A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes/Winter Song
XXXIII. WINTER SONG
When the trees are all bare, not a leaf to be seen,
And the meadows their beauty have lost;
When nature's disrobed of her garment of green,
And the streams are fast bound by the frost;
When the shepherd stands idle and shivers with cold,
As bleak the winds northerly blow;
When the innocent flocks run for ease to the fold,
With their fleeces besprinkled with snow.
In the yard when the cattle are foddered with straw,
And they send forth their breath like a stream;
And the neat-looking dairymaid sees she must thaw
Flakes of ice that she finds in the cream.
Then the lads and the lasses in company join'd,
Round the fireplace gather in glee,
Talk of fairies and witches that ride on the wind,
And whistle and sing so do we.