| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | The Merry Cuckoo, Messenger of Spring | | By Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | | THE MERRY Cuckoo, messenger of Spring, | |
| His trumpet shrill hath thrice already sounded; | |
| That warns all lovers wait upon their king, | |
| Who now is coming forth with garland crownèd. | |
| With noise whereof the quire of birds resounded | 5 |
| Their anthems sweet devisèd of Love’s praise; | |
| That all the woods their echoes back rebounded, | |
| As if they knew the meaning of their lays. | |
| But ’mongst them all which did Love’s honour raise, | |
| No word was heard of her that most it ought: | 10 |
| But she his precept idly disobeys, | |
| And doth his idle message set at nought. | |
| Therefore, O Love, unless she turn to thee | |
| Ere Cuckoo end, let her a rebel be! | | | | |
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