Gypsies - John Clare

John Clare's usage is a bit odd here and there.  You can blame it on the fact that he was institutionalized in an asylum if you wish, or maybe he was just creative.  But since it's chilly and snowy outside here this evening, I liked the imagery in this one.

Gypsies

The snow falls deep; the forest lies alone;
The boy goes hasty for his load of brakes,
Then thinks upon the fire and hurries back;
The gypsy knocks his hands and tucks them up,
And seeks his squalid camp, half hid in snow,
Beneath the oak which breaks away the wind,
And bushes close in snow like hovel warm;
There tainted mutton wastes upon the coals,
And the half-wasted dog squats close and rubs,
Then feels the heat too strong, and goes aloof;
He watches well, but none a bit can spare,
And vainly waits the morsel thrown away.
'Tis thus they life -- a picture to the place,
A quiet, pilfering, unprotected race.