How like a winter your absence has been
how cold the days    how dark the starry nights
and all around the bare December scene
I swear it breaks my heart to see such sights
The countryside now racked by bitter frosts
no leaf    no fruit    just misery abounds
and farmers facing ruin
                                      count their costs
while poacher and gamekeeper do their rounds
And yet all seemed so fair in summer time
when you and I took pleasure where we willed
with joy each village steeple seemed to chime
and not a day went by but it was filled
with love in all its deep simplicity
our loving hearts content
                                          as they should be

John Lyons