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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  “Spring, the sweet spring”

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

III. The Seasons

“Spring, the sweet spring”

Thomas Nashe (1567–1601)

SPRING, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king;

Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,

Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The palm and may make country-houses gay,

Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,

And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay,

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,

Young lovers meet, old wives a sunning sit,

In every street these tunes our ears do greet,

Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

Spring! the sweet spring!