Words: © 1984 J.B. Goodenough
Music: © 1990 Gordon Bok
Judy sent this to me many years ago, as we were trading poems. It worked on me until I found this tune and harmony for it. I used to play the bass part on the 'cellamba and sing the upper part, but it took the January Men to give it the freedom it wanted. Cindy added the harmony on the last chorus.
The January Men
The candle's at the window and the sun is in the West
And the baby's in the cradle and the bird is on the nest
The young man's gone a-courting but the old man's home to stay
And in the fire's failing light we heard the old man say
Bless ye the setting of the sun, the candle set at foot and head
And bless ye fair maids, every one, that never came to warm my bed
Farewell whatever salty seas I never sailed upon
Farewell whatever roads that go where I have never gone
Farewell a hundred fallow fields that never did I plow
Farewell a hundred distant hills that I shall not climb now
Farewell to every tree whose fruit I never gathered up
Farewell to every jug in town that never filled my cup
Farewell the rivers fair and far that never I have crossed
And farewell the gold I never found and the silver I have lost