Dear Readers,
I know it’s only been five months since I posted a Shakespeare poem, but what’s fall without the most famous fall sonnet of them all? Admittedly it’s a bit gloomy, but I hope your autumn views (still spectacular here) make up for it.
Sonnet 73
William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
A view from my neighborhood.
Rosemary and Reading Glasses 
I can hardly believe it, but I’d never read that poem before! The last line is stunning.
I’m glad I posted it then!
The colours here this fall have been stunning. It almost hurts to look at them.
I imagine it’s similar where you are, because you’re really not very far away! 🙂
They have been beautiful–the pictures on this post are from my neighborhood, but a big storm this weekend took lots of them down, so now we’ll be looking at branches for the next six months . . .
We had the same storm with the same results. There are a few trees that are holding on, though, some of which are at the football field – nice for when I was too nervous to actually watch my son’s game – I could just stare off into the pretty trees instead. 🙂
You can never post too much Shakespeare in my opinion 🙂
(That’s my secret opinion too!)
I do love this one. “Bare ruin’d choirs” has to be one of my favourite take-aways of all Shakespeare.
Such a lovely phrase.
So jealous of your foliage! We’re finally getting some autumnal weather here, but for Louisiana that means, like, highs slightly lower than eighty. I’m still grateful though! I want to spend some time outside today reading in the sunshine before it gets too warm.
Sitting in my freezing living room, high seventies sounds pretty good. But we get the autumn to convince us to stay through another beastly winter, I guess.
Nice poem and nice picture. It’s a little more faded here in the Pacific Northwest, but at least I got to see the fall.