# CLXI: The Month of Mary explained — Verses on Various Occasions > Chapter companion for Verses on Various Occasions by John Henry Newman. ## What happens A song celebrating the beauty of May while contrasting earthly transience with Mary's eternal glory. The poem warns against the fleeting nature of worldly joys and sin, invoking Mary as a perpetual, unfading queen who leads to Paradise. ## Themes in this chapter ### Transience and Eternity The poem contrasts the fleeting beauty of May's grass, flowers, and sun with Mary's eternal, unfading throne. ### Sin and Redemption Warns that earthly joys can lead to sin, but Mary's intercession offers a path to Paradise and rest. ### Nature and the Divine Nature's beauty images forth a divine, eternal home, pointing beyond itself to Paradise and the Tree of Life. ## Character check-ins ### Mary Invoked as 'Mother maid' and 'Queen of May,' portrayed as eternally throned and unfading, in contrast to the transient beauty of nature. ### Sinner Implied as the one who may be tempted by earthly sights and sin, warned of sin's heavy doom. ### Nature Described through green leaves, flowers, grass, and sunshine, all subject to decay and transience. ## Key lines > Green are the leaves, and sweet the flowers, And rich the hues of May; We see them in the gardens round, And market-paniers gay The leaves are green, the flowers sweet, and May's colors are rich; we see them in gardens and in cheerful market baskets. _Opens with a vivid description of May's natural beauty in both rural and urban settings._ > Green is the grass, but wait awhile, ’Twill grow, and then will wither; The flowrets, brightly as they smile, Shall perish altogether The grass is green now, but soon it will grow and then wither; the bright flowers, however they smile, will all perish. _Highlights the transience of nature's beauty._ > But Mother maid, thou dost not fade; With stars above thy brow, And the pale moon beneath thy feet, For ever throned art thou. But you, Mother and maiden, do not fade; you are crowned with stars, with the pale moon under your feet, enthroned forever. _Contrasts Mary's eternal, heavenly glory with earthly decay._ > They tell us of that Paradise Of everlasting rest, And that high Tree, all flowers and fruit, The sweetest, yet the best. They speak to us of that Paradise of eternal rest, and of that tall Tree, covered with flowers and fruit, the sweetest and best of all. _Nature's beauty points to the heavenly Paradise and the Tree of Life._ > O Mary, pure and beautiful, Thou art the Queen of May; Our garlands wear about thy hair, And they will ne’er decay. O Mary, pure and beautiful, you are the Queen of May; we place our garlands around your hair, and they will never decay. _Final chorus affirms Mary's eternal queenship and the imperishable nature of her honor._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/verses_on_various_occasions_se/chapters/clxi-the-month-of-mary - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/verses_on_various_occasions_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/verses_on_various_occasions_se/chapters