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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 | The later poems of John Clare |  |
SONG
[I wish I was were I would be]
I wish I was were I would be
Alone with beauty & the free
I wish I was where I have been
A lover on the village green
Where old pits swell'd & mosses grew
Along with one who loved so true
Hath time made no changes then love is the same
Through calm & through danger dishonour & fame
What e'er I encounter what e'er I pursue
Human love may be frail—but mans honour is true
Alone with beauty & the free
I wish I was where I have been
A lover on the village green
Where old pits swell'd & mosses grew
Along with one who loved so true
Hath time made no changes then love is the same
Through calm & through danger dishonour & fame
What e'er I encounter what e'er I pursue
Human love may be frail—but mans honour is true
Canst thou feel what I breathed on thy bosom that eve
If thy love was a womans thoult ne'er disbelieve
But walk in thy fancys through meadow & glen
Aye walk & be happy & think it agen
There's the hills in thy fancy the Park in thy eye
& in midnight so guiltless that beautiful sky
& the stars looked upon us so lovely & warm
& thy own native star shed its beauty so calm
That said in bright colours love never should part
When I lay on thy bosom the man of thy heart
If thy love was a womans thoult ne'er disbelieve
But walk in thy fancys through meadow & glen
Aye walk & be happy & think it agen
There's the hills in thy fancy the Park in thy eye
& in midnight so guiltless that beautiful sky
& the stars looked upon us so lovely & warm
& thy own native star shed its beauty so calm
That said in bright colours love never should part
When I lay on thy bosom the man of thy heart
171
The prude may rail on love & falsehood declaim
Mock love is their liscence & falshood their fame
In abscence they scandalize wrong & decieve
& laugh at their fondness when women believe
But man never wronged them & Eden I see
Where man ever loved & a woman is free
Then leave me still free with thy love to be blest
On the bosom of woman my wishes are blest
Oer the hills & the hollows on that happy Eve
True love was the welcome that cannot decieve
Mock love is their liscence & falshood their fame
In abscence they scandalize wrong & decieve
& laugh at their fondness when women believe
But man never wronged them & Eden I see
Where man ever loved & a woman is free
Then leave me still free with thy love to be blest
On the bosom of woman my wishes are blest
Oer the hills & the hollows on that happy Eve
True love was the welcome that cannot decieve
| The later poems of John Clare | |