The Pallid Cuckoo

Dolefully and drearily
   Come I with the spring;
Wearily and cerily
   My threnody I sing.
Hear my drear, discordant note
   Sobbing, sobbing in my throat,
   Weaving, wailing thro' the wattles
   Where the builders are a-wing.

Outcast and ostracized,
   Miserable me!
By the feathered world despised,
   Chased from tree to tree.
Nought to do the summer thro',
   My woeful weird a dree;
   Singing, "Pity, ah, pity,
   Miserable me!"

I'm the menace and the warning,
   Loafing, labour-shy.
In the harmony of morning
   Out of tune am I --
Out of tune and out of work,
Meanly 'mid the leaves I lurk,
   Fretfully to sing my sorrow,
   Furtively to spy.

Outcast and desolate,
   Miserable me!
Earning ever scorn and hate
   For my treachery.
Shiftless drone, I grieve alone,
   To a mournful key
   Singing, "Sorrow, ah, sorrow!
   Miserable me!"