Selected Poems of John Clare
Volume 1
Volume 1
Winter
The small wind wispers thro the leafless hedge
Most sharp and chill while the light snowey flakes
Rests on each twig and spike of witherd sedge
Resembling scatterd feathers -- vainly breaks
The pale split sunbeam thro the frowning cloud
On winters froens below -- from day to day
Unmelted still he spreads his hoary shroud
In dithering pride on the pale travellers way
Who croodling hastens from the storm behind
Fast gathering deep and black -- again to find
His cottage fire and corners sheltering bounds
Where haply such uncomfortable days
Makes musical the woodsaps frizzling sounds
And hoarse loud bellows puffing up the blaze
The small wind wispers thro the leafless hedge
Most sharp and chill while the light snowey flakes
Rests on each twig and spike of witherd sedge
Resembling scatterd feathers -- vainly breaks
The pale split sunbeam thro the frowning cloud
On winters froens below -- from day to day
Unmelted still he spreads his hoary shroud
In dithering pride on the pale travellers way
Who croodling hastens from the storm behind
Fast gathering deep and black -- again to find
His cottage fire and corners sheltering bounds
Where haply such uncomfortable days
Makes musical the woodsaps frizzling sounds
And hoarse loud bellows puffing up the blaze
Poems
chosen by David Barnes from
Oxford World Classics: John Clare Major Works, and recorded for LibriVox.org
Oxford World Classics: John Clare Major Works, and recorded for LibriVox.org