Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Tuesday, April 23rd, 2004.

Today's poem is by one of the greatest English poets ever to live, William Shakespeare.

And it's his birthday.

Probably.

We'll get to that in a minute.

The poem is a song from As You Like It, and it's called It Was a Lover and His Last.

I'll read it once, say a few things about it and about the author who brought it into this world,

and then read it one more time. This song comes from Act 5 of As You Like It, Scene 3.

And it's traditionally sung responsorily in the play it's sung by two pages at the bidding of Touchstone,

the play's fool. It goes like this. It was a lover and his lass with a hay and a hoe and a hey nony-no, that o'er the green cornfield did pass.

In springtime, the only pretty ring time, when birds do sing, hey, dinga-ding-ding,

sweet lovers love the spring. Between the acres of the rye, with a hay and a hoe, and a hey-nony-no,

those pretty country folks would lie. In springtime, the only

pretty ring time, when birds do sing, hey, dinga-ding, sweet lovers love the spring. This carol, they

began that hour with a hay and a hoe and a hey-nony-no, how that a life was but a flower. In springtime, the only pretty

ring time, when birds do sing, hey, ding a ding ding, ding, sweet lovers love of spring.

And therefore, take the present time, the hay and a hoe, and a hey nonino, for love is crowned

with the prime.

In springtime, the only pretty ring time, when birds do sing, hey, dinga, ding, ding,

sweet lovers love the spring.

As I said, this is the birthday of William Shakespeare, more or less.

We don't know exactly when William Shakespeare was born.

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