Haymaking

John Clare

 
'Tis haytime and the red-complexioned sun
Was scarcely up ere blackbirds had begun
Along the meadow hedges here and there
To sing loud songs to the sweet-smelling air
Where breath of flowers and grass and happy cow
Fling o'er one's senses streams of fragrance now
while in some pleasant nook the swain and maid
Lean o'er their rakes and loiter in the shade
Or bend a minute o'er the bridge and throw
Crumbs in their leisure to the fish below
—Hark at that happy shout—and song between
'Tis pleasure's birthday in her meadow scene.
What joy seems half so rich from pleasure won
As the loud laugh of maidens in the sun?
 

Poems by This Author

Farewell by John Clare
Farewell to the bushy clump close to the river
House or Window Flies by John Clare
These little window dwellers, in cottages and halls, were always entertaining to me
I Am! by John Clare
I am! yet what I am none cares or knows
Summer Images by John Clare
Now swarthy Summer, by rude health embrowned
The Old Year by John Clare
The Old Year's gone away