I HID MY LOVE

by: John Clare (1793-1864)

      HID my love when young till I
      Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly;
      I hid my love to my despite
      Till I could not bear to look at light:
      I dare not gaze upon her face
      But left her memory in each place;
      Where'er I saw a wildflower lie
      I kissed and bade my love good-bye.
       
      I met her in the greenest dells,
      Where dewdrops pearl the wood bluebells;
      The lost breeze kissed her bright blue eye,
      The bee kissed and went singing by,
      A sunbeam found a passage there,
      A gold chain round her neck so fair;
      As secret as the wild bee's song
      She lay there all the summer long.
       
      I hid my love in field and town
      Till e'en the breeze would knock me down;
      The bees seemed singing ballads o'er,
      The fly's bass turned a lion's roar;
      And even silence found a tongue,
      To haunt me all the summer long;
      The riddle nature could not prove
      Was nothing else but secret love.

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