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SPRING
|
| When daisies pied and violets blue, |
1 |
| And ladysmocks all silver-white, |
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| And cuckoobuds of yellow hue |
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| Do paint the meadows with delight, |
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| The cuckoo then, on every tree, |
5 [5-9] |
| Mocks married men; for thus sings he, |
|
| Cuckoo! |
|
| Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear, |
|
| Unpleasing to a married ear! |
|
| When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, |
10 |
| And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks, |
|
| When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, |
|
| And maidens bleach their summer smocks |
|
| The cuckoo then, on every tree, |
|
| Mocks married men; for thus sings he, |
15 |
| Cuckoo! |
|
| Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear, |
|
| Unpleasing to a married ear! |
|
| |
|
|
WINTER
|
| When icicles hang by the wall |
|
| And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, |
20 |
| And Tom bears logs into the hall, |
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| And milk comes frozen home in pail, |
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| When blood is nipped, and ways be foul, |
|
| Then nightly sings the staring owl, |
|
| Tu-who! |
25 |
| Tu-whit! To-who: a merry note, |
|
| While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. |
|
| When all aloud the wind doe blow, |
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| And coughing drowns the parson's saw, |
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| And birds sit brooding in the snow, |
30 |
| And Marian's nose looks red and raw, |
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| When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, |
|
| Then nightly sings the staring owl, |
|
| Tu-who! |
|
| Tu-whit! Tu-who: a merry note |
35 |
| While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. |
|
