Ewe bleateth after lamb,
Loweth after calf the cow;
Bullock starteth, buck verteth,*
Merry sing cuckoo.

Cuckoo, cuckoo, well singeth thou cuckoo,
Thou art never silent now.
Sing cuckoo, now, sing cuckoo,
Sing cuckoo, sing cuckoo, now!"

*Turns to the green fern or "vert." Vert is French for
"green."

Is that not pretty? Can you not hear the cuckoo call, even
though the lamps may be lit and the winter wind be shrill
without?

But I think it is prettier still in its thirteenth-century
English. Perhaps you may be able to read it in that, so here it
is:--

"Sumer is ycumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu;
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springth the wde nu,
Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu;
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth,