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Life and Remains of John Clare

by John Clare

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Betrayed

Dream not of love, to think it like
  What waking love may prove to be,
  For I dreamed so and broke my heart,
  When my false lover slighted me.

Love, like to flowers, is sweet when green;
  The rose in bud aye best appears;
  And she that loves a handsome man
  Should have more wit than she has years.

I put my finger in a bush,
  Thinking the sweeter rose to find;
  I pricked my finger to the bone,
  And left the sweetest rose behind.

I threw a stone into the sea,
  And deep it sunk into the sand,
  And so did my poor heart in me
  When my false lover left the land.

I watched the sun an hour too soon
  Set into clouds behind the town;
  So my false lover left, and said
  “Good night” before the day was down.

I cropt a lily from the stalk,
  And in my hand it died away;
  So did my joy, so will my heart,
  In false love’s cruel grasp decay.

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