Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CUCKOO'S WIT; A CORNISH FOLK-SONG, by ROBERT STEPHEN HAWKER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CUCKOO'S WIT; A CORNISH FOLK-SONG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now, of all the birds that keep the tree
Last Line: Is wiser than the owl!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hawker Of Morwenstow; Hawker, R. S.
Subject(s): Birds; Cuckoos


NOW, of all the birds that keep the tree
Which is the wittiest fowl?
Oh, the Cuckoo—the Cuckoo's the one!—for he
Is wiser than the owl!

He dresses his wife in her Sunday's best,
And they never have rent to pay;
For she folds her feathers in a neighbour's nest,
And thither she goes to lay!

He winked with his eye, and he buttoned his purse,
When the breeding time began;
For he'd put his children out to nurse
In the house of another man!

Then his child, though born in a stranger's bed,
Is his own true father's son;
For he gobbles the lawful children's bread,
And he starves them one by one!

So, of all the birds that keep the tree,
This is the wittiest fowl!
Oh, the Cuckoo—the Cuckoo's the one!—for he
Is wiser than the owl!





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