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O blithe New-comer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice.

O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,

Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass, 5

Thy twofold shout I hear;

From hill to hill it seems to pass,

At once far off, and near.

Though babbling only to the Vale

Of sunshine and of flowers, 10

Thou bringest unto me a tale

Of visionary hours.

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!

Even yet thou art to me

No bird, but an invisible thing, 15

A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my schoolboy days

I listened to; that Cry

Which made me look a thousand ways

In bush, and tree, and sky. 20

To seek thee did I often rove

Through woods and on the green;

And thou wert still a hope, a love;

Still longed for, never seen.

And I can listen to thee yet; 25

Can lie upon the plain

And listen, till I do beget

That golden time again.

O blessèd Bird! the earth we pace

Again appears to be 30

An unsubstantial, faery place;

That is fit home for Thee!

1. O BLITHE NEW-COMER. The Cuckoo is migratory, and appears in England in the early spring. Compare Solitary Reaper, l. 16.

I HAV HEARD. i.e., in my youth.

3. SHALL I CALL THEE BIRD? Compare Shelley.

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

Bird thou never wert.

To a Skylark.

4. A WANDERING VOICE? Lacking substantial existence.

6. TWOFOLD SHOUT. Twofold, because consisting of a double note. Compare Wordsworth's sonnet, To the Cuckoo, l. 4:

"With its twin notes inseparably paired."

Wordsworth employs the word "shout" in several of his Cuckoo descriptions. See The Excursion, ii. l. 346–348 and vii. l. 408; also the following from Yes! it was the Mountain Echo:

Yes! it was the mountain echo,

Solitary, clear, profound,

Answering to the shouting Cuckoo;

Giving to her sound for sound.