Poem by John Clare

A Vision

I lost the love of heaven above,
I spurned the lust of earth below,
I felt the sweets of fancied love
And hell itself my only foe.

I lost earth's joys but felt the glow
Of heaven's flame abound in me
Till loveliness and I did grow
The bard of immortality.

I loved but woman fell away
I hid me from her faded fame,
I snatched the sun's eternal ray
And wrote till earth was but a name

In every language upon earth,
On every shore, o'er every sea,
I give my name immortal birth
And kept my spirit with the free. 

1. The Yellowhammer's Nest
2. Written in Northampton County Asylum
3. The Maid Of Jerusalem
4. To Napoleon
5. Farm Breakfast

Edith Wharton A Vision ("On the wide shores of melody I strayed")

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