One of William Wordsworth's most-loved poems, To The Cuckoo is a cheerful ode to springtime in the English countryside.
This poem was taken from the book, The Collected Poems of Wordsworth, from our Ragged Hand imprint, collected in honour of his 250th anniversary earlier this year.
We've popped the full poem below for you lovely lot to enjoy.
Full of spring sunshine, flowers, and bird song. It's the perfect poem for a quick afternoon escape.
TO THE CUCKOO.
O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice:
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?
While I am lying on the grass,
I hear thy restless shout:
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
About, and all about!
To me, no Babbler with a tale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou tellest, Cuckoo! in the vale
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, Darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No Bird; but an invisible Thing,
A voice, a mystery.
The same whom in my School-boy days
I listen'd to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways;
In bush, and tree, and sky.
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still long'd for, never seen!
And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain.
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!
The Collected Poems of Wordsworth
All the poems of “Lyrical Ballads” are presented in this volume together with his 1807 work “Poems, in Two Volumes” and other assorted poems. Wordsworth’s wonderful poesy is evocative of the sublime beauty of both nature and the everyday world.
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