Taste Life's Glad Moments/Cuckoo

THE CUCKOO.

WHEN daisies py’d and violets blue,
And cuckoo buds, of yellow hue,
And lady smocks all silver white,
Do paint the meadows with delight;
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he—
Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear!
Unpleasing to a married ear.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws
And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks,
And 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:
Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear;
Unpleasing to a married ear.

When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt, and way’s be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit to-whoo, a merry note
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marion’s nose looks red and raw;
Then roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
And nightly sings the staring owl
To-whit tu-whoo, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth heel the pot.