Busy seasons Tom Sharp

In July, Mars descends and we struggle into the barren fields. Our clothes have worn thin. We take up hoes and shiver in the cold wind. Women carry baskets on narrow paths to gather tender mulberry leaves. The young women are afraid of being noticed and given to nobles far away. Each month, another chore. Men trim high branches of the mulberries and hunt fox and boar. The furs are for a coat for the young lord. We give large boars to the lord but we might keep the small ones. Women gather herbs for medicine and dyes; they begin to spin and weave. They dye yellow, black, and red. Robes are for the noblemen, but not for the women’s families. Orioles, shrikes, cicadas, grasshoppers, and crickets keep the seasons just like us. After our harvest, grass withers. Rats and crickets invade our huts. By day we cut thatch for roofing; by night we weave ropes at the palace. We harvest and thresh grains; we pick grapes, beans, and mallow; we build storerooms for the harvest. There’s a time to gather firewood and a time to chisel ice. If we’re not patching our roofs, we’re sowing fields and planting. We make wine with our rice and with it we wish for long lives.

七月 诗经

七月流火，九月授衣。 一之日觱发，二之日栗烈。 无衣无褐，何以卒岁。 三之日于耜，四之日举趾。 同我妇子，饁彼南亩，田畯至喜。 七月流火，九月授衣。 春日载阳，有鸣仓庚。 女执懿筐，遵彼微行，爰求柔桑。 春日迟迟，采蘩祁祁。 女心伤悲，殆及公子同归。 七月流火，八月萑苇。 蚕月条桑，取彼斧斨， 以伐远扬，猗彼女桑。 七月鸣鵙，八月载绩。 载玄载黄，我朱孔阳，为公子裳。 四月秀葽，五月鸣蜩。 八月其获，十月陨蘀。 一之日于貉，取彼狐狸，为公子裘。 二之日其同，载缵武功， 言私其豵，献豜于公。 五月斯螽动股，六月莎鸡振羽。 七月在野，八月在宇，九月在户。 十月蟋蟀，入我牀下。 穹窒熏鼠。塞向墐户。 嗟我妇子，曰为改岁，入此室处。 六月食郁及薁，七月亨葵及菽。 八月剥枣，十月获稻。 为此春酒，以介眉寿。 七月食瓜，八月断壶，九月叔苴，采荼薪樗。 食我农夫。 九月筑场圃，十月纳禾稼。 黍稷重穋，禾麻菽麦。 嗟我农夫，我稼既同，上入执宫功。 昼尔于茅，宵尔索綯。 亟其乘屋，其始播百谷。 二之日凿冰冲冲，三之日纳于凌阴。 四之日其蚤，献羔祭韭。 九月肃霜，十月涤场。 朋酒斯飨，曰杀羔羊。 跻彼公堂，称彼兕觥，万寿无疆。