Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
William Shakespeare. 15641616125. Spring and Winter i
WHEN daisies pied and violets blue, | |
And lady-smocks all silver-white, | |
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue | |
Do paint the meadows with delight, | |
The cuckoo then, on every tree, | 5 |
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!—O word of fear, | |
Unpleasing to a married ear! |