Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.

The Laborer

John Clare (1793–1864)

TOILING in the naked fields,

Where no bush a shelter yields,

Needy Labor dithering stands,

Beats and blows his numbing hands,

And upon the crumping snows

Stamps in vain to warm his toes.

Though all’s in vain to keep him warm,

Poverty must brave the storm,

Friendship none its aid to lend,—

Constant health his only friend,

Granting leave to live in pain,

Giving strength to toil in vain.