When icicles hang by the wall
   And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
   And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
                Tu-whoo!
Tu-whit! tu-whoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
   And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
   And Marian’s nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl—

When winter first begins to bite
    and stones crack in the frosty night,
when pools are black and trees are bare,
    ’tis evil in the Wild to fare.

Look, there is Fastitocalon!
An island good to land upon,
   Although ’tis rather bare.
Come, leave the sea! And let us run,
   Or dance, or lie down in the sun!
See, gulls are sitting there!
                      Beware!
                     Gulls do not sink.
There they may sit, or strut and prink:
         Their part is to tip the wink,
If anyone should dare
    Upon that isle to settle,
         Or only for a while to get
    Relief from sickness or the wet,
      Or maybe boil a kettle.