Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FIRST CUCKOO by KATHARINE TYNAN

First Line: MAY HAD BID THE YOUNG LAMBS PLAY
Last Line: THE DEAD YOUTH, THE DEAD DELIGHT.
Subject(s): BIRDS; CUCKOOS; DEATH; LOSS; DEAD, THE;
MAY had bid the young lambs play:
The first Cuckoo
Called from distant fields and grey.

Half a dream, and half a bird:
He said "Cuckoo,"
And what magic in the word!

'Twas new earth and a new heaven,
Where the Cuckoo
"Cuckoo" called from dawn to even.

Oh, thou bird of dreams, there come
With the Cuckoo
All lost summers winging home.

The lost days and the lost loves
Come with Cuckoo,
In soft flight like many doves.

Home from winter and the night
Fly with Cuckoo
The dead youth, the dead delight.



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