| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Winter | | By William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | From “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Act V. Scene 2 |
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WHEN icicles hang by the wall, | |
| And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, | |
| And Tom bears logs into the hall, | |
| And milk comes frozen home in pail, | |
| When blood is nipped, and ways be foul, | 5 |
| Then nightly sings the staring owl, | |
| Tu-whit! | |
| Tu-who!—a merry note, | |
| While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. 1 | |
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| When all around the wind doth blow, | 10 |
| And coughing drowns the parson’s saw, 2 | |
| And birds sit brooding in the snow, | |
| And Marian’s nose looks red and raw, | |
| When roasted crabs 3 hiss in the bowl, | |
| Then nightly sings the staring owl | 15 |
| Tu-whit! | |
| Tu-who!—a merry note, | |
| While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. | |
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