Sonnet 97
How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!What old December's bareness every where!
And yet this time removed was summer's timeThe teeming autumn, big with rich increase,Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:
Yet this abundant issue seem'd to meBut hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,And, thou away, the very birds are mute:
Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer,That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.