Clandestine comes to English by way of Middle French, from the Latin word clandestinus, which is itself from the Latin adverb clam, meaning "secretly." Note that this clam is not the ancestor of the English word clam, despite how tightly sealed and thus secretive the bivalves may seem.
.jpg)
Once in a dream (for once I dreamed of you)
We stood together
in an open field;
Above our heads
two swift-winged pigeons wheeled,
Sporting at east and courting full in view:—
When loftier still a broadening darkness flew,
Down-swooping, and
a ravenous hawk revealed;
Too weak to fight,
too fond to fly, they yield;
So farewell life and love and pleasures new.
Then as their plumes fell fluttering to the ground,
Their snow-white
plumage flecked with crimson drops,
I wept, and
thought I turned towards you to weep:
But you were gone;
while rustling hedgerow tops
Bent in a wind which bore to me a sound
Of far-off
piteous bleat of lambs and sheep.
