Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MAY-MORN AND CUPID, FR. THE CHERRY AND THE SLAE, by ALEXANDER MONTGOMERIE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MAY-MORN AND CUPID, FR. THE CHERRY AND THE SLAE, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: About ane bank, where birdis on bewis
Last Line: At fountain helicon.
Alternate Author Name(s): Montgomery, Alexander+(1)


ABOUT ane bank, where birdis on bewis
Ten thousand timis their notis renewis
Ilk hour into the day,
The merle and mavis micht be seen,
The progne and the philomene,
Whilk causit me to stay.
I lay and leanit me to ane buss
To hear the birdis beir;
Their mirth was sa melodious
Throw nature of the year:
Some singing, some springing
So heich into the sky;
So nim'ly and trimly
Thir birdis flew me by.

I saw the hurcheon and the hare,
Wha fed amang the flouris fair,
Were happing to and fro.
I saw the cunning and the cat,
Whase downis with the dew was wat,
With mony beistis mo.
The hart, the hind, the doe, the roe,
The fowmart, and the fox
Were skipping all fra brae to brae,
Amang the water brocks;
Some feeding, some dreiding
In case of sudden snares;
With skipping and tripping
They hantit all in pairs.

The air was sa attemperate,
But ony mist immaculate,
Baith purifyit and clear;
The fieldis fair were flourishit,
As Nature had them nourishit
Baith delicate and deir;
And every bloom on branch and beuch
So prettily they spread,
And hang their heidis out-owre the heuch
In Mayis colour cled;
Some knopping, some dropping
Of balmy liquor sweet,
Distelling and smelling
Throw Phoebus' halesome heat.

The cuckoo and the cushat cried,
The turtle, on the other side,
Na pleasure had to play;
So schill in sorrow was her sang
That, through her voice, the roches rang;
For Echo answerit ay,
Lamenting still Narcissus' case,
Wha starvit at the well;
Wha through the shadow of his face
For luve did slay himsel.
Whiles weeping and creeping
About the well he bade;
Whiles lying, whiles crying,
Bot it na answer made.

The dew as diamonds did hing
Upon the tender twistis ying,
Our-twinkling all the trees;
And ay where flouris did flourish fair,
There suddenly I saw repair
Ane swarm of sounding bees.
Some sweetly has the honey socht,
Whill they were cloggit sore;
Some willingly the wax has wrocht,
To keep it up in store.
So heaping with keeping,
Into their lives they hide it,
Precisely and wisely
For winter they provide it.

To pen the pleasures of that park,
How every blossom, branch, and bark
Against the sun did shine,
I leif to poetis to compile
In stately verse and ornate style:
It passes my ingine.
Bot as I movit me alane,
I saw ane river rin
Out-owre ane crag and rock of stane,
Syne lichtit in ane linn,
With tumbling and rumbling
Amang the roches round,
Devalling and falling
Into that pit profound.

To hear the startling streamis clear
Me-thocht it music to the ear,
Where descant did abound
With treble sweet, and tenor just,
And ay the echo repercust
Her diapason sound,
Set with the Ci-sol-fa-uth cleif,
Thereby to knaw the note;
There soundit a michty semibreif
Out of the elfis throat.
Discreetly, mair sweetly
Nor crafty Amphion,
Or Muses that uses
At fountain Helicon.





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