Carolina
Carol
Gentle weather, meek and mild,
Promise us a holy child.
While the wet wind bows the thorn,
In winter rain let spring be born.
Mockingbird, awake and sing
From every branch the sap's upswing
Inside the barren, dreaming oak
Which wears the warm sky like a cloak.
Let grape hyacinth rejoice.
Raise its spears in yellow grass.
Through these short-lived twilit hours,
Wrens fall silent; still He flowers.
Cardinal like a scarlet flame
On the bare dogwood, proclaim
The shaken seed-head, swelling bud --
Our Spring has come in flesh and blood.
