Sonnet 98
From you have I been absent in the spring,
absence
spring
beauty
longing
From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew;
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem'd it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play:
What It Means
Spring arrived with all its colors and smells — the lily, the rose, every flower. Shakespeare ignored all of it. He played with flowers, but they were only shadows of the young man. He drew their appearance, imagining the young man's face. Even the most beautiful things are only placeholders.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence, companion to Sonnet 97.
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