54068: The Cuckoo

<p dir="ltr"> That's the cuckoo, you say. I cannot hear it.<br> When last I heard it I cannot recall; but I know<br> Too well the year when first I failed to hear it---<br> It was drowned by my man groaning out to his sheep 'Ho! Ho!'<br> Ten times with an angry voice he shouted<br> 'Ho! Ho!' but not in anger, for that was his way.<br> He died that Summer, and that is how I remember<br> The cuckoo calling, the children listening, and me saying, 'Nay'.<br> And now, as you said, 'There it is', I was hearing<br> Not the cuckoo at all, but my man's 'Ho! Ho!' instead.<br> And I think that even if I could lose my deafness<br> The cuckoo's note would be drowned by the voice of my dead.<br></p>