Robert Bridges, ed. (1844–1930). The Spirit of Man: An Anthology. 1916. | | | | Sonnet XCVII |
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | | HOW 1 like a winter hath my absence been | |
| From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! | |
| What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! | |
| What old December’s bareness everywhere! | |
| And yet this time remov’d was summer’s time; | 5 |
| The teeming autumn big with rich increase, | |
| Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime, | |
| Like widow’d wombs after their lord’s decease: | |
| Yet this abundant issue seem’d to me | |
| But hope of orphans and unfather’d fruit; | 10 |
| For summer and his pleasures wait on thee, | |
| And, thou away, the very birds are mute; | |
| Or, if they sing, ’t is with so dull a cheer | |
| That leaves look pale, dreading the winter’s near. | |
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