The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men, for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo, O word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear.

II.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks;

When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws;

And maidens bleach their summer smocks;