Mercies.

O take me from the busy crowd,
I cannot bear the noise!
For Nature's voice is never loud;
I seek for quiet joys.

The book I love is everywhere,
And not in idle words;
The book I love is known to all,
And better lore affords.

The book I love is everywhere,
And every place the same;
GOD bade me make my dwelling there,
And look for better fame.

I never feared the critic's pen,
To live by my renown;
I found the poems in the fields,
And only wrote them down.

And quiet Epping pleases well,
Where Nature's love delays;
I joy to see the quiet place,
And wait for better days.

I love to seek the brakes and fern,
And rabbits up and down;
And then the pleasant Autumn comes,
And turns them all to brown.

To common eyes they only seem
A desert waste and drear;
To taste and love they always shine,
A garden through the year.

LORD keep my love for quiet joys,
Oh, keep me to thy will!
I know THY works, and always find
THY mercies kinder still!

John Clare