Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No. 17 The January Man

THE JANUARY MAN

This one is a bit of whimsy. I wrote it after hearing Martin Carthy's version of The January Man - a song by Dave Goulder (you can Google it to read his lyrics). Being written in England the seasons in the original song run in a northern hemisphere order in relation to the months of the year. I felt it would be fun (living in Australia) to make a southern hemisphere version. The last line can be taken (for those disinclined to believe, e.g. in reincarnation) as "time" itself.

THE JANUARY MAN

Southern Hemisphere

(With acknowledgement and apologies to Dave Goulder)

The January man takes holidays

And gazes through hot, summer haze,

At sand and foam, white in bright sun,

And thinks the year has just begun.

The February man sweats in the sun,

And sits in cool dusk when day’s done,

And sometimes sees wild, evening storms,

With lightning flash on vast, cloud forms.

The man of March knows summer’s gone,

And cooler autumn’s coming on,

And sees the days of sparkling light,

And days when drizzle dims the sight.

The April man finds summer’s flower

Is ripening to rich fruit now,

And knows the year’s well past its birth

And autumn are the clothes of earth.

The man of May sees light grow less,

As life slows in its autumn dress,

He sees the seed drop to the ground,

Feels winter’s foretaste all around.

The man in June wakes to cold dawn

And sees white frost upon the lawn;

The year goes through its shortest light

And sparkles stars in longest night.

And in July an ice wind blows

From far south lands, all filled with snows,

The year has passed its middle mark-

Night blankets blunt the bite of dark.

The August man sees dusk’s light rose,

Around the skyline its shimmer shows

That soon the winter too will go

And spring will bring new warm sun-glow.

September man will greet the spring

And see new shoots in everything,

And now fresh days feel warm and longer,

Impulse of life once more grows stronger.

While white clouds dream on sun-bright sky

And swallows wheel and flit on by,

The smiling October man is resting

Where bushes bud and birds are nesting.

November man views shining days,

All shimmering in rippling haze

Of growing heat and greater sun,

And knows the spring has almost gone.

December man greets summer’s sun

And sees the year’s long race is run.

He tells eleven brothers how

They’re all a little older now.

Once more the January man appears,

Beginning all the turning years,

In every change of life and weather,

Upon a road that runs forever.