[00:00.46]Love And Memory
[00:01.27]
[00:02.63]By John Clare
[00:03.38]
[00:05.40]Thou art gone the dark journey
[00:06.85]
[00:07.78]That leaves no returning;
[00:09.00]
[00:11.65]'Tis fruitless to mourn thee
[00:13.17]
[00:14.81]But who can help mourning
[00:15.99]
[00:17.34]To think of the life
[00:18.34]
[00:18.68]That did laugh on thy brow
[00:20.16]
[00:20.57]In the beautiful past
[00:21.69]
[00:22.67]Left so desolate now
[00:24.14]
[00:25.82]When youth seemed immortal,
[00:27.07]
[00:28.25]So sweet did it weave
[00:29.74]
[00:30.92]Heaven's halo around thee
[00:32.60]
[00:34.56]Earth's hopes to deceive;
[00:36.16]
[00:37.59]Thou fairest and dearest
[00:39.43]Where many were fair,
[00:40.56]
[00:41.29]To my heart thou art nearest
[00:43.49]
[00:45.66]Though this name is but there.
[00:47.99]
[00:50.27]The nearer the fountain
[00:51.38]More pure the stream flows
[00:53.10]
[00:53.88]And sweeter to fancy
[00:55.10]
[00:55.44]The bud of the rose,
[00:56.57]
[00:57.59]And now thou'rt in heaven
[00:59.59]
[01:00.58]More pure is the birth
[01:01.85]
[01:03.17]Of thoughts that wake of thee
[01:04.87]
[01:05.76]Than aught upon earth.
[01:07.17]
[01:08.44]As a bud green in spring,
[01:10.00]
[01:10.65]As a rose blown in June,
[01:12.28]
[01:13.74]Thy beauty looked out
[01:15.12]
[01:15.34]And departed as soon;
[01:16.32]
[01:18.66]Heaven saw thee too fair
[01:20.15]For earth's tenants of clay
[01:21.92]
[01:23.87]And ere age did thee wrong
[01:25.62]
[01:26.59]Thou wert summoned away.
[01:28.44]
[01:31.68]I know thou art happy,
[01:32.79]
[01:33.10]Why in grief need I be?
[01:34.38]
[01:35.81]Yet I am and the more so
[01:37.51]To feel it's for thee,
[01:38.66]
[01:39.79]For thy presence possessed
[01:41.17]
[01:41.35]As thy absence destroyed
[01:42.75]
[01:43.86]The most that I loved
[01:44.92]
[01:45.78]And the all I enjoyed.
[01:46.92]
[01:49.37]So I try to seek pleasure
[01:50.85]But vainly I try
[01:52.28]
[01:52.46]Now joy's cup is drained
[01:53.88]And hope's fountain is dry;
[01:55.55]
[01:57.57]I mix with the living,
[01:58.59]Yet what do I see?
[01:59.92]
[02:01.05]Only more cause for sorrow
[02:02.54]In losing of thee.
[02:03.63]
[02:05.53]The year has its winter
[02:07.16]
[02:07.95]As well as its May,
[02:09.00]
[02:09.98]So the sweetest must leave us
[02:11.76]And the fairest decay;
[02:13.12]
[02:14.14]Suns leave us tonight
[02:15.68]
[02:16.27]And their light none may borrow
[02:17.93]
[02:18.99]So joy retreats from us
[02:20.65]
[02:21.40]Overtaken by sorrow.
[02:22.81]
[02:24.63]The sun greets the spring
[02:25.90]And the blossom the bee,
[02:27.28]
[02:28.23]The grass the blea hill
[02:29.88]And the leaf the bare tree,
[02:31.44]
[02:33.07]But suns nor yet seasons
[02:35.20]As sweet as they be
[02:36.90]
[02:37.45]Shall ever more greet me
[02:38.74]
[02:39.49]With tidings of thee.
[02:40.92]
[02:42.60]The voice of the cuckoo
[02:43.90]
[02:44.53]Is merry at noon
[02:45.68]
[02:47.03]And the song of the nightingale
[02:48.89]
[02:49.09]Gladdens the moon,
[02:50.36]
[02:52.01]But the gayest today
[02:53.23]May be saddest tomorrow
[02:54.53]
[02:55.46]And the loudest in joy
[02:56.54]
[02:57.62]Sink the deepest in sorrow.
[03:00.61]
[03:03.10]For the lovely in death
[03:04.30]
[03:04.46]And the fairest must die,
[03:05.86]
[03:07.13]Fall once and forever
[03:08.40]Like stars from the sky;
[03:10.22]
[03:12.08]So in vain do I mourn thee,
[03:13.67]
[03:14.28]I know it's in vain,
[03:15.53]
[03:16.87]Who would wish thee from joy
[03:18.38]To earth's troubles again
[03:19.76]
[03:20.77]Yet thy love shed upon me
[03:24.47]Life more than mine own,
[03:25.84]
[03:27.17]And now thou art from me
[03:29.17]
[03:29.37]My being is gone;
[03:30.34]
[03:33.06]Words know not my grief
[03:34.45]
[03:35.17]Thus without thee to dwell,
[03:36.99]
[03:38.60]Yet in one I felt all
[03:40.44]
[03:41.64]When life bade thee farewell
[03:43.72]