The Poetry Corner

I Hid My Love

By John Clare

I hid my love when young till I Couldnt 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; Whereer 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 bees song She lay there all the summer long. I hid my love in field and town Till een the breeze would knock me down; The bees seemed singing ballads oer, The flys bass turned a lions 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.