The Birds And St. Valentine Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Sorrow came with downcast eyes	A
And stole the lyre of love away	B
VAN DYK	C
	-
From ACKERMANN'S Juvenile Forget me not	D
	-
Some two or three weeks before Valentine's day	B
Sir Winter grew kind and minded to play	B
Shook hands with Miss Flora and woo'd her to spare	E
A few pretty snowdrops to stick in his hair	E
Intending for truth as he said to resign	F
His throne to Miss Spring and her priest Valentine	F
Which trifle he asked for before he set forth	G
To remind him of all when he got in the North	G
And this is the reason that snowdrops appear	H
'Mid the cold of the Winter so soon in the year	H
	-
Flora complied and the instant she heard	I
Flew away with the news to each bachelor bird	I
Who in raptures half moved on Love's errand to start	J
Their songs muttered over to get them by heart	J
Nay the Mavis at once sung aloud in his glee	K
And looked for a spot where love's dwelling should be	K
And ever since then both in garden and grove	L
The Mavis tunes first a short ditty to love	M
While all the young gentlemen birds that were near	H
Fell to trimming their jackets anew for the year	H
One and all they determined to seek for a mate	N
And thought it a folly for seasons to wait	N
So even agreed before Valentine's day	B
To join hearts in love but the ladies said Nay	B
Yet each one consented at once to resign	F
Her heart unto Hymen on St Valentine	F
While Winter who only pretended to go	O
Lapt himself out of sight in some hillocks of snow	O
That behind all the rest 'neath the wood hedges lay	B
So close that the sun could not drive them away	B
Yet the gentlemen birds on their love errands flew	P
Thinking all Flora told them was nothing but true	P
Till out Winter came and his frowns in a trice	Q
Turned the lady birds' hearts all as hardened as ice	Q
	-
In vain might the gentles in love sue and plead	R
They heard but not once did they notice or heed	R
From Winter they crept who in tyranny proud	S
Yoked his horses of storms to his coach of a cloud	S
For on Valentine's morn he was raving so high	T
Lady Spring for the life of her durst not come nigh	T
While Flora's gay feet were so numbed with the snow	O
That she could not put on her best slippers to go	O
	-
Then the Spring she fell ill and her health to regain	U
On a sunbeam rode back to her South once again	V
And as both were the bridesmaids their teasing delay	B
Made the lady birds put off their weddings till May	B
Some sighed their excuses and feared to catch cold	W
And the Redcap in mantle all bordered with gold	W
Sore feared that the weather would spoil her fine clothes	X
And nought but complaints through the forest arose	Y
	-
So St Valentine came on his journey alone	Z
In the coach of the Morn for he'd none of his own	Z
And put on his cassock and band and went in	A2
To the temple of Hymen the rites to begin	A2
Where the Mavis Thrush waited along with his bride	B2
Nor in the whole place was a lady beside	B2
The gentlemen they came alone to the saint	C2
And instead of being married each made a complaint	C2
Of Sir Winter whose folly had caused the delay	B
And forced Love to put off the wedding till May	B
So the priest shook his head and unrobed to be gone	D2
As he had no day for his leisure but one	E2
	-
And when the May came with Miss Flora and Spring	F2
They had nought but old cares and new sorrows to sing	F2
For some of the lady birds ceased to be kind	G2
To their old loves and changed for new comers their mind	G2
And some had resolved to keep single that year	H
Until St Valentine with the next should appear	H
	-
The birds sung their sorrows the whole Summer long	H2
And the Robin first mixed up his ills with his song	H2
He sung of his griefs how in love he'd been crossed	I2
And gave up his heart as eternally lost	I2
'T was burnt to a coal as sly Cupid let fall	J2
A spark that scorched through both the feathers and all	J2
To cure it Time tried but ne'er found out the way	B
So the mark on his bosom he wears to this day	B
And when birds are all silent and not a leaf seen	K2
On the trees but the ivy and holly so green	K2
In frost and in snow little Robin will sing	F2
To put off the sorrow that ruffles his wing	F2
And that is the cause in our gardens we hear	L2
The Robin's sweet note at the close of the year	H
	-
The Wagtail too mourned in his doublet of grey	B
As if powdered with rime on a dull winter's day	B
He twittered of love how he courted a fair	E
Who altered her mind and so made him despair	E
In a stone pit he chose her a place for a nest	M2
But she like a wanton but made it a jest	M2
Though he dabbled in brooks to convince her how kind	G2
He would feed her with worms which he laboured to find	G2
Till he e'en got the ague still nought could prevail	N2
So ever since then he's been wagging his tail	N2
	-
In the whitethorn the Linnet bides lonely to sing	F2
How his lady love shunned his embraces in Spring	F2
Though he found out a bush that the sun had half drest	G2
With leaves quite sufficient to shelter their nest	G2
And yet she forsook him no more to be seen	K2
So that is the reason he dresses in green	K2
	-
Then aloud in his grief sings the gay speckled Thrush	O2
That changes his music on every bush	P2
My love she has left me to sorrow and mourn	Q2
Yet I hope in my heart she'll repent and return	R2
So he tries at all notes her approval to meet	G2
And that is the reason he singeth so sweet	G2
	-
And as sweet sang the Bullfinch although he confest	G2
That the anguish he felt was more deep than the rest	G2
And they all marvelled much how he'd spirits to sing	F2
When to show them his anguish he held up his wing	F2
From his throat to his tail not a feather was found	G2
But what had been stained red with blood from the wound	G2
	-
And sad chirped the Sparrow of joys fled and gone	D2
Of his love being lost he so doted upon	S2
So he vowed constant silence for that very thing	F2
And this is the reason why Sparrows don't sing	F2
	-
Then next came the Rook and the sorrowful Crow	O
To tell birds the cause why in mourning they go	O
Ever since their old loves their embraces forsook	T2
And all seemed to pity the Crow and the Rook	T2
	-
The Jay he affected to hide his despair	E
And rather than mourn he had spirits to wear	E
A coat of all colours but in it some blue	P
Denoted his passion though crossed 't was true	P
So now in lone woods he will hide him all day	G2
And aloud he scolds all that intrude in his way	G2
	-
The Magpie declared it should never be said	G2
That he mourned for a lover though fifty had fled	G2
Yet his heart all the while was so burnt and distrest	G2
That it turned all the feathers coal black on his breast	G2
The birds they all marvelled but still he denied	G2
And wore a black cap his deep blushes to hide	G2
So that is the reason himself and his kin	A2
Wear hoods with the lappets quite under the chin	A2
	-
Then last came the Owl grieving loud as he flew	P
Saying how his false lover had bade him adieu	P
And though he knew not where to find her or follow	O
Yet round their old haunts he would still whoop and halloo	O
For no sleep could he get in his sorrowful plight	G2
So that is the reason Owls halloo at night	G2
	-
And here ends the song of each woe stricken bird	G2
Now was a more pitiful story e'er heard	G2
The rest were all coupled and happy and they	G2
Sung the old merry songs which they sing at this day	G2
And good little boys when this tale they read o'er	U2
Will ne'er have the heart to hurt birds any more	V2
And add to the griefs they already have sung	W2
By robbing their nests of their eggs and their young	W2
But feel for their sufferings and pity their pain	U
Nor give them new cause of their lot to complain	U

John Clare

The Birds And St. Valentine Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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