When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady-smocks all silver white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight
The cuckoo, then on ev’ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he
Cuckoo
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear
Unpleasing to a married ear
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws
And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks
And turtles tread, and rooks, and daws
And maidens bleach their summer frocks
The cuckoo, then on ev’ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he
Cuckoo
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear
Unpleasing to a married ear