Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | III. The Seasons | | Summer Moods | | John Clare (1793–1864) |
| | | I LOVE at eventide to walk alone, | |
| Down narrow glens, o’erhung with dewy thorn, | |
| Where from the long grass underneath, the snail, | |
| Jet black, creeps out, and sprouts his timid horn. | |
| I love to muse o’er meadows newly mown, | 5 |
| Where withering grass perfumes the sultry air; | |
| Where bees search round, with sad and weary drone, | |
| In vain, for flowers that bloomed but newly there; | |
| While in the juicy corn the hidden quail | |
| Cries, “Wet my foot;” and, hid as thoughts unborn, | 10 |
| The fairy-like and seldom-seen land-rail | |
| Utters “Craik, craik,” like voices underground, | |
| Right glad to meet the evening’s dewy veil, | |
| And see the light fade into gloom around. | | | | |
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