| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| William Shakespeare. 1564–1616 |
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156. Sonnets
xii |
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| HOW 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 removed was summer's time; | 5 |
| The teeming Autumn, big with rich increase, | |
| Bearing the wanton burden 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, 'tis with so dull a cheer | |
| That leaves look pale, dreading the Winter 's near. | |
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