Svmer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
Growe� sed and blowe� med
and spring� �e wde nu.
Sing cuccu!
Awe blete� after lomb,
lhou� after calue cu,
Bulluc sterte�, bucke uerte�.
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu,
Wel singes �u cuccu.
ne swik �u nauer nu!
Sing cuccu nu, Sing cuccu!
Pes
Sing cuccu, Sing cuccu nu!
Translation
Summer Has Come In!
Summer has come in!
Loud sing cuckoo!
Grows seed and blooms mead,
And springs the woods anew.
Sing, cuckoo!
Ewe bleats after lamb,
Lows after calf the cow.
Bull starts, buck farts,
Merrily sing, cuckoo!
Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
Will sing you, cuckoo.
Nor stop you ever now.
Sing cuckoo now! Sing cuckoo!
Sing cuckoo now! Sing cuckoo!
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Comments
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Don't tell me that weird symbol is an attempt to render the Old English letter thorn? Just use 'th', for goodness sake! That's how it was pronounced. You're just making it impossible for people to read it.
The tune to this verse is a joy. Does anyone else know Benjamin Britten's 'Spring Symphony'? It's a setting of a whole lot of fabulous poetry relating to spring. The final movement sets a long poem by Beaumont & Fletcher, taken from 'The Knight of the Burning Pestle'. Britten has written a splended tune for it, but at the end he brings in a boys' choir to cut across it with 'Summer is icumen in' sung to the traditional tune. Bliss.
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