Thomas Dekker (c. 1570–1632)

HERE lies the blithe Spring,

Who first taught birds to sing,

Yet in April herself fell a-crying:

Then May growing hot,

A sweating sickness she got,

And the first day of June lay a-dying.

Yet no month can say,

But her merry daughter May

Stuck her coffins with flowers great plenty:

The cuckoo sung in verse

An epitaph o’er her hearse,

But assure you the lines were not dainty.