Summer Evening

John Clare

The frog half fearful jumps across the path,
And little mouse that leaves its hole at eve
Nimbles with timid dread beneath the swath;
My rustling steps awhile their joys deceive,
Till past, and then the cricket sings more strong,
And grasshoppers in merry moods still wear
The short night weary with their fretting song.
Up from behind the molehill jumps the hare,
Cheat of his chosen bed, and from the bank
The yellowhammer flutters in short fears
From off its nest hid in the grasses rank,
And drops again when no more noise it hears.
Thus nature’s human link and endless thrall,
Proud man, still seems the enemy of all.

Next 10 Poems

• John Clare : Summer Images
• John Clare : The Cuckoo
• John Clare : The Dying Child
• John Clare : The Flood
• John Clare : The Instinct Of Hope
• John Clare : The Landrail
• John Clare : The Maple Tree
• John Clare : The Mores
• John Clare : The Nightingale's Nest
• John Clare : The Shepherd's Tree

Previous 10 Poems

• John Clare : Summer
• John Clare : Song's Eternity
• John Clare : Remembrances
• John Clare : November
• John Clare : May
• John Clare : Love Lives Beyond The Tomb
• John Clare : Insects
• John Clare : In Hilly-wood
• John Clare : I Hid My Love
• John Clare : I Am