When icicles hang by the wall,

___ And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,

And Tom bears logs into the hall,

___ And milk comes frozen home in pail,

When blood is nipped, and ways be foul,

Then nightly sings the staring owl,

________ To-whoo;

To-whit, to-whoo, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,

___ And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,

And birds sit brooding in the snow,

___ And Marian’s nose looks red and raw,

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,

Then nightly sings the staring owl,

________ To-whoo;

To-whit, to-whoo, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

~ William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

From “Love’s Labor ’s Lost,” Act V. Sc. 2