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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SONNET
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 | The later poems of John Clare |  |
311
SONNET
[Enough of misery keeps my heart alive]
Enough of misery keeps my heart aliveTo make it feel more mental agony
Till even life itself becomes all pain
And bondage more than hell to keep alive
And still I live, nor murmer nor complain
Save that the bonds which hold me may make free
My lonely solitude, and give me rest
When every foe hath ceased to trouble me
On the soft throbbings of a womans breast
Where love and truth and feeling live confest
The little cottage with those bonds of joy
My family—lifes blood within my breast
Is not more dear—than is each girl and boy
Which time matures and nothing can destroy.
| The later poems of John Clare | |