by John Clare (1793 - 1864)
The mock bird
Language: English
I've often tried, when tending sheep and cow, With bits of grass and peels of oaten straw, To whistle like the birds. The thrush would start To hear her song, and pause, and fly away; The blackbird never cared, but sang again; The nightingale's fine song I could not try; And when the thrush would mock her song, she paused, And sang another song no bird could do! She sang when all were done, and beat them all. I've often sat and mocked them half the day, Behind the hedge-row, thorn, or bullace tree: I thought how nobly I could act in crowds. The woods and fields were all the books I knew, And every leisure thought was Love and Fame.
Authorship:
- by John Clare (1793 - 1864), "The mock bird" [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 Trevor Hold (1939 - 2004), "The mock bird", 1975 [tenor and piano], from Gathered from the Field [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-03-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 121