 | John Clare: The Midsummer Cushion |  |
304
BALLAD
[There is a tender flower]
There is a tender flower
Yet found in every clime
That decks the rudest bower
Nor stays for place or time
In caves or desert sands
Unblest with sun or shower
Wherever life expands
Is found this tender flower
Yet found in every clime
That decks the rudest bower
Nor stays for place or time
In caves or desert sands
Unblest with sun or shower
Wherever life expands
Is found this tender flower
Where storms with keenest breath
Bid stronger flowers decay—
Where suns een shun its birth
It is content to stay
In sunshine & in gloom
As if 'twere sorrows dower
In griefs lap it will bloom
Or die a lovely flower
Bid stronger flowers decay—
Where suns een shun its birth
It is content to stay
In sunshine & in gloom
As if 'twere sorrows dower
In griefs lap it will bloom
Or die a lovely flower
Within lifes wilderness
This fond & tender flower
Doth every bosom bless
& garlands sorrows bower
Rude falsehood may despise
Its bloom when in its power
& idle themes devise
To mock this injured flower
This fond & tender flower
Doth every bosom bless
& garlands sorrows bower
Rude falsehood may despise
Its bloom when in its power
& idle themes devise
To mock this injured flower
Yet truth hath long agreed
To call it first of flowers
Though treated like a weed
Too oft in follys bowers
On earth it loves to dwell
Though blest with heavenly power
& sure I need not tell
That loves the lauded flower
To call it first of flowers
Though treated like a weed
Too oft in follys bowers
On earth it loves to dwell
Though blest with heavenly power
& sure I need not tell
That loves the lauded flower
| John Clare: The Midsummer Cushion | |