Chill penury and winter's power <br />Upon my soul so hard have prest, <br />That I would fain have seen no more <br />The red flow'rs that the meadows drest: <br /> <br />Yet, truth! 'twere hard, if I were gone, <br />Upon the merry-making throng, <br />That loud with joy was wont to ring, <br />And o'er the green to dance and spring!<br /><br />Walther von der Vogelweide<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/chill-penury-and-winter-s-power/
