 | The Poems of John Clare |  |
531
A FAVOURITE NOOK DESTROYED
Poor outcast refugees of mother earth,Condemned in vain for rest and peace to roam,
Ye birds and beasts of fate's despited birth,
Forced from the wilds which nature left your home
By vile invasions of encroaching men,
By whom wild nature's nearly dispossest—
The rabbit has no waste to make his den,
And the coy pheasant has not where to rest,
And cawing rook, as spring returns again,
Scarce finds a tree whereon to build its nest.
Ah, tyrant knaves, while preaching freedom's laws,
Crying down tyranny in stronger power,
You glut your vile unsatiated maws
And freedom's birthright in the weak devour.
| The Poems of John Clare | |