Clock-O'-Clay
by John Clare

English poet. His first book, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, was printed by Keats' publishers Taylor and Hessey in 1820. It sold well, and Clare was presented as a 'ploughman poet' in the mould of Burns or Robert Bloomfield. His next book The Village Minstrel, appeared the following year, but The Shepherd's Calendar (1827), The Rural Muse (1835) took much longer to write and did not sell. His poetry was neglected in the nineteenth century, but he is now firmly established as one of the major poets of the Romantic school, which included Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley and Byron.

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Clock-O'-Clay
by John Clare

In the cowslip pips I lie,
Hidden from the buzzing fly,
While green grass beneath me lies,
Pearled with dew like fishes' eyes,
Here I lie, a clock-o'-clay,
Waiting for the time o' day.

While the forest quakes surprise,
And the wild wind sobs and sighs,
My home rocks as like to fall,
On its pillar green and tall;
When the pattering rain drives by
Clock-o'-clay keeps warm and dry.

Day by day and night by night,
All the week I hide from sight;
In the cowslip pips I lie,
In the rain still warm and dry;
Day and night and night and day,
Red, black-spotted clock-o'-clay.

My home shakes in wind and showers,
Pale green pillar topped with flowers,
Bending at the wild wind's breath,
Till I touch the grass beneath;
Here I live, lone clock-o'-clay,
Watching for the time of day.

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Clock-O'-Clay by John Clare