Classic Poem

London, to thee I do present the merry Month of May,
Let each true subject be content to hear me what I say:
For from the top of conduit head, as plainly may appear,
I will both tell my name to you, and wherefore I came here.
My name is Rafe, by due descent, though not ignoble I,
Yet far inferior to the stock of gracious Grocery.
And by the Common Council of my fellows in the Strand,
With gilded staff, and crossed scarf, the May Lord here I stand.

Rejoice, O English hearts! Rejoice, rejoice, O lovers dear!
Rejoice, O City, Town, and Country, rejoice eke every Shire!
For now the fragrant flowers do spring and sprout in seemly sort,
The little birds do sit and sing, the lambs do make fine sport,
And now the birchen tree doth bud that makes the schoolboy cry,
The morris rings while hobby-horse doth foot it featuously:
The lords and ladies now abroad for their disport and play,
Do kiss sometimes upon the grass, and sometimes in the hay,
Now butter with a leaf of sage is good to purge the blood,
Fly Venus and Phlebotomy, for they are neither good.
Now little fish on tender stone, begin to cast their bellies,
And sluggish snails, that erst were mute, do creep out of their shellies,
The rumbling rivers now do warm for little boys to paddle,
The sturdy steed now goes to grass, and up they hang his saddle.
The heavy hart, the blowing buck, the rascal and the pricket,
Are now among the yeoman's peas, and leave the fearful thicket.
And be like them, O you, I say, of this same noble town,
And lift aloft your velvet heads, and slipping off your gown,
With bells on legs, and napkins clean unto your shoulders tied,
With scarfs and garters as you please, and Hey for our town cried:
March out and shew your willing minds, by twenty, and by twenty,
To Hogdon or to Newington, where ale and cakes are plenty.
And let it ne'er be said for shame, that we the youths of London
Lay thrumming of our caps at home, and left our custom undone.

Up then, I say, both young and old, both man and maid a-maying
With drums and guns that bounce aloud, and merry tabor playing;
Which to prolong, God save our King, and send his country peace,
And root out treason from the land, and so, my friends, I cease . . .