 | The Poems of John Clare |  |
516
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
We well may wonder o'er the change of sceneNow summer's contrast thro' the land is spread,
And turn us back where winter's tempest fled
And left naught living but the ivy's green.
The then bare woods, that trembled overhead
Like spectres mid the storm of what had been
And wrecks of beauty, ne'er to bloom again,
Are now all glory. Nature smiles as free
As the last summer had commenced its reign
And she were blooming in eternity.
So in this life, when future thoughts beguile
And from past care our spirits get relieved,
Hope cheers us onward with as sweet a smile
As if before she never had deceived.
| The Poems of John Clare | |