Love at First Sight

(portrait of John Clare by William Hilton,
1786-1839, English painter)

First love, love at first sight ─ often they are the same thing. In this poem the poet has been struck by what the French call a coup de foudre, or thunderbolt, what the ancient Greeks deemed to be an act of the gods to drive a man mad.

FIRST LOVE

I ne’er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet.
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete.
My face turned pale as deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked, “what could I ail?”
My life and all seemed turned to clay.

And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my sight away,
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noonday.
I could not see a single thing,
Words from my eyes did start;
They spoke as chords do from the string,
And blood burnt round my heart.

Are flowers the winter’s choice?
Is love’s bed always snow?
She seemed to hear my silent voice,
And love’s appeals to know.
I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before:
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more.

~ John Clare (1793-1864), English Romantic poet