Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CUCKOO SONG (FROM THE PERSIAN) by PHILIP GUEDALLA

First Line: SUMURUN'S A COMING IN
Last Line: LOUDLY SING, CUCKOO!
Subject(s): BIRDS; CUCKOOS; OXFORD UNIVERSITY;
SUMURUN'S a-coming in:
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
Take a seat, and have a treat,
And sit the evening through:
Sing, cuckoo!

Carpet-seller has a rose,
Where he got it no one knows --
Probably a lady's token:
Not a single word is spoken.

Hunchback has a most entrancing,
Coffee-coloured, always dancing,
Damsel; but she goes away:
Not a single word to say.

Going to a man she loathes,
Wearing very little clothes,
In a litter closely shuttered:
Not a syllable is uttered.

Hunchback follows like a hare,
Extirpates a guilty pair,
Punctuates the aged Sheikh:
Nobody's allowed to speak.

Not a single word is said,
Nearly all the cast is dead;
Let us go away to bed:
Loudly sing, cuckoo!



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