An Invite, to Eternity

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



Wilt thou go with me, sweet maid,
Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me
Through the valley-depths of shade,
Of night and dark obscurity;
Where the path has lost its way,
Where the sun forgets the day,
Where there's nor life nor light to see,
Sweet maiden, wilt thou go with me!

Where stones will turn to flooding streams,
Where plains will rise like ocean waves,
Where life will fade like visioned dreams
And mountains darken into caves,
Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me
Through this sad non-identity,
Where parents live and are forgot,
And sisters live and know us not!

Say, maiden; wilt thou go with me
In this strange death of life to be,
To live in death and be the same,
Without this life or home or name,
At once to be and not to be -
That was and is not -yet to see
Things pass like shadows, and the sky
Above, below, around us lie?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 12, 2023

49 sec read
190

Quick analysis:

Scheme aBabccbb dedeBbff Bbggbbhh
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 821
Words 163
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

All John Clare poems | John Clare Books

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