Letterinverse clare el0
letter in verse by john claire like boys that run behind the loaded wain for the mere joy of riding back again when summer from the meadow carts the hay and school hours leave them whole for day to play so i with leisure on three sides a sheet of fool's cap dance with poesy's measured feet just to ride post upon the wings of time and kill a care to friendship turned in rhyme the muses gallop hurries me in sport with much to read and little to divert and i amused with less of wit than will run till i tire and so to cheat her still like children running races who shall be first in to touch the orchard wall or tree the last half way behind by distance vexed turned short determined to be first the next so now the muse has run me hard and long i'll leave at once her races and her song and turning round laugh at the letter's close and beat her out by ending it in prose
End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
