Bohemian Poems, Ancient and Modern/The Cuckoo

For other English-language translations of this work, see The Cuckoo (Queen's Court Manuscript).

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Bohemian Poems, Ancient and Modern
translated by Albert Henry Wratislaw

The Cuckoo

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related portals: Czech literature

This poem comes from the so called Queen's Court Manuscript, alleged mediaeval work, whose real author was most probably Václav Hanka in the early 19th century.

3267991Bohemian Poems, Ancient and Modern — The CuckooAlbert Henry Wratislaw

LYRICAL POEMS.

THE CUCKOO.

UPON the plain an oak-tree stands,
A cuckoo there doth sing,
And still she mourns and still complains,
That ’tis not always Spring.

How in the fields could ripen corn,
If Spring were evermoe?
How apples on the orchard-trees,
Were Summer ne’er to go?

Or how the ears in garners freeze,
Were nought but Autumn known?
How woeful were it for the maid,
If always left alone!