At the End of the Feast is an "End of Christmas" Carol from England lamenting the end of holiday festivities. I find it to be humorous!
This song is also called A Carol for the 12th Day and was first printed in New Christmas Carols in 1642. It can also be found in Notes and Queries by Oxford University Press (1861).
Here you can listen to the carol and read along with the lyrics.
MP3 of At the End of the FeastAT THE END OF THE FEAST
by AnonymousMark well my heavy, doleful tale,
For Twelfth-day now is come,
And now I must no longer sing,
And say no words but mum;
For I perforce must take my leave
Of all my dainty cheer,
Plum-porridge, roast-beef, and minced-pies,
My strong ale and my beer.Kind-hearted Christmas, now adieu,
For I with thee must part,
And for to take my leave of thee
Doth grieve me at the heart;
Thou wert an ancient housekeeper,
And mirth with meat didst keep,
But thou art going out of town,
Which makes me for to weep.God knoweth whether I again
Thy merry face shall see,
Which to good fellows and the poor
That was so frank and free.
Thou lovedst pastime with thy heart,
And eke good company;
Pray hold me up for fear I swoon,
For I am like to die.Come, butler, fill a brimmer up
To cheer my fainting heart,
That to old Christmas I may drink
Before he doth depart;
And let each one that’s in this room
With me likewise condole,
And for to cheer their spirits sad
Let each one drink a bowl.And when the same it hath gone round
Then fall unto your cheer,
For you do know that Christmas time
It comes but once a year.
But this good draught which I have drunk
Hath comforted my heart,
For I was very fearful that
My stomach would depart.Thanks to my master and my dame
That doth such cheer afford;
God bless them, that each Christmas they
May furnish thus their board.
My stomach having come to me,
I mean to have a bout,
Intending to eat most heartily;
Good friends, I do not flout.Sung by Ezwa in Belgium
I hope you are faring better than the person in this song now that the holidays are over!
Welcome to January!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Sunday, January 1st, 2012 at 6:50 pm and is filed under At the End of the Feast, Christmas, Christmas Songs, Countries & Cultures, England, English, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Languages, New Years, New Years Songs, Recordings, Recordings of Songs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.