Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/214

 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

But, alack, my hand is sworn

Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn:

Vow, alack, for youth unmeet;

Youth so apt to pluck a sweet'

Do not call it sin in me

That I am forsworn for thee;

Thou for whom e'en Jove would swear

Juno but an Ethiop were;

And deny himself for Jove,

Turning mortal for thy love.

735 Spring and Winter

P HEN daisies pied and violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver-white, And cuckoo-budb of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men ; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo'

Cuckoo, cuckoo' O word of fear, Unplea^mg to a married car'

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,

When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, And maidens bleach their summer smocks

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men ; for thus sings he, Cuckoo!

Cuckoo, cuckoo! O word of fear,

Unpleasmg to a married ear!

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