The merry month of May

"O, the month of May, the merry month of May,
So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green!
O, and then did I unto my true love say,
Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my summer's Queen.

"Now the nightingale, the pretty nightingale,
The sweetest singer in all the forest quire,
Entreats thee, sweet Peggy, to hear thy true love's tale:
Lo, yonder she sitteth, her breast against a briar.

"But O, I spy the cuckoo, the cuckoo, the cuckoo;
See where she sitteth: come away, my joy:
Come away, I prithee, I do not like the cuckoo;
Should sing when my Peggy and I kiss and toy.

"O, the month of May, the merry month of May,
So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green;
And then did I unto my true love say,
Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my summer's Queen."

-- Thomas Dekker (1570-1641)

"In Oxford, people gather on Magdalen Bridge very early on May Day morning. At 6am, from high above the top of the tower of Magdalen College, the sounds of a Latin hymn can be heard, sung by the college choir. The hymn is followed by a madrigal and then morris dancers set out to make a round of the city. Nobody is sure how this custom first started, but it was well established by 1650, when the choir sang at 4am. At a later date, musical instruments were also played and the performance went on for two hours. However, this was drastically reduced one wet and miserable May Day morning late in the 18th century..."