Mirie it is while sumer ilast

Mirie it is while sumer ilast (Modern English: Merry it is while summer lasts) is a English song which was first composed between c. 1200 and c. 1250 AD.

Discovery of the song

A medieval manuscript was discovered in the end of the 19th century. The manuscript contained two French songs, which can be found in the Psalms, and one English song, which was non-religious/biblical. The English song carried the title, Mirie it is while sumer ilast. The manuscript is the only source of this song, to be written before the late 19th century (when the manuscript containing the song was discovered).

Lyrics

Due to its age, the manuscript carried lots of holes in it, so either not all words in the lyrics of the songs could be readable, or some words are just speculated to have been composed in the manuscript. This is what the readable part of the song read:

[M]irie it is while sumer ilast w[i]th fugheles song. Oc nu necheth windes blast and [wed]er strong. Ey ey what [this] [ni]c[ht] [is] long. And ich with [w]el michel wrong soregh [an]d [m]urne [a]nd [Unreadable part of the manuscript].

Because the song was written between c. 1200 and c. 1250 AD, it would not only sound much different, but also the majority of the words in the lyrics would be spelled and pronounced differently, if it were to be first composed and sung in the modern-day world.

This is the Modern English version of the song:

[M]erry it is while summer lasts, with fowl's song. But now nears the wind's blast and [weath]er strong. Ah, ah, how [this] [ni]g[ht] [is] long! And I with [w]ell much wrong, sorrow, [an]d [m]ourn, [a]nd [Unreadable part of the manuscript].

Related pages

• Sumer Is Icumen In, a song first composed and sung probably in England and probably during the Middle Ages.