The Cuckoo
W
hen a warm and scented steam
Rises from the flowering earth;
When the green leaves are all still,
And the song birds cease their mirth;
In the silence before rain
Comes the cuckoo back again.
When the Spring is all but gone—
Tearful April, laughing May—
When a hush comes on the woods,
And the sunbeams cease to play;
In the silence before rain
Comes the cuckoo back again.
Victorian Songs
Lyrics of the Affections
and Nature
Collected and Illustrated
by Edmund H Garrett
with an Introduction by
Edmund Gosse
Little Brown and Company
Boston 1895