Clerk and laic, grave and gay!
Yet do ye, before the rest,
Gentle maidens, mark me tell!
Store my lesson in your breast,
Trust me it shall profit well:
Hear, and heed me, and be bless’d!’
So sang the bird of old; but when he spied
The carle draw near, with alter’d tone he cried—
‘Back, river, to thy source! and thee, tall tower,
Thee, castle strong, may gaping earth devour!