Uploaded February 2012 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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In some versions the fourth line in each stanza is repeated. I find it easier to read this version. Some echo has been added to the sound track.

When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his roundelay,
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.