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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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779

AGAIN I'LL TAKE MY INK AND PEN

Agen I'll take my idle pen And sing my bonny mountain maid
Sweet Phebe O' the scottish glen Nor of her censure feel afraid
I'll charm her ear with beautys praise And please her eye wi songs agen
The ballads of our early days to Phebe O' the Scottish glen
There never was a fairer thing All Scotlands glens and mountains through
The siller gowans O the spring Vei'd o'er wi' pearls O mountains dew
The maiden blushed upon the brere Far distant frae the haunts O' men
Is nothing half so sweet and dear As Phebe O' the Scottish glen
How handsome is her naked foot Moist wi the pearls O' summer dew
The siller daisy's nothing to't Nor awthorn flowers so white to view
She's sweeter than the blooming brere That blooms sae far away frae men
N'ae flower i Scotland bent sae dear As Phebe O' the Scottish glen