The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #117201 Message #2523634
Posted By: Jack Blandiver
24-Dec-08 - 05:09 AM
Thread Name: The Holly & the Ivy (Wren's Heart)
Subject: RE: The Holly & the Ivy (Wren's Heart)
it looks very cosy and musical
That was going to be the dining room originally, but over the months we've lived here it's evolved into an ideal music room. Soon the flame effect gas fire's coming out & the wood burning stove's going in; so even cosier & more conducive to the music - wood ash notwithstanding!
As for the words - these go back maybe 25 years or so, to a time when I was of the rather Frazerian belief that all things Folkloric were of ancient & pagan significance. Here they are anyway - those in italics are traditional, the rest are my own...
The holly and the ivy
Now they both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.
The rising of the winter sun,
The running of the deer
The holy seed of the mistletoe
In the dawning of the year
In winter time I dance alone
And felt the growing cold
And lighting fires from fallen trees
I warmed my dying soul
I saw the sun reborn again
Melt through the winter snow
And drank afresh from holy streams
Swollen by the thaw
The holly bears a sharp prickle
As sharp as any thorn
The wren's heart pierced in the darkest night
Is healed before the dawn
*
There were other verses, but I forget them now...