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University of Virginia Library

The later poems of John Clare

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

Clare, John (1793-1864)

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I.

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Poems written at High Beach, Epping, 1837–1841, and at Northborough, 1841

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NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 27

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OVERLAND MONTHLY

SONG ON TOBACCO

[Beautiful woman, visions dwell]

[When with our little ones we spent]

[You promised me, a year ago]

[Sweeter than roses was the face]

[Tis autumn now & harvests reign]

[I long to forget them—the love of my life—]

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ENGLISH JOURNAL

TO THE NIGHTINGALE

[MAID of Walkherd, meet again]

SIGHING FOR RETIREMENT

THE FOREST MAID

ON THE NEGLECT OF TRUE MERIT

THE SEQUEL TO JOHN BARLEYCORN

A WALK IN THE FOREST

THE WATER LILIES

THE FRIGHTENED PLOUGHMAN

A WALK ON HIGH BEACH, LOUGHTON

LONDON VERSUS EPPING FOREST

GREATNESS OF MIND

THE TRUE SPIRITUAL WORSHIP

LOVE AND BEAUTY

THE BOTANIST'S WALK

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NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 8

[Nigh Leopards hill stand All*ns hells]

[What happy thoughts the summer yields]

[—Truth must be truth & will where e'er we go]

BALLAD—FRAGMENT

DON JUAN A POEM

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BODLEIAN MANUSCRIPT DC 64 AND PETERBOROUGH MANUSCRIPT A 62

[Tis martinmass from rig to rig]

[So let us all be jolly]

[My heart my dear Mary from thee cannot part]

[His face is like a dragon]

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BIBLICAL PARAPHRASES

ISRAEL PASSING OVER THE RED SEA

[In Jacob he hath not seen evil or guile]

BALAAMS PARABLE SECOND PART

SONG OF DEBORAH

DAVIDS LAMENT &c

SOLOMONS PRAYER &c &c

JOB—38th CHAP: 1st PART

[Lord hear my prayer when trouble glooms]

[He harmonized darkness to night & repose]

LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH CHAP. 3

PRAYER OF HABACUK

THE LAST JUDGMENT

[I saw the lamb who opened the first seal]

THE NEW JERUSALEM

THE RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

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Poems written in Northampton Asylum, 1842–1864

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NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 19

[& in the maple bush there hides the style]

[Land of perpetual summer Italy]

[Infants are but cradles for the grave]

[There is a chasm in the heart of man]

TEMPLE OF MINERVA

[Now evenings rosey streaks—a ribbond sky]

[‘These two had been friends in Youth]

[The winter time is over love]

[The present is the funeral of the past]

[Beautifull poetry I bow to thee]

A FAVOURITE PLACE

[The red bagged bee on never weary wing]

[When reason & religion goes a benting]

[Summer is on the earth & in the sky]

[Bluebells how beautifull & bright they look]

[The sinking sun sheds through the window glass]

[Tall grows the nettle by the hedgeway side]

VERSES ON ONLEY

[The thunder mutters louder & more loud]

[O Woman lovely woman how beguiling]

[Poets & Poesy are aspirations]

[Look through the naked bramble & black thorn]

[Here is the scenes the rural poet made]

[I love the little pond to mark at spring]

[The wind blows happily on every thing]

[Sorrow is felt not seen—the grief of verse]

KATHARINE AIRLIE

[False time what is it but a rogues account]

[All nature has a feeling wood fields brooks]

[Old times forgetfull memories of the past]

[Where are the citys Sodom & Gomorrah]

[& what is Love the sweetest of all pains]

SONG—WHITE THORN TREE

[O for one real imaginary blessing]

[God looks on nature with a glorious eye]

SONG—MOLLY MAGEE

WRECK OF THE EMELIE

[The healthfull mind that muses & inhales]

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PETERBOROUGH MANUSCRIPT H23

[The sun is gone the shut of evening flowers]

[The morning air is rich to meet]

[Hw glrs s th smmr n ts prm]

[Where mossey oaks & hazel bushes gr[ow]]

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NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPTS 410, 411, 413, AND 414

[No more Blustery winter rages—]

[Could I retrace the pleasures of my years]

LOVE OF SOLITUDE

[These paintings, why they mock as if they spoke]

LAMENT TO FRIENDSHIP

[By the spring that shines so clear]

[The chelping Sparrows little pilfering thieve[s]]

[My Phebe she is handsome wi back as white as milk]

[Dry stony banks are wreathed with Bindweed Flowers]

[Good & substantial painter merits raise]

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NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 9

[Is nothing less then naught—nothing is nought]

[Spring comes & it is may—white as are sheets]

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NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 10

[Some promises are broke as soon as made]

[In cant & mystery there lurks a wrong]

[How beautiful is Sunset eye & breast]

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SONG On Occasion of the Queen's Visit to Northampton

[& morning woke upon her healthy cheek]

[Justice is slow, but sure as Moses' rod]

[Hnr thng dprtd nt shds]

[The chaffinch on the hedge row sings]

[Oh! who can tell the sweets of May-day morn]

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1.

KNIGHT TRANSCRIPTS 1 VOLUME ONE

GRAVES OF INFANTS

I'VE HAD MANY & CR

SONG ‘Thou'rt mine Love’

SONG O wert thou in the storm

SONG To Harriett

SUSAN DOWN THE LANE

THE MAID OF JERUSALEM

THE DRONEING BEE

FLOWERS AND SPRING

SONG—MISS HAND

OUT OF DOOR PLEASURES

SONG To his Wife

AN INVITE TO ETERNITY

SONNET River Banks

THE DYING CHILD

THE ORPHAN CHILD

SONNET The Nightingale

A LAMENT FOR JERUSALEM

LINES Written on a very boisterous day in May, 1844

THE HOUR OF PRAYER

A GLOOMY DAY IN SUMMER

DEATH'S MEMORIES

[Left in the world alone]

VERSES TO M.A.B****

SONNET ‘I am’

SLEEP OF SPRING

[The bee loves a blossom and I love a woman]

THE VOICES OF SPRING

THE WIND & TREES

SOME DAYS BEFORE THE SPRING

TO MARY ANN B****

[Come hither ye who thirst]

MOON LIGHT WALK

MY EARLY HOME WAS THIS

SONG Mary Appleby

[How beautiful ye breathe ye passing gales]

[A rosey bud I would not kill]

TO A LARK SINGING IN WINTER

[I lay me down with thoughts of thee]

THE MAID IN THE SPRING

[My spirit lives in silent sighs]

THE LONELY FLOWER

THE SIMPLE FLOWER

AN ACROSTIC On the Revd Wm Todman Yardley Hastings

[Adelaide, Adelaide why art thou sleeping]

[I've been gathering]

SONG—THE ECCHO

[O'er Scotland's vales and mountains high]

LARKS AND SPRING

[There is a charm in nature felt and seen]

THE AUTUMN WIND

LOVE OF LIBERTY

[Flowers shall hang upon the pawls]

THE SHADY FOREST

THE WINTERS SPRING

SONNET Wood Anemonie

SONNET The Primrose

SONNET The Crow

LOVES STORY

WEEP FOR JERUSALEM

[I love thee nature with a boundless love]

[Mary on the footpath ramble]

THE FOREST FLOWER

[How hot the sun rushes]

[The leaves of Autumn drop by two's and three's]

[There is a thought in every human breast]

[Thy spirit visits me like dew]

SONG The maid of the Desert

SONG To—R. W.

SONG To—E. B.

PRAYER IN THE DESERT

[In April all the lanes and woods are full of]

THE SOLDIERS GRAVE

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE

SONG Milking o' the Kye

RECOLECTIONS OF HOME

SONG The old house at Home

HYMN TO THE CREATOR

SONG The maid in the morning

A LAMENT I cannot if I would be gay

PLEASANT SOUNDS

TO MISS MARY ANN C.

STANZAS To Adelaide

THE APRIL WIND AND MILK-MAID

‘THE WILLOW SHADED LANE’

[Thou maiden Flower o' Scotish land]

[Will ye gang wi' me to Scotland dear]

[I sigh with the wind like a storm stricken tree]

[Her eyes are bright as the stars by night]

[My love is fair and bonny]

[Honey words make charms of blisses]

[There is a charm in Solitude that cheers]

[O the world keeps running round]

[There's music in the songs of birds]

THE SHEPHERD BOY

[Swift goes the sooty swallow o'er the heath]

[The spring comes cheery o'er the Scottish mountains]

[The rauk o' the hills & the mist o' the mountains]

[When Jenny was here I was seldom alone]

[The Spring comes clad in green]

THE PINK OF OUR TOWN

[Take back the rose nor let it wither]

THE GIPSEY LASS

FOR MISS B---LL

GREEN HILLS OF NATURE

SONG O how can I be blythe and free

SEARCH FOR LOVE

SONG Chelmsford Maid

CLARE TO HIS WIFE

[O could I be as I have been]

[Farewell to love and all I see]

SLEEP ON DEAR BABY

SONG To J*** — W***** —

[Some pretty face remembered in our youth]

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II.

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KNIGHT TRANSCRIPTS VOLUME TWO

THE SWEET-BRERE

THE WOODLAND STROLL

THE WALK WITH LOVE

TO MISS D.W.—

[The morning wakes dewy & sunny & light]

THE MILLERS DAUGHTER

[In the seasons o' swallows that brings the bright sun]

[Come away come away to the wild wood]

HERE'S TO AULD SCOTLAND

COME! COME IN THE FIELDS

BY CLARE—TO BE PLACED AT THE BACK OF HIS PORTRATE PRESENTED TO INSKIP BY MRS. PRICHARD

MARY FEATHERSTONE

LITTLE TROTTY WAGTAIL

THE FOREST MAID

OH COME TO ME AT EVEN!

HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS

MY SWEET LUCY GREY

MY OWN SWEET SALLY GEE

SWEET MARY O' THE PLOUGH

[T'was in the midst of June]

MY LOVE IN DISHABILLE

AMONG THE GREEN BUSHES

PEGGY WAS A YOUNG THING

HOW CALM IS THE EVENING

MY LOVE SHE IS A MODEST GIRL

THE ROSE IN FULL BEARING

MY LOVE SHE IS BONNY

FAREWELL TO THE CORNFIELD

THERE'S NOTHING SO SWEET

MY LOVE SHE'S BONNY

THE EVENING COMES

WHEN I MEET A BONNY LASSIE

I MET A PLEASANT MAIDEN

I MAYBE CANNA SING

BEAUTIFUL MARIA

'TIS NOW THE HIGHT O' SUMMER

HOW BEAUTIFUL THE MORNING

MANY DEAR THINGS

THE GARDENERS BONNY DAUGHTER

WILL YOU EVER LOVE ME DEAREST?

WHEN THE SHEEP ARE IN THE PEN

LOVELY ALICE GREY

THE EVENING IS FOR LOVE

I'LL GANG AND SEE JESSY AGAIN

[The winter winnowed chill And fast came down the snow]

HER LOVE IS ALL TO ME

THE MILKING O' THE KYE

I MET HER IN THE GLOAMING

COME NANNY DEAR NEAR ME

BONNY LASSIE O!

CAN I FORGET THOSE LARGE BLUE EYES

THE EVENING WAS WET

THE SNOWDEN MAID

THE SHIP CHARLOTTE

THE WINDS BLOW SOFTLY

THEE I LOVE BONNY LASSIE O

HOUSE OR WINDOW FLIES

[The upward look and ever anxious eye]

OH! BEAUTIFUL THE WIND COMES

OH! BONNY IS THE COUNTRY

A HEALTH TO ALL PRETTY GIRLS

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS

MARY THE MAID O' THE PLOUGH

SUMMERS IN ITS GLORY NOW

MY BONNY YOUNG ANNE MARIA

THE WALK LAST SABBATH DAY

I LOVED THE LASSES DEARLY

WHEN THE SLOE FLOWER'S IN BLOOM

THE BALM O CARE IS WOMAN

I DREAM'T OF ROBIN

THE DAISY BUTTON TIPP'D WI' DEW

WILL YE GANG A WEEDING DEAR

'TWAS IN A SUMMER'S MORNING

OH ONCE I HAD A TRUE LOVE

AGAIN I'LL TAKE MY INK AND PEN

SHE'S LOVELY IN HER PERSON

OH PHOEBE LOVELY PHOEBE

PRIMROSES IN THE WOOD APPEAR

VIOLETS AND PRIMROSES

THE SUN IS SETTING

THE DAYS OF APRIL

THE RETURN OF SPRING

MY LOVE SHE WAS A GIPSEY O

THE CORN CRAIKS RISPY SONG

SWEET SOPHY'S EYES ARE CHRYSTALS CLEAR

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE RUSHES

OH SWEET IS THE SOUND

ANGEL SHE SEEM'D AND WOMAN TOO

THE FLOWER OF OUR VALLEY

SWEET ISABELLA COME

THOSE EYES OF BLUE

WHEN I WAS YOUNG

I'LL LOVE THEE NO MORE

TIS PLEASANT TO WALK

THERE IS A VOICE I LOVE TO HEAR

WHERE LOVE ARE YOU?

I CLASP MY LOVELY GIRL

YOUNG BESSY BRIGHT AND FAIR

MAID O' THE WILDERNESS

COME SOFTLY MY DARLING

THE DARK DAYS OF AUTUMN

PEGGY'S THE LADY O' THE HALL

THE SCOTCH AND IRISH GIRL

I LOVE THE BLUE VIOLET

OH THERE IS A VALLEY

THE NIGHT IS STILL

THE MILKMAID IS BONNY AND FAIR

THE MAIDEN CLAD WI' CLAY

THE PEARTREE LANE

THE SWEETEST WOMAN THERE

I LOVE HER JUST THE SAME AS EVER

THE PRIMROSE PEEPS

OH BONNY ANN WAS FAIR TO SEE

OH THE DAY IT WAS BLACK

JUST NOW I MET A MAIDEN

THE EVENING WAS LOVELY

AMELIA THOU MAID O' MY BOSOM

ADIEU TO GREEN MEADOWS

MY SWEET BONNY ANN

HELLEN BONNY HELLEN

REMEMBER THEE LOVE? YES!

'TWAS ON AN APRIL MORNING

THE SHARP WIND SHIVERS

ONE SUMMER SUNDAY MORNING

HOW BEAUTIFUL THE SUN WENT DOWN

THE CROW SAT ON THE WILLOW

OH COMELY IS THE ROSY BRERE

IN THE FIELD—

OH COME TO MY ARMS

IN GREEN GRASSY PLACES

IT WAS A PLEASANT EVENING

COY MAIDENS O' DRYSAIL

THE SPRING COMES AGAIN LOVE

THE PEASANT POET

AND MUST WE PART?

THEN SHALL WE MEET AGAIN

WE PASSED BY GREEN CLOSES

THEE AND THEE ONLY

MY LOVED ONE MY OWN

WHERE THE HAZELS HING LOVE

REMEMBER DEAR MARY

CAN YE LOVE MY DEAR LASSIE

MARY O THE WEST

I PULL'D A WILD ROSE FRA THE BRERE

BONNY MARY LET US GO

‘A WIMPERING BROOK’

‘THE LADY O THE WEST’

[By mud pools see a gnat striped nameless flye]

‘THE WIND SOTHERS SOFTLY’

‘I LOVE THE FLOWERS O SPRING’

‘BONNY DARK EYED SUSAN’

‘BONNY RACHEL HIVES’

‘I'VE GOT AN OLD CRUMMACHING COW’

‘OH BONNY JANE IS HANDSOME’

‘HOW SWEET SINGS THE THRUSH’

‘THE MILKING MAID’

‘THE BONNY GIPSEY’

‘SHE WAS A FAIR AND BONNY GIRL’

‘I LOVE THE MOSSY FOUNTAIN’

‘SWEET MARY OGILVIE’

LINES ON ‘COWPER’

‘BEAUTY SO DIVINE’

[Of thee I keep dreaming still thee]

[I've waited long lonely but hither she comes]

[She is a sweet and bonny thing]

[The Even comes & the Crow flies low]

[I wandered forth to view the streams]

[How cheerful along the gay mead]

[Say not when all your scanty stores afford]

[Know God is every where]

‘BIRD O THE WILDERNESS’

‘WILT THOU THINK O' ME?’

‘HER MAIDEN NAME IS ELEANOR’

‘SWEET LUCY O NORTHAMPTON’

‘THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE TIME’

‘COME THE BACK WAY DEAR’

‘THEY LOVE NOT ME BECAUSE I'M POOR’

[The heart of Midlothian is nearly my own]

[How beautiful the hazy morning seems!]

[‘Such is the Almighty Will’ so spake the honest brow]

[The sedges sighing by the meadows stream]

[I wish the king cups they would come again]

SONG. ‘BONNY MARY’—

LINES—TO HELEN MARIA

SWEET JENNY JONES

I'LL DREAM ABOUT THE DAYS TO COME

HE LOVED ME BEST O' ONY'—

SHE IS A WINSOME YOUNG THING

THE BONNY MAPLE TREE

HAIL DREARY NOVEMBER

THE NURSERY GARDEN

MY BEAUTIFUL RUTH

THE WINTERS COME

ARABELLA SEYMOUR

THE VILLAGE BELLE

A HAPPY SPRING NIGHT

THE FLOW'RETS O' GOD

SWEET MARY BEAL

BONNY YOUNG SUSAN

OH THE MAIDEN WAS COY

KATE O' KILLARNEY

A SAD CATASTROPHE

THE GOWN O' GREEN

MARY COLLINGWOOD

SHE'S CHASTE AND BEAUTIFULLY FAIR

SWEET IS THE WHISPER

THE SAILORS RETURN

THE MAIDS O' OULD IRELAND

RATHER TOO COOL

NO USE IN TRYING

BIRDS: WHY ARE YE SILENT?

THE YELLOWHAMMER

HIM WHO LOVES THEE BEST

MEET ME MY OWN PRETTY DOVE!

MEET ME IN THE GREEN GLEN

THE FITTING PLACE

MEET ME TO NIGHT

ANGELS OF EARTH

COME AS IT MAY COME

'TWAS WI' SADNESS O' HEART

THE MOSSY GREEN LANE

THE PITCHER WITHOUT EAR

DRESS DOES NOT MAKE THE MAN

MY EVERLASTING LOVE

MY PEERLESS ADELAIDE

COUNTRY COURTSHIP

COME BONNY LUCY JANE

IN BEAUTY THERE IS JOY

CAN YE LOVE LOWLAND LASSIE

OH WHITHER FAIR MAIDEN

THE GREEN WOOD SIDE

THE RAWK O' THE AUTUMN

THE SONGS OF OUR LAND

WILL YE GANG MARY

I'LL GANG AND SEE PHEMIE

COME IN THE MORNING

OH WHAT SO SWEET AS LOVE

AN ANECDOTE OF LOVE

[Language has not the power to speak what love indites]

THE MAID I LOVE

I WISH I WAS A LITTLE BIRD

DO YE LIKE THE HEATH LASSIE

MY BEAUTIFUL NANNY

COME HITHER ISABEL

WOMAN HAD WE NEVER MET

WRITTEN IN PRISON

MY AIN HEART LOVE IS THINE

THE SHEPHERDS DAUGHTER

GOOD E'ENIN TO YE LASSIE

SWEETLY COMES THE GRASSY SUMMER

MY YOUNG JOHN HIGHLAND MAN

COME SIT WI THE BIRDIES

ALONG THE WILLOW BANKS OF NEN

THE CHIMING BELLS

AN ANGEL IN THE SUMMER HOURS

HERES A HEALTH TO SCOTLAND

PRETTY KATE KEARNEY

MARY HELEN FROM THE HILL

LOST AS STRANGERS AS WE PASS

JOHN THE CARPENTER

JOCKEY SAID TO JENNY

WHY DONT YE LOVE JANE

LOVE MAKES US BAITH AGREE

ID GAZE MY SOUL ON THEE

WE'LL WANDER THROUGH THE HEATHER

SHE LOO'S ME BEST O' ANY

HAD WE NE'ER LOVED

AMANG THE FLOWERS O' MAY

FLY TO THE FOREST MY SUSAN

[The daisey is tipped wi the dew]

BORN UPON AN ANGELS BREAST

SONG OF LOVE TO JEANNIE

BONNY LASSIE DINNA LEAVE ME

FLOW ON WINDING RIVER

OH SUSAN MY DEAREST

WHAT BEAUTIES THE SUMMER DISCLOSES

I LOVE PALE PRIMROSES

[The yellow leaves are falling round the bushes every one]

WE STOOD BENEATH THE HAZEL SHADE

THY BONNY SMILE

LASSIE I LOVE THEE

MY MINNIE TOLD ALL

MY LOVE IS FAIR

THERE'S LOVE IN HER SILENT LOOKS

THE SILVER MOON THAT LIGHTS THE WAY

GO NOT NIGH HER DWELLING

COME LOVELY MARY

COME HELEN MY RARE ONE

MIRTHFUL SUMMERS COME AT LAST

ABOVE THE BROOK THE MIDGE'S PLAY

BY YON BURNSIDE

THE WINDS FAN SO SWEET

[The blossomed bean I love to see]

ROLL THEE IN MY TARTAN PLAIDIE

LASSIE SAY WILL YE GO

I AM WAE AND WEARY SISTER

I SPEAK IN LOW CALM BREATHING WHISPERS

I LIVE AND LOVE AS OTHERS DO

HOW CAN I FORGET

I'LL MEET THEE ON THE HEATHER

ENSLAVED IN BONDS

SONNET TO T. INSKIP STAFFORD

A RAMBLE BY THE RIVER SIDE

MY OWN SWEET GIPSEY GIRL

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THE LAST SIX POEMS

SONG FOR MISS B---

I.

II.

SONNET On a Lane in Spring

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POEMS FROM BAKER'S GLOSSARY

[Where the deer with their shadows passed swifter than thought]

[How beautiful May and its morning comes in!]

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Quotations from Baker's Glossary

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32.

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501

LOVES STORY

1

I do not love thee
So I'll not deceive thee
I do not love thee
Yet I'm lothe to leave thee

2

I do not love thee
Yet joys very essence
Comes with thy footstep
Is complete in thy presence

3

I do not love thee
Yet when gone I sigh
And think about thee
'Till the stars all die

4

I do not love thee
Yet thy black bright eyes
Bring to my hearts soul
Heaven and paradise

5

I do not love thee
Yet thy handsome ways
Bring me in absence
Almost hopeless days

502

6

I cannot hate thee
Yet my love seems debtor
To love thee more
So hating, love thee better