Signs of the Season

Summary


"Signs of the Season" by William Barnes bursts with the sounds and warmth of a country Christmas gathering. Friends share tales, sing songs, and drain cups of ale through the long winter night. The poem pulses with boisterous energy — snapping tongs, shaking rafters, romping games of blind-man's buff — building to a heartfelt invitation: bring your fiddle, don't be late, and help keep old Christmas alive one more year.

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An’ ev’ry oone wull tell his tiale,
An’ ev’ry oone wull zing his zong,
An’ ev’ry oone wull drink his yal,
To love an’ frien’ship al night long.

We’ll snap the tongs, we’ll have a bal,
We’ll shiake the house, we’ll rise the ruf,
We’ll romp an’ miake the maidens squal,
A catchen o’m at bline-man’s buff.

Merry country Christmas gathering with fiddle and blind-man's buff, illustrating Signs of the Season by William Barnes.

Zoo come to marra night, an’ mind
Don’t leave thy fiddle-bag behind.
We’ll shiake a lag, an’ drink a cup
O’ yal to kip wold Chris’mas up.

Credits

William Barnes was a 19th-century English poet, clergyman, and philologist, celebrated for his verse written in the Dorset dialect of southwest England. "Signs of the Season" captures his characteristic delight in rural communal life, rendering a Christmas merrymaking scene in the vivid vernacular of his home county.