It was a lover and his lass
William Shakespeare · 1609
Public domain
From The Golden Treasury, selected by Francis Turner Palgrave. William Shakespeare. The text is free of copyright in the United States. This copy is the poem, without the Project Gutenberg header.
It was a lover and his lass
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonino!
That o'er the green cornfield did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing hey ding a ding:
Sweet lovers love the Spring.
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:
And therefore take the present time
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonino!
For love is crownéd with the prime
In spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the Spring.