now castles pass majestic by 

& ships in peaceful havens lie 

These gone ten thousand shapes ensue 

For ever beautiful and new 

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

I love thee nature

I love thee nature in my inmost heart
Go where I will thy truth seems from above
Go where I will thy landscape forms a part
Of heaven—e'en these fens where wood nor grove
Are seen—their very nakedness I love
For one dwells nigh that secret hopes prefer
Above the race of women—like the dove
I mourn her abscence—fate that would deter
My hate for all things—strengthens love for her

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Image by my friend #CarryAkroyd

The crimpling snow

I never want the grass to bloom
The snow-storm's best in white
I love to see the tempest come
And love its piercing light
The dazzled eyes that love to cling
O'er snow white meadows sees the Spring
I love the snow the crimpling snow
That hangs on every thing
It covers every thing below

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Wild & neglected

& tho thou seemst a weedling wild

Wild & neglected like to me

Thou still art dear to natures child

& I will stoop to notice thee

For oft like thee in wild retreat

Aray'd in humble garb like thee

Theres many a seeming weed proves sweet

As sweet as garden flowers can be

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Trees shadow reaches

Mary when trees shadow reaches

Staulkingly across the plain

Thine & mine when evening stretches

Like two giants oer the plain

Thens the time the pleasures stealeth

Which I often wish to see

Thens the time my bosom feeleth

All its joy belongs to thee

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Deliciousness of solitude

All the deliciousness of solitude 

While sauntering noisless oer the leafy ground 

The air we breath seems loosing every trace 

Of earth & all its trouble & the mind 

Yearns for a dwelling in so sweet a place 

From troubles noise such stillness seemeth bye

Yet soon the side brings some unwelcome spire 

To bid the charm of solitude retire 

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Her cheering ray

How sweet the moon extends her cheering ray

To damp the terors of the darksome night

Guiding the lonley Trav'ller on his way

Pointing the path that leads his Journey right

Hail welcome blessing to thy silver light

That charms dull night & makes its horrors gay

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Image by my friend #CarryAkroyd

Refreshing powers

Theres more then music in this early wind 

Awaking like a bird refreshed from sleep 

& joy what Adam might in Eden find 

When he with angels did communion keep 

It breaths all balm & insence from the sky 

Blessing the husbandman with freshening powers 

Joys manna from its wings doth fall & lie 

Harvests for early wakers with the flowers

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

The mossy ground

The village close & green for play renownd

The hedgerow bank where oft in searching ken

We both have crawld along the mossy ground

To hunt the snailhorn in his secret den

The thymy seated hill the hoof plod ground

Whose batterd surface ownd the marble ring

The straggling bush where many a nest was found

The shelterd hovel & the bathing spring

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Oer the heath

Here oft though grass & moss are seen 

Tannd brown for want of showers 

Still keeps the ling its darksome green 

Thick set with little flowers 

& yonder mingling oer the heath 

The furze delights to dwell 

Whose blossoms steal the summers breath 

& shed a sultry smell 

Here threatning ploughs have tried in vain 

To till the sandy soil 

Yon slope already sown with grain 

Shows nature mocks the toil

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Brimming dykes

The dullest scenes are not so dull
As thoughts I cannot tell
The brimming dykes are not so full
As my heart’s silent swell
I leave my troubles to the winds
With none to share a part
The only joy my feeling finds
Hides in an aching heart

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Blazing shadows

As gleaming suns that twitter while they gleam
& dance their blazing shadows in the stream
Were small black moths dip light their fluttering wings
& heedless fishes leap in bouncing springs
Curving the flood tho winds withold their breath
In ceasless eddies with their playfull mirth
Then free from bother of entangling weeds
As we throw in were clear the stream proceeds

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Like hovel warm

The snow falls deep the Forest lies alone

The boy goes hasty for his load of brakes
Then thinks upon the fire & hurries back
The Gipsy knocks his hands & tucks them up
& seeks his squalid camp half hid in snow
Beneath the oak which breaks away the wind
& bushes close with snow like hovel warm

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Roozy and bright

My wish now's to sit in a cottage made snug

By a fire burning roozy and bright
With a Friend to make shorter short days by a Jug
And some Books for amusement at night
And could I enjoy such a peaceable lot
I'd ne'er cast on Fortune a frown
Nor would I possesing my Friend, Books, and Cott
Exchange 'em away for a — Crown!

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Kites high overhead

Nay some have witnessd as they passd that way

Grey owlets whooping in the very day

& in the trees that did their shadows fling

Close to the door the noisey crows in spring

Woud build their nests unscard when she was bye

& tho they saw her never car’d to flye

& some like kites high overhead woud watch

Tho she’d no chickens in her yard to catch

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Image by my friend #CarryAkroyd

Full & brimming

The floods come oer the meadow leas

The dykes are full & brimming
Field furrows reach the horses knees
Where wild ducks oft are swimming
The skies are black the fields are bare
The trees their coats are loosing
The leaves are dancing in the air
The sun its warmth refusing

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Approach of rain

The cat runs races with her tail. The dog
Leaps oer the orchard hedge and knarls the grass.
The swine run round and grunt and play with straw,
Snatching out hasty mouthfuls from the stack.
Sudden upon the elmtree tops the crow
Unceremonious visit pays and croaks,
Then swops away. From mossy barn the owl
Bobs hasty out--wheels round and, scared as soon,
As hastily retires. The ducks grow wild
And from the muddy pond fly up and wheel
A circle round the village and soon, tired,
Plunge in the pond again. The maids in haste
Snatch from the orchard hedge the mizzled clothes
And laughing hurry in to keep them dry

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Wealth far richer

#JohnClare finding beauty everywhere…

Then village childern seeking after toys

Their clownish hearts & ever heedless eyes

Find  nought in nature they as wealth can prize

With them self interest & the thoughts of gain

Are natures beautys all beside are vain

But he the man of science & of taste

Sees wealth far richer in the worthless waste

Where bits of lichen & a sprig of moss

Will all the raptures of his mind engross

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Waiting for Jane

We stand by the brook by the gate & the stile
While the even star hangs out his lamp in the sky
& on her calm face dwells a sweet sunny smile
While her soul fondly speaks through the light of her eye
Sweet are the moments while waiting for Jane
'T’is her footsteps I hear coming down the green lane

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

The wood robin

Here the wood robin rustling on the leaves

With fluttering step each visitor recieves

Yet from his ancient home he seldom stirs

In heart content on these dead teazle burs

He sits [&] trembles oer his under notes

So rich—joy almost choaks his little throat

With extacy & from his own heart flows

That joy himself & partner only knows

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Nobody comets to woo?

On Martinmas eve the dogs did bark,
And I opened the window to see,
When every maiden went by with her spark
But ne’er a one came to me.
And O dear what will become of me?
And O dear what shall I do,
When nobody whispers to marry me—
Nobody cometh to woo?

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment

Dazzling light

I love the snow the crumpling snow
That hangs on everything
It covers everything below
Like white doves brooding wing
A landscape to the aching sight
A vast expanse of dazzling light

Follow me for daily #JohnClare postings. 

#photography #poetry #environment