I hid my love when young till I <br />Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly; <br />I hid my love to my despite <br />Till I could not bear to look at light; <br />I dare not gaze upon her face <br />But left her memory in each place; <br />Where'er I saw a wild flower lie <br />I kissed and bade my love goodbye. <br /> <br />I met her in the greenest dells, <br />Where dewdrops pearl the wood bluebells; <br />The lost breeze kissed her bright blue eye, <br />The bee kissed and went singing by, <br />A sunbeam found a passage there, <br />A gold chain round her neck so fair; <br />As secret as the wild bee's song <br />She lay there all the summer long. <br /> <br />I hid my love in field and town <br />Till e'en the breeze would knock me down; <br />The bees seemed singing ballads o'er, <br />The fly's bass turned to lion's roar; <br />And even the silence found a tongue, <br />To haunt me all the summer long; <br />The riddle nature could not prove <br />Was nothing else but secret love.<br /><br />John Clare<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-hid-my-love/
