OLD POETS.
Reading edition
(To the Editor of the Mirror.)
The following song is said to be the most ancient in the English language, and to have been written so early as the year 1250, almost a century before Geoffrey Chaucer, (who is styled the father of English poetry,) produced his Court of Love, which was written at the early age of eighteen.
CHAS. COLE.
THE CUCCU.
Summer is icumen in; Lhude sing cuccu: Groweth sed and bloweth med, And springeth the wde nu Sing cuccu. Awe bleteth after lomb; Lhouth after calve cu: Bulluc sterteth, Buck verteth, Murie sing cuccu, Cuccu, cuccu, Wel singes this cuccu; Ne swik thu naver.
Glossary—Sumer, summer—icumen, a coming—lhude, loud—sed, seed—med, mead—wde, wood—nu, new—awe, ewe—lomb, lamb—lhouth, loweth—cu, cow—murie, merry—singes, sing'st—thu, thou—Ne swik thu naver, May'st thou never cease.