Dyke Side by John Clare Lyrics

The frog croaks loud, and maidens dare not pass
But fear the noisome toad and shun the grass
And on the sunny banks they dare not go
Where hissing snakes run to the flood below
The nuthatch noises loud in wood and wild
Like women turning skreeking to a child
The schoolboy hears and brushes through the trees
And runs about till drabbled to the knees
The old hawk winnows round the old crow's nest
The schoolboy hears and wonder fills his breast
He throws his basket down to climb the tree
And wonders what the red blotched eggs can be
The green woodpecker bounces from the view
And hollos as he buzzes bye "kew kew."