THE SINGING GARDEN

The Pallid Cuckoo

Dolefully and drearily
      Come I with the spring;
  Wearily and eerily
      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!”