Poetic Blast from the Past: The Lord of Misrule

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English poet Alfred Noyes had a pretty good idea about how to celebrate May. As a farewell to Create's May emphasis, we leave you with his thoughts.

The Lord of Misrule

People celebrating May Day with music and garlands.
“On May days the wild heads of the parish would choose a Lord of Misrule, whom they would follow even into the church, though the minister were at prayer or preaching, dancing and swinging their may-boughs about like devils incarnate.” – Old Puritan Writer.
All on a fresh May morning, I took my love to church,
To see if Parson Primrose were safely on his perch.
He scarce had got to Thirdly, or squire begun to snore,
When, like a sun-lit sea-wave,
A green and crimson sea-wave,
A frolic of madcap May-folk came whooping through the door:
Come up, come in with streamers!
Come in, with boughs of May!
Come up and thump the sexton,
And carry the clerk away.
Now skip like rams, ye mountains,
Ye little hills, like sheep!
Come up and wake the people
That parson puts to sleep.

Alfred Noyes, The Lord of Misrule, 1915.

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