Bean Blossoms


I love the black e'en o' the scented bean blossom
And think o the dark eye of somebody

Its whiteness is just like the hue o her bosom

And thats my ain beautiful somebody


I luik on the flowers as I think on her face

They remind me o' sweet somebody

I long then to meet her in just such a place

A loving kiss I'd gie to somebody


How sweet the bean blossoms how rich the hedge rose

They seem like the presence of somebody

There's some like her features some hued like her clothes

They make me keep thinking o' somebody


In the west white and red clouds of even

Still bring me the image o' somebody

The fairest of all under Heaven

Is my beautiful lovely Miss somebody


Bean blossoms from furrow to ridge

Scenting sweetly remind me o somebody

The roses in bloom on the hedge

Are just like the image o somebody


I loo the black e'e o bean blossoms

Theyre like the sweet eyes o somebody

The lily reminds me of bosoms

And that is the bosom o somebody

The Later Poems of John Clare 1837-1864
ed. Eric Robinson and David Powell
(Oxford, 2 volumes, I-II, 1984)
Unpublished elsewhere

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