A Year's Carols

JANUARY     Hail, January, that bearest here     On snowbright breasts the babe-faced year     That weeps and trembles to be born.     Hail, maid and mother, strong and bright,     Hooded and cloaked and shod with white,     Whose eyes are stars that match the morn.     Thy forehead braves the storm's bent bow,     Thy feet enkindle stars of snow. FEBRUARY     Wan February with weeping cheer,     Whose cold hand guides the youngling year     Down misty roads of mire and rime,     Before thy pale and fitful face     The shrill wind shifts the clouds apace     Through skies the morning scarce may climb.     Thine eyes are thick with heavy tears,     But lit with hopes that light the year's. MARCH     Hail, happy March, whose foot on earth     Rings as the blast of martial mirth     When trumpets fire men's hearts for fray.     No race of wild things winged or finned     May match the might that wings thy wind     Through air and sea, through scud and spray.     Strong joy and thou were powers twin-born     Of tempest and the towering morn. APRIL     Crowned April, king whose kiss bade earth     Bring forth to time her lordliest birth     When Shakespeare from thy lips drew breath     And laughed to hold in one soft hand     A spell that bade the world's wheel stand,     And power on life, and power on death,     With quiring suns and sunbright showers     Praise him, the flower of all thy flowers. MAY     Hail, May, whose bark puts forth full-sailed     For summer; May, whom Chaucer hailed     With all his happy might of heart,     And gave thy rosebright daisy-tips     Strange fragrance from his amorous lips     That still thine own breath seems to part     And sweeten till each word they say     Is even a flower of flowering May. JUNE     Strong June, superb, serene, elate     With conscience of thy sovereign state     Untouched of thunder, though the storm     Scathe here and there thy shuddering skies     And bid its lightning cross thine eyes     With fire, thy golden hours inform     Earth and the souls of men with life     That brings forth peace from shining strife. JULY     Hail, proud July, whose fervent mouth     Bids even be morn and north be south     By grace and gospel of thy word,     Whence all the splendour of the sea     Lies breathless with delight in thee     And marvel at the music heard     From the ardent silent lips of noon     And midnight's rapturous plenilune. AUGUST     Great August, lord of golden lands,     Whose lordly joy through seas and strands     And all the red-ripe heart of earth     Strikes passion deep as life, and stills     The folded vales and folding hills     With gladness too divine for mirth,     The gracious glories of thine eyes     Make night a noon where darkness dies. SEPTEMBER     Hail, kind September, friend whose grace     Renews the bland year's bounteous face     With largess given of corn and wine     Through many a land that laughs with love     Of thee and all the heaven above,     More fruitful found than all save thine     Whose skies fulfil with strenuous cheer     The fervent fields that knew thee near. OCTOBER     October of the tawny crown,     Whose heavy-laden hands drop down     Blessing, the bounties of thy breath     And mildness of thy mellowing might     Fill earth and heaven with love and light     Too sweet for fear to dream of death     Or memory, while thy joy lives yet,     To know what joy would fain forget. NOVEMBER     Hail, soft November, though thy pale     Sad smile rebuke the words that hail     Thy sorrow with no sorrowing words     Or gratulate thy grief with song     Less bitter than the winds that wrong     Thy withering woodlands, where the birds     Keep hardly heart to sing or see     How fair thy faint wan face may be. DECEMBER     December, thou whose hallowing hands     On shuddering seas and hardening lands     Set as a sacramental sign     The seal of Christmas felt on earth     As witness toward a new year's birth     Whose promise makes thy death divine,     The crowning joy that comes of thee     Makes glad all grief on land or sea.