Artwork Description:
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 remov d was summer s time,
The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,
Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime,
Like widow d wombs after their lords 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.
William Shakespeare