Who can finish this song?

[Mithras]

I loved a maid as fair as summer, with sunlight in her hair.

I loved a maid as red as autumn, with sunset in her hair.

I loved a maid as white as winter, with moonglow in her hair.

This song is given in bits at several places. What could be the verse for the spring?

[Knight and Dayne]

I loved a maid as sweet as springtime, with sunrise in her hair.

Additional question: Who are the maids? And who are the lovers?

[Ibbison from Ibben]

I loved a maid as green as spring, with sunrise in her hair.

Or could be fresh as spring, but I'm betting green.

fair as summer - Cersei, Dany

red as autumn - Mel, Sansa

white as winter - Val, Arya

green as spring - Marg, Meera

[Mithras]

I loved a maid as green as spring, with sunrise in her hair.

Or could be fresh as spring, but I'm betting green.

fair as summer - Cersei, Dany

red as autumn - Mel, Sansa

white as winter - Val, Arya

green as spring - Marg, Meera

This sounds good. I will go with "fresh" and "sunrise".

[Julia H.]

I like fresh, too. A "green maid" sounds a bit weird. Sunrise is perfect, though I can see why one may want to suggest dawn.

[Daendrew]

It is not about specific women like Dany and Cersei.

When he gave his seed he gave his soul to her.

He loved a woman who went from sun light, to sunset to winter.

A maid is singular. It never changed to become multiple women. This is the song about a woman who became an unWoman.

See my post on The Dornishman's Wife. It is awful.

You don't want us to finish this song. Trust me. It doesn't end well :)

[Ibbison from Ibben]

I like fresh, too. A "green maid" sounds a bit weird. Sunrise is perfect, though I can see why one may want to suggest dawn.

The song is titled "Seasons of My Love". "Seasons" suggest something cyclical.

"Dawn" wouldn't fit the meter. We need a two syllable word in that spot. Thus "sunrise".

"Red" and "white" are both colors, and in this case "fair" likely refers to "fair haired" - blond, yellow. golden. So we should go with green. The color, however, is symbolic, so don't look for green hair.

Summer is the time of plenty, with golden fields of grain. Cersei's golden hair matches the gold of the sun, as befits a Lannister. (Lann the Clever stole gold from the sun to color his hair...) She was queen during the Long Summer. Dany traces her heritage to Valyria, in the Lands of the Long Summer (obviously a prosperous place).

Autumn is associated with red, of course, due to leaf colors. Also with fire, which must replace the dying sun. Mel and Sansa both are associated with fire. (Arya notes that Robb, Sansa , Bran, and Rickon all have the Tully look - "fire in their hair". Arya I, AGoT) They are also both linked with dying - Sansa's childhood dreams are dying, Mel is fighting to preserve a dying world. (I left out Ygritte because she is dead.)

White, winter, and sterility are linked. Val and Arya are both obviously linked with winter, but also with sterility - Val is unmarried and has no children; Arya isn't fertile yet.

Green goes with spring and rebirth. Tyrells are linked with growth, and are connected to Garth Greenhand of House Gardener, a classic fertility figure. Green-eyed Meera comes from the crannogmen, who were close to the Earth Singers, who understand the cycle of life.

Of course, not all these women are maids. Cersei isn't. Mel isn't. Val probably isn't. (remember her boy toy Jarl?) Dany was at the beginning of the story. Margaery, well, is disputed. Sansa and Meera are. Arya isn't a maid, yet; she's still a girl.

More importantly, the "Maid of Spring, the Spring Maid" is important from a symbolic standpoint. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in this read The Golden Bough by James Frazer. (Free at The Gutenburg Project.) He studied the old folk festivals before they were lost to modernization. Jon has been labeled as the "Corn King", the male agricultural/fertility god that is born at Yule, matures through the year, and dies at harvest, only to be reborn the next year. At Beltane (halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice) the Corn King weds the Spring Maid (an aspect of the Earth Mother). The consummation of their wedding restores fertility to the land.

Significant to our story, maybe?

[Julia H.]

The song is titled "Seasons of My Love". "Seasons" suggest something cyclical.

"Dawn" wouldn't fit the meter. We need a two syllable word in that spot. Thus "sunrise".

"Red" and "white" are both colors, and in this case "fair" likely refers to "fair haired" - blond, yellow. golden. So we should go with green. The color, however, is symbolic, so don't look for green hair.

Summer is the time of plenty, with golden fields of grain. Cersei's golden hair matches the gold of the sun, as befits a Lannister. (Lann the Clever stole gold from the sun to color his hair...) She was queen during the Long Summer. Dany traces her heritage to Valyria, in the Lands of the Long Summer (obviously a prosperous place).

Autumn is associated with red, of course, due to leaf colors. Also with fire, which must replace the dying sun. Mel and Sansa both are associated with fire. (Arya notes that Robb, Sansa , Bran, and Rickon all have the Tully look - "fire in their hair". Arya I, AGoT) They are also both linked with dying - Sansa's childhood dreams are dying, Mel is fighting to preserve a dying world. (I left out Ygritte because she is dead.)

White, winter, and sterility are linked. Val and Arya are both obviously linked with winter, but also with sterility - Val is unmarried and has no children; Arya isn't fertile yet.

Green goes with spring and rebirth. Tyrells are linked with growth, and are connected to Garth Greenhand of House Gardener, a classic fertility figure. Green-eyed Meera comes from the crannogmen, who were close to the Earth Singers, who understand the cycle of life.

Of course, not all these women are maids. Cersei isn't. Mel isn't. Val probably isn't. (remember her boy toy Jarl?) Dany was at the beginning of the story. Margaery, well, is disputed. Sansa and Meera are. Arya isn't a maid, yet; she's still a girl.

More importantly, the "Maid of Spring, the Spring Maid" is important from a symbolic standpoint. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in this read The Golden Bough by James Frazer. (Free at The Gutenburg Project.) He studied the old folk festivals before they were lost to modernization. Jon has been labeled as the "Corn King", the male agricultural/fertility god that is born at Yule, matures through the year, and dies at harvest, only to be reborn the next year. At Beltane (halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice) the Corn King weds the Spring Maid (an aspect of the Earth Mother). The consummation of their wedding restores fertility to the land.

Significant to our story, maybe?

Fair can definitely mean 'fair-haired', but it is still not a colour the same way red and white are. Similarly, fresh is not a colour, but it can be very easily associated with plants, thus it evokes the idea of "green" and more than that (just like fair evokes the idea of colours and more), and we can avoid the phrase "green maid" (which may be symbolic, but it still reminds me of "green with envy").

Actually I read The Golden Bough (though it was a long time ago and not in English but in translation). I know about the Corn King and the symbolism, too, and I agree that it is absolutely relevant. I haven't yet considered the wedding of the Corn King and the Spring Maid, however. Now I think it's really intriguing on the one hand, that our Corn King is sworn to celibacy (what does this suggest with regard to the future of Westeros?) and, on the other hand, that he has loved an Autumn Maid, he has resisted the charms of a Winter Maid, he is "shipped" by many fans with a Summer Maid, but he has found no Spring Maid yet.

It is interesting that the "Spring Maid" part of the song is left out, although perhaps we are meant to understand the missing part by inference. :) It could be just a clever way of emphasis.

[Lykos]

It got me.

[Lykos]

How about - I loved a maid as mint as springtime, with sunrise in her hair - ? Mint is a colour and doesn't have the negative connotation that green has. I like the aspect of being unblemished that comes with mint, but I've never seen it used for a person only for products.

I don't like red as autumn for Sansa, I don't think that she has come to fruition yet or served her purpose. I see Sansa more in between winter and spring.

Here is an interesting poem about spring (or love or both) personified by a maid.

Within a vale, each infant year,
When earliest larks first carol free,
To humble shepherds cloth appear
A wondrous maiden, fair to see.
Not born within that lowly place--
From whence she wandered, none could tell;
Her parting footsteps left no trace,
When once the maiden sighed farewell.

And blessed was her presence there--
Each heart, expanding, grew more gay;
Yet something loftier still than fair
Kept man's familiar looks away.
From fairy gardens, known to none,
She brought mysterious fruits and flowers--
The things of some serener sun--
Some Nature more benign than ours.

With each her gifts the maiden shared--
To some the fruits, the flowers to some;
Alike the young, the aged fared;
Each bore a blessing back to home.
Though every guest was welcome there,
Yet some the maiden held more dear,
And culled her rarest sweets whene'er
She saw two hearts that loved draw near.

Friedrich Schiller

[Ibbison from Ibben]

and, on the other hand, that he has loved an Autumn Maid, he has resisted the charms of a Winter Maid, he is "shipped" by many fans with a Summer Maid, but he has found no Spring Maid yet.

That's a nice bit of insight. I'm quite sure he'll find the Spring Maid (or she'll find him) very soon. (I'm a dedicated Jon+Meera shipper.)

It is interesting that the "Spring Maid" part of the song is left out, although perhaps we are meant to understand the missing part by inference. :) It could be just a clever way of emphasis.

Just call it foreshadowing by absence.

[Knight Of Winter]

I very much liked this version by Leonard Snow:

I loved a maid as fair as summer, with sunrise in her hair
There lived no other in the world could in my heart compare
Her eyes were stars of midnight bliss, her laugh a meadow breeze
I would have done all that she asked, so quick was I to please

I loved a maid as red as autumn, with sunset in her hair
Embraced in velvet lullabies, such sweetness did we share
We were all we ever had but we were wild and free
And in the lands you would not find a soul as lark as me

I loved a maid as white as winter, with snowflakes in her hair
The seasons of our love had both a beauty and despair
Two hearts that beat as one were we, our song was meant to be
And in the skies you would not find a dove as spry as she

I loved a maid as bright as spring, with blossoms in her hair
I loved her fierce, I loved her true, we were doomed; we did not care
The hands of time would take from me, even she was not to spare
In the whispers of my dreams, I still see my maiden fair