I Hid My Love by John Clare

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 15, 2016   I Hid My Love   John Clare

I 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 wild flower 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.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “I Hid My Love” was published in The Life of John Clare by Frederick Martin (Macmillan, 1865).   John Clare was born on July 13, 1793, in Northamptonshire, England. His books include Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (Taylor and Hessey, 1820) and The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems (Taylor and Hessey, 1821). He died on May 20, 1864.   Portrait by William Hilton Poetry by Clare   Major Works (Oxford University Press, 2008) "Ode to Solitude" by Alexander Pope "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe "A Bird Song" by Christina Rossetti Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038