Robert Ilson
'John Clare looked carefully at hedgerows' - Russell Hoban
The rabbits skirling with dismay
In maiming traps, the badgers choked
In hound-sluiced blood : on John Clare's way
These were remarked -- yet also stroked
Were oxeye, woodbine, dogrose ; praised
The housefly in both cot and hall ;
The Question of the Gipsies raised ;
The ploughman, cowboy, milkmaid all
Acknowledged ; bird, beast, wing, hoof, paw
Made truly known by one who felt
That Nature, red in tooth and claw,
Is also bright in plume and pelt.