Sonnets xii

By William Shakespeare

1564-1616

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;
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;
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.

DayPoems Poem No. 157
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/157.html">Sonnets xii by William Shakespeare</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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