FOR MAY DAY

An excerpt from The Shepherd's Calendar, May.
John Clare Poet (1793 - 1864)
...

Come queen of months in company
Wi all thy merry minstrelsy
The restless cuckoo absent long
And twittering swallows chimney song
And hedge row crickets notes that run
From every bank that fronts the sun
And swathy bees about the grass
That stops wi every bloom they pass
And every minute every hour
Keep teazing weeds that wear a flower
And toil and childhoods humming joys
For there is music in the noise


John Clare – The Shepherd’s Calendar (May - excerpt)
(With thanks to Roger Arborfield)