| Come all you lads and lasses, I’d have you give attention
|
| To these few lines I’m about to write here
|
| 'Tis of the four seasons of the year that I shall mention
|
| The beauty of all things doth appear
|
| And now you are young and all in your prosperity
|
| Come cheer up your hearts and revive like the spring
|
| Join off in pairs like the birds in February
|
| That St. Valentine’s Day it forth do bring
|
| Then cometh Spring, which all the land doth nourish;
|
| The fields are beginning to be decked with green
|
| The trees put forth their buds and the blossoms they do flourish
|
| And the tender blades of corn on the earth are to be seen
|
| Don’t you see the little lambs by the dams a-playing?
|
| The cuckoo is singing in the shady grove
|
| The flowers they are springing, the maids they go a-Maying
|
| In love all hearts seem now to move
|
| Next cometh Autumn with the sun so hot and piercing;
|
| The sportsman goes forth with his dog and his gun
|
| To fetch down the woodcock, the partridge and the pheasant
|
| For health and for profit as well as for fun
|
| Behold, with loaded apple-trees the farmer is befriended
|
| They will fill up his casks that have long laid dry
|
| All nature seems to weary now, her task is nearly ended
|
| And more of the seasons will come by and by
|
| When night comes on with song and tale we pass the wintry hours;
|
| By keeping up a cheerful heart we hope for better days
|
| We tend the cattle, sow the seed, give work unto the ploughers
|
| With patience wait till winter yields before the sun’s fair rays
|
| And so the world goes round and round, and every time and season
|
| With pleasure and with profit crowns the passage of the year
|
| And so through every time of life, to him who acts with reason
|
| The beauty of all things doth appear |