dictated note to Miss Fenwick has the following: "The
word [apostolical] is adopted with reference to its derivation, implying
something sent out on a mission; and assuredly this little flower,
especially when the subject of verse, may be regarded, in its humble
degree, as administering both to moral and spiritual purposes."

TO THE CUCKOO

O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass, 5
Thy twofold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near.

Though babbling only to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers, 10
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing, 15
A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my schoolboy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky. 20

To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.

And I can listen to thee yet; 25
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.

O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be 30
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!

1. O BLITHE NEW-COMER. The Cuckoo is migratory, and appears in England
in the early spring. Compare _Solitary Reaper_, l. 16.

I HAV HEARD. i.e., in my youth.

3. SHALL I CALL THEE BIRD? Compare Shelley.

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert.
_To a Skylark_.

4. A WANDERING VOICE? Lacking substantial existence.

6. TWOFOLD SHOUT. Twofold, because consisting of a double note. Compare
Wordsworth's sonnet, _To the Cuckoo_, l. 4:

"With its twin notes inseparably paired."

Wordsworth employs the word "shout" in several of his Cuckoo
descriptions. See _The Excursion_, ii. l. 346-348 and vii. l. 408; also
the following from _Yes! it was the Mountain Echo_:

Yes! it was the mountain echo,
Solitary, clear, profound,
Answering to the shouting Cuckoo;
Giving to her sound for sound.