Macromere Press

Then came old February, sitting

In an old wagon, for he could not ride,

Drawn of two fishes for the season fitting,

Which through the flood before did softly slide

And swim away; yet had he by his side

His plough and harness fit to till the ground,

And tools to prune the trees, before the pride

Of hasting pride did make them burgeon wide.

    — Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

Then came old January, wrapped well

In many weeds to keep the cold away;

Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell,

And blowe his nayles to warm them if he may;

For they were numbed with holding all the day

An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood,

And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray;

Upon an huge great Earth-pot Steane he stood,

From whose wide mouth there flowed forth the Romane flood.

     — Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)