Cuckoo in flight (Photo By Vogelartinfo – Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12867547)
The cuckoo isn’t heard as frequently as it was, but it is even less often seen, and when it is it’s often being mobbed by other birds, who either mistake it for a bird of prey, or know all about its devious tricks. I hadn’t come across this Wordsworth poem before – see what you think! And there’s a cuckoo recording at the bottom of the page, for memory’s sake…
To the Cuckoo
By William Wordsworth
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
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,
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,
A voice, a mystery;
The same whom in my school-boy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.
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;
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
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!
Last week in Northumberland we were so lucky to see a young cuckoo sitting on a fence post in the dunes being fed by its foster parent a Meadow Pipit….such a privilege to have seen it!
Goodness, how lucky to see that! Such a rare sight these days…
Thanks for the poem – takes me straight back to O Levels! We haven’t heard a cuckoo for many years either in the South-East or in Cornwall. If there are fewer cuckoos, has there been any research as to why – fewer smaller birds so fewer nests to grap, scarce food sources, or what?
Oops, grab not ‘grap’!
All sorts of things – maybe short-stopping before the bird gets to the UK, fewer insects, destruction of the habitat where the host birds live. I’ll need to do a Red List post soon, and see what the latest research says….
I prefer the folk song “The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird”, which our singing group (too informal to be called a choir!) will be singing at a local summer fair on Saturday. But I didn’t realise there were so many versions of the song, with so many different words, until I googled it. I don’t like any of them as much as the version we’re going to be singing!
I love that song too – there’s a version out there by Bob Dylan of all people! Good luck at the fair!