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The early poems of John Clare

1804-1822: General editor Eric Robinson: Edited by Eric Robinson and David Powell: Associate editor Margaret Grainger
Clare, John (1793-1864)

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SONNET

[Childhood meets joys so easy every where]

Childhood meets joys so easy every where
Charmd & delighted wi but every scene
Ah was I still a child the names so dear
How odd a change of feelings intervene
Still former things that pleasd me interfere
& I may view them but its usless now
No joys abound for me—still sad & drear
62

My eye turns from them like as autumns bough
Is stript of foliage by the winter winds
So the rough usuage manhoods station finds
Sweet childhoods every feeling sweeps away
Choaking the ripling channel whence they flow
Forbidding every flower of bliss to stay
To give the naked stem a keener blow
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