SONNET by JOHN CLARE

I feel I am, I only know I am,
And plod upon the earth as dull and void;
Earth's prison chilled my body with its dram
Of dullness, and my soaring thoughts destroyed.
I fled to solitudes from passion's dream,
But strife pursued -- I only know I am.
I was a being created in the race
Of men, disdaining bounds of place and time;
A spirit that could travel o'er the space
Of earth and heaven, like a thought sublime;
Tracing creation, like my Maker free, --
A soul unshackled like eternity:
Spurning earth's vain and soul-debasing thrall --
But now I only know I am, -- that's all.

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