A Dirge – Christina Rossetti

A Dirge

By Christina Rossetti 1830–1894
Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,
Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
   For their far off flying
   From summer dying.
Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the apples’ dropping,
When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
   And all winds go sighing
   For sweet things dying.

J.K. Rowling named her second adult book (initially published under a pseudonym) The Cuckoo’s Calling.

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