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The later poems of John Clare

1837-1864 ... General editor Eric Robinson: Edited by Eric Robinson and David Powell: Associate editor Margaret Grainger

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MARCH VIOLET
  
  
  
  
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MARCH VIOLET

Where last years leaves & weeds decay
March violets are in blow
I'd rake the rubbish all away
& give them room to grow

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Near neighbour to the Arum proud
Where dew drops fall & sleep
As purple as a fallen cloud
March violets bloom & creep
Scenting the gales of early morn
They smell before they're seen
Peeping beneath the old white thorn
That shows its tender green
The lambs will nible by their bloom
& eat them day by day
Till briars forbid his steps to come
& then he skips away
Mid nettle stalks that wither there
& on the greensward lie
All bleaching in the thin march air
The scattered violets lie
I know the place it is a place
In spring where nettles come
There milk white violets show thier face
& blue ones earlier bloom