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Labor and the Angel

Chapter 41: MADRIGAL.
By Duncan Campbell Scott
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Poetry

About This Book

A collection of lyrical and narrative poems that intertwine rural and natural imagery with meditations on work, love, and moral responsibility. Poems depict harvests, seasonal change, and small lives—often pairing intimate domestic scenes with broader social observation—while recurring angelic and spiritual motifs frame labor as both suffering and sacred duty. Several sequences offer seasonal songs and short dramatic narratives; others turn to elegiac or reflective moods, addressing poverty, endurance, consolation, and the consolatory powers of love and service. The tone ranges from vivid sensory description to moral and communal critique, united by plain diction and musical cadence.

MADRIGAL.

Snow-drops now begin in snows,
Crocuses to flush,
Gentle scilla buds and blows
Nurtured in the slush;
All about, like tinkling bells,
Falls the ice a-melting;
Ring, dilly dilly,—Sing, dilly dilly,—
Spring is here,
And the wolf is out of his den, O;
With a ren, O; and a fen, O;
And a den, den, den, O;
Sing, dilly dilly.
Slender moon is floating down
Through a vat of wine,
Bells knoll from the drowsy town,
Din—din—dine;
All about the red robins
Whistle in the dusk;
Ring, dilly dilly,—Sing, dilly dilly,—
Spring is here,
And the lambs are safe in their pen, O;
With a ren, O; and a fen, O;
And a den, den, den, O;
Sing, dilly dilly.
Comrade virgins clad in green
Quaff the nimble air;
Each one, if her mate’s unseen,
Is the fairest fair;
Bran is hidden in the hedge
Breathing on his reeds;
Ring, dilly dilly,—Sing, dilly dilly,—
Spring is here,
And maidens beware of the men, O;
With a ren, O; and a fen, O;
And a den, den, den, O;
Sing, dilly dilly.