THE CUCKOO. 



The common cuckoo is a bird of passage, and less at 

 home here than any other bird. It was thus addressed 

 by Wordsworth : — 



" O blithe nevr-comer ! I have heard, 

 I hear thee, and rejoice : 

 O, Cuckoo ! shall 1 call thee bird, 

 Or, but a •wandering voice? 



While I am lying on the grass, 



Thy twofold shout I hear. 

 That seems to fill the -whole air's space — 



As loud far off as near. 



Though babbling only to the vale 



Of sunshine and of flowers. 

 Thou bringest unto me a tale 



Of visionary hours. 



Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring ; 



Ev'n yet thou art to me 

 No bird : but an invisible thing — 



A voice, a mystery I 



The same whom, in my schoolboy days, 



I listened to ; that cry 

 Which made me look a thousand ways, 



In tree, and bush, and sky. 



