I used to love reciting this poem when I was primary school age – it had just the right amount of rumpty-thump rhythm, & was just joyous.
Summer is coming, summer is coming.
I know it, I know it, I know it.
Light again, leaf again, life again, love again,
Yes my wild little poet.
Sing the new year under the blue.
Last year you sang it as gladly.
New, new, new, new! Is it then so new
That you should carol so madly?
Love again, song again, nest again, young again,
Never a prophet so crazy!
And hardly a daisy as yet, little friend,
See, there is hardly a daisy.
Here again, here, here, here, happy year!
O warble unchidden, unbidden !
Summer is coming, is coming, my dear,
And all the winters are hidden.
Throstle is a name still used sometimes round here for the song thrush, & a lovely Google coincident led me to a recording of its song made in Derbyshire which is held in the British Library archives.
There are only a few birdsongs which I can recognise these days, though the thrush & chaffinch are definitely among them.
But even in my childhood when adults were always keen to have you listen to & learn the various songs I was always puzzled by their ‘It sounds just like …’
Especially the yellowhammer, which supposedly repeats, over & over, ‘A little bit of bread and NO CHEESE.’ My ears were never sharp enough for that.
Summer is coming, summer is coming.
I know it, I know it, I know it.
Light again, leaf again, life again, love again,
Yes my wild little poet.
Sing the new year under the blue.
Last year you sang it as gladly.
New, new, new, new! Is it then so new
That you should carol so madly?
Love again, song again, nest again, young again,
Never a prophet so crazy!
And hardly a daisy as yet, little friend,
See, there is hardly a daisy.
Here again, here, here, here, happy year!
O warble unchidden, unbidden !
Summer is coming, is coming, my dear,
And all the winters are hidden.
Throstle is a name still used sometimes round here for the song thrush, & a lovely Google coincident led me to a recording of its song made in Derbyshire which is held in the British Library archives.
There are only a few birdsongs which I can recognise these days, though the thrush & chaffinch are definitely among them.
But even in my childhood when adults were always keen to have you listen to & learn the various songs I was always puzzled by their ‘It sounds just like …’
Especially the yellowhammer, which supposedly repeats, over & over, ‘A little bit of bread and NO CHEESE.’ My ears were never sharp enough for that.
Links
Song Thrush, Derbyshire - Archival Sound Recordings
The Song-Thrush, Throstle or Mavis (Turdus musicus)
Chaffinch - Archival Sound Recordings
The Song-Thrush, Throstle or Mavis (Turdus musicus)
Chaffinch - Archival Sound Recordings
