When the brown bowl is filled for yule, let the dome
or upper half be set on; then let the waes-haelers
kneel one by one and draw up the wine with their
reeds through the two bosses at the rim. Let one
breath only be drawn by each of the morice for his
waes-hael.
Waes-hael for knight and dame!
O! merry be their dole;
Drink-hael! in Jesu’s name
We fill the tawny bowl;
But cover down the curving crest,
Mould of the Orient Lady’s breast.
Waes-hael! yet lift no lid:
Drain ye the reeds for wine.
Drink-hael! the milk was hid
That soothed that Babe divine;
Hushed, as this hollow channel flows,
He drew the balsam from the rose.
Waes-hael! thus glowed the breast
Where a God yearned to cling;
Drink-hael! so Jesu pressed
Life from its mystic spring;
Then hush, and bend in reverent sign,
And breathe the thrilling reeds for wine.
Waes-hael! in shadowy scene,
Lo! Christmas children we;
Drink-hael! behold we lean
At a far Mother’s knee;
To dream, that thus her bosom smiled,
And learn the lip of Bethlehem’s Child.
R. S. HAWKER