Rondel of Charles D'Orleans

The world has thrown its clothes away—

The winter winds, the rain, the cold—

And wears a cloak of sunshine, bold

And clear and shining all the day.

Now every creature's come to say

That new clothes have replaced the old:

The world has thrown its clothes away.

The winter winds, the rain, the cold

Are gone, and every stream must play

In finery the sun's unrolled

With silver sequins, coins of gold.

All waters spangle, ray by ray.

The world has thrown its clothes away.

Len Krisak

© 2001; originally printed in Commonweal
Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the
author.