Poems Chiefly from Manuscript by John Clare
page 73 of 275 (26%)
page 73 of 275 (26%)
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That luckless meets him in his morning's rout.
In hobbling speed he roams the pasture round, Till hunted Dobbin and the rest are found; Where some, from frequent meddlings of his whip, Well know their foe, and often try to slip; While Dobbin, tamed by age and labour, stands To meet all trouble from his brutish hands, And patient goes to gate or knowly brake, The teasing burden of his foe to take; Who, soon as mounted, with his switching weals, Puts Dob's best swiftness in his heavy heels, The toltering bustle of a blundering trot Which whips and cudgels neer increased a jot, Though better speed was urged by the clown-- And thus he snorts and jostles to the town. And now, when toil and summer's in its prime, In every vill, at morning's earliest time, To early-risers many a Hodge is seen, And many a Dob's heard clattering oer the green. Now straying beams from day's unclosing eye In copper-coloured patches flush the sky, And from night's prison strugglingly encroach, To bring the summons of warm day's approach, Till, slowly mounting oer the ridge of clouds That yet half shows his face, and half enshrouds, The unfettered sun takes his unbounded reign And wakes all life to noise and toil again: And while his opening mellows oer the scenes |
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