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by John Clare (1793 - 1864)

Turkeys
Language: English 
Chosen for Diff
The turkeys wade the close to catch the bees
In the old border full of maple trees
And often lay away and breed and come
And bring a brood of chelping chickens home.
The turkey gobbles loud and drops his rag
And struts and sprunts his tail and then lets drag
His wing on ground and makes a huzzing noise,
Nauntles at passer-bye and drives the boys
And bounces up and flies at passer-bye.
The old dog snaps and grins nor ventures nigh.
He gobbles loud and drives the boys from play;
They throw their sticks and kick and run away.

Text Authorship:

  • by John Clare (1793 - 1864), "Turkeys", appears in John Clare: Poems, first published 1920 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Stephen Dodgson (b. 1924), "Turkeys", first performed 1963 [ high voice and guitar ], from Four Poems of John Clare [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-12-19
Line count: 12
Word count: 101

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