The shortest days weave through the year leading to spring

Day’s cold with snow falling in white flakes amid freezing winds

And nothing will now grow that sustains a man in rapturous cuisine

For the fields lie empty and the beasts are needed for the future

All quiets in lanes and hedgerows as nature beds her children to sleep

Till the warmer days come and days lighten with the rising gold sun

Tis a lonely time when skies lie silent and the nights echo empty days

Yet for me this time is one of great hope and joy for all I hold dear

For at this time not all that long ago was the world blessed with you

A child of these shorter days and born to a cold and barren world

And yet see how the grace of a year is harvested in one such as you

I was born on the first breath of spring when sap rises in noble trees

But you are the blessed child of autumn and take hold the world

Comforting us all with your grace so we can look to spring for

Offspring of warmer more hopeful times would know nothing of the...

Calm dignity of the world without the love of children of the fall