Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 97
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 97 (Shakespeare).
97
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! 4
And yet this time remov'd was summer's time,
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,
Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease: 8
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: 12
Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer,
That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.
5 time remov'd: time of absence
13 cheer: mood