Frail Winter has soon taken to her bed
where stricken with a malady for days,
to sip her bitter tea with sorrow's bread,
her gown of rime now weathered as she prays.
...
Beneath the pale sun's melancholy ray
a tearful empress lays her garland down,
relinquishing her fragrance of renown,
where blossoms left on each abandoned spray
...