The early poems of John Clare :: :: University of Virginia Library

O Mary thou that once made all
What youthfull dreams coud pleasure call
That once did love to walk with me
& own thy taste for s[c]enery
That sat for hours by wood & brook
& stopt thy curious flowers to look
Were all that met thy artless gaze
Enjoyd thy smiles & won thy praise

541

O thou that did sincerely love
The cuckoos voice & cooing dove
& stood in raptures oft to hear
The blackbirds music wild & clear
That chasd sleep from thy lovly eyes
To see the morning lark arise
& made thy evening rambles long
To list the crickets chittering song
Thou that on sabbath noons sought bowers
To read away the sultry hours
Were roseys hung the cool to share
With thee a blossom full as fair
Oft withering from noons scorching look
& fluttering dropping on thy book
Wispering morals as they fell
What thou ere this hath provd too well
Picturing storys sad & true
Beneath thy bright eyes beaming blue
How youth & beauty fades & dyes
The sweetest has the least to prize
How blissfull pleasures fade away
That have the shortest time to stay
As suns that blest thy eyes & mine
Are but alowd a day to shine
& fairest days without a cloud
A gloomy evening waits to shroud
So spoke the fading dropping flowers
That perishd in thy musing hours
I know not wether thou descryd
But I coud hear them by thy side
But thy warm heart tho easy wrung
Woud not be mella[n]choly long

542

If such was felt the cheering day
Woud quickly chase their glooms away
For thou sought fancys sweet to look
In every hour & every nook
To thee earth swarmd with lovly things
The butterflye with spangld wings
& dragon flye & humble bee
Humd dreams of paradise with thee
& o thou fairest dearest still
If natures wild misterious skill
Beams that same rapture in thine eye
& left a love that cannot dye
If that fond taste was born to last
Nor vanishd with the summers past
If seasons as they usd to be
Still meet a favou[r]d smile with thee
Then thou accept for memorys sake
All I can give or thou canst take
A parted record known to thee
Of what has been no more to be
The pleasant past the future sorrow
The blest today & sad tomorrow—
Descriptions wild of summer walks
By hedges lanes & trackless baulks
& many an old familiar scene
Were Mary has springs partner been
Were thou enrapt in wild delight
Hast lingerd morning noon & night
& were to fancys rapturd thrill
Thy lovly memory lingers still

543

Thy flowers still bloom & look the while
As tho they witnessd marys smile
The birds still sing thy favord lays
As tho they sung for marys praise
& bees hum glad & fearless bye
As tho their tender friend was nigh
O if with thee these raptures live
Accept the trifle which I give
Tho lost to pleasurs witnessd then
Tho parted neer to meet agen
My aching heart is surely free
To dedicate its thoughts to thee
Then thou accept & if a smile
Lights on the page thou reads the while
If aught bespeak those banishd hours
Of beauty in thy favord flowers
Or scenes recall of happy days
That claims as wont thy ready praise
Tho I so long have lost the claim
To joys which wear thy gentle name
Tho thy sweet face so long unseen
Seem types of charms that neer hath been
Thy voice so long in silence bound
To me that I forget the sound
& thou thy presence warms my theme
Like beauty floating in a dream
Yet I will think that such may be
Tho buried secrets all to me

544

& if it be as hopes portray
Then will thy smiles like dews of heaven
Cheer my lone walks my toils repay
& all I ask be given