Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SECRET LOVE; SONG, by JOHN CLARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SECRET LOVE; SONG, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I hid my love when young till I
Last Line: Was nothing else but secret love.
Variant Title(s): Song
Subject(s): Joyce, Mary; Love; Secrets


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 dared 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.




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