As I've mentioned elsewhere, I decided to make a serious effort to become a bardic champion for 2011, and instructed my apprentice to give me challenges to sharpen my ability to write on demand. One of her suggestions was a poem about the seasons and astrology. Now, as far as I'm concerned, astrology is somewhat lower in value than fortune cookies (where you at least get to eat the cookies), but the zodiacal signs are an important theme in western culture, so I should at the very least know something about them. As for the seasons: to determine what people did at different times during the medieval year, I used (primarily) the Book of Hours of the Duke du Berry.
The Sonnet of the Seasons
On newborn sun the sea goat seeks the sky
No water bearer can withstand the solar fire
Soon sky fish see the rains of wheat and rye
And Aries' rise will nuptial vows inspire.
Soon sisters share the sky with sharp-eyed hawks,
While twins prepare the hay for winter's blight
The scythe and shear strike forth as Cancer walks,
And chaff dares fly in Lion's watchful sight.
The maiden's harvest sweet or sour will grow
While coulter's cut on Libra's balanced days
The scorpion brings a noble line down low
To feed the pigs whose kin the Archer slays.
The year, now done, its tasks the stars may guide
But hands and mind alone our fates decide.
Notes