TESTO DEL LIED

"The merry cuckoo"
di Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)

The merry cuckoo, messenger of spring,
His trumpet shrill hath thrice already sounded:
That warns all lovers wait upon their king,
Who now is coming forth with garlands crowned.

With noise thereof the quire of birds resounded
Their anthems sweet devised of love's praise,
That all the woods their echoes back rebounded,
As if they knew the meaning of their lays.

But 'mongst them all, which did Love's honour raise,
No word was heard of her that most it ought,
But she his precept proudly disobeys,
And doth this idle message set at nought.

Therefore O love, unless she turn to thee
Ere Cuckoo end, let her a rebel be.