Norfolk Winter Follies

Verse 1

Roll up! Roll up! For old winter’s tragi-comedy

She will show the sights no other season can

Norfolk winter tells us “Slow you down

‘Till the warmer weather comes around”

Verse 2

Autumn lays a misty glaze over the countryside

Frost will cast an icy spell upon the town

Trees and flowers hide their seeds away

Spring will tell them “Now it’s time to play!”

Verse 3

Beast will feast no more for days and weeks and months to come

Squirrel buries nuts to store beneath the ground

Sunbeams, rarer, slanting down so low

Those who can do, know its time to go

Verse 4

Swallow spread their wings, long since, for places in the sun

Birds are lucky they are not terrestrial bound

Robin and his friends decide to stay

“Let the others take their holiday!”

Verse 5

Winter wheat is out there growing in the farmer’s field

Once the beet is lifted from the rugged plough

Pheasant raised in summer to be shot

Join the partridge in cooking the pot

Verse 6

Sun is climbing higher in the heaven’s azimuth

Frost gives way to mud when melted with the snow

For some creatures this one was their last

Shed no tears at all for winters past

Coda

Next year’s show will have a brand new cast!