English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 94. A Lover and His Lass |
| | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
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| IT was a lover and his lass | |
| With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino! | |
| That o’er the green corn-field did pass | |
| In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, | |
| When birds do sing hey ding a ding: | 5 |
| Sweet lovers love the Spring. | |
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| Between the acres of the rye | |
| These pretty country folks would lie: | |
| This carol they began that hour, | |
| How that life was but a flower: | 10 |
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| And therefore take the present time | |
| With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino! | |
| For love is crownéd with the prime | |
| In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, | |
| When birds do sing hey ding a ding: | 15 |
| Sweet lovers love the Spring. | |
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