How like a winter hath my absence been <br />From Thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! <br />What freezings have I felt; what dark days seen, <br />What old December's bareness everywhere! <br /> <br />And yet this time removed was summer's time: <br />The teeming autumn big with rich increase, <br />Bearing the wanton burden of the prime <br />Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease; <br /> <br />Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me <br />But hope of orphans, and unfather'd fruit; <br />For summer and his pleasures wait on thee, <br />And, thou away, the very birds are more; <br />Or if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer, <br />That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near.<br /><br />William Shakespeare<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/how-like-a-winter-hath-my-absence-been/
