 | John Clare: The Midsummer Cushion |  |
262
FANCYS
I sit & think of distant hills
Of fair famed places strange & fair
& pleasant moods my fancy fills
& wishes for a journey there
I picture mountain scenes that lye
Above the sunsets painted brow
Near neighbours to the painted sky
So high grass hardly dares to grow
Of fair famed places strange & fair
& pleasant moods my fancy fills
& wishes for a journey there
I picture mountain scenes that lye
Above the sunsets painted brow
Near neighbours to the painted sky
So high grass hardly dares to grow
Yet mid the rocks & danger spots
I picture many a little nest
Where human dwellers live forgot
The undisturbing eagles nest
I think what sights they daily share
Whose windows over look the rocks
Whose very thresholds higher are
Then highest steeples weathercocks
I picture many a little nest
Where human dwellers live forgot
The undisturbing eagles nest
I think what sights they daily share
Whose windows over look the rocks
Whose very thresholds higher are
Then highest steeples weathercocks
Where clouds like mists below them give
Rain to the valleys dropping round
& thunders war & yet they live
So high as not to hear the sound
I read of dwellings such as these
Hung in the mountain steeps so high
That birds who cross the deepest seas
Find not the courage there to flye
Rain to the valleys dropping round
& thunders war & yet they live
So high as not to hear the sound
I read of dwellings such as these
Hung in the mountain steeps so high
That birds who cross the deepest seas
Find not the courage there to flye
I read untill I fancy care
That bramble in the ways of men
Like birds dares not to venture there
& then I wish to start again
To climb the mountain sides & mark
Those little plots of dwelling ground
& feel like faith in noahs ark
More safe with danger all around
That bramble in the ways of men
Like birds dares not to venture there
& then I wish to start again
To climb the mountain sides & mark
Those little plots of dwelling ground
& feel like faith in noahs ark
More safe with danger all around
To trace the woods that hang in air
& oaks their dark bold foliage throw
Where weeds if weeds were only there
Would seem in dangers way to grow
I long to climb the toppling blocks
Of stone like castles rising high
Where shepherds with their daring flocks
Find paths & feel no danger bye
& oaks their dark bold foliage throw
Where weeds if weeds were only there
Would seem in dangers way to grow
I long to climb the toppling blocks
Of stone like castles rising high
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Find paths & feel no danger bye
I long to reach their cloudy tops
& fancy what a many fears
Would make my daring rambles stop
Till terror tinkles in my ears
Yet fancy climbs by rocks deterred
Less difficult their shadows grow
& where no footing seemed for birds
Trees will from out the fissures grow
& fancy what a many fears
Would make my daring rambles stop
Till terror tinkles in my ears
Yet fancy climbs by rocks deterred
Less difficult their shadows grow
& where no footing seemed for birds
Trees will from out the fissures grow
So up I climb—a branch assists
Me like a staff up steeper ways
& still the tops are hid in mist
& so my foolish fancy strays
Untill she feels a fairy view
Spread to the days unbounded smiles
Mountains & vales & citys new
A circle of a thousand miles
Me like a staff up steeper ways
& still the tops are hid in mist
& so my foolish fancy strays
Untill she feels a fairy view
Spread to the days unbounded smiles
Mountains & vales & citys new
A circle of a thousand miles
Yet up & up & higher still
The circling landscapes stretch away
Above the clouds—my pliant will
Seems mounting to a brighter day
While underneath my feet I leave
The fallen clouds & lowly wind
& still my fancys so decieve
The world itself is left behind
The circling landscapes stretch away
Above the clouds—my pliant will
Seems mounting to a brighter day
While underneath my feet I leave
The fallen clouds & lowly wind
& still my fancys so decieve
The world itself is left behind
Till like the sun I seem to see
The world at once—& so I long
With travels pleasant groups to be
To trace the land of prose & song
With mountain shepherds once to try
Those heights that fancy paints so fine
& tread where mountains touch the sky
& look where danger grows divine
The world at once—& so I long
With travels pleasant groups to be
To trace the land of prose & song
With mountain shepherds once to try
Those heights that fancy paints so fine
& tread where mountains touch the sky
& look where danger grows divine
From rocky heights & glorious hills
Dashed with days shades of every hue
Till all the heart with rapture fills
& grows a jiant at the view
I feel a stretch of rapture caught
Above the reach of care & pain
Till fancy wearys with the thought
& meets the common earth again
Dashed with days shades of every hue
Till all the heart with rapture fills
& grows a jiant at the view
I feel a stretch of rapture caught
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Till fancy wearys with the thought
& meets the common earth again
| John Clare: The Midsummer Cushion | |