Why were you born when the snow was falling?

A Dirge (Uma Endecha)

BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

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.

Foi este poema que inspirou J. K. Rowling (autora de Harry Potter) a escrever o seu romance Cuckoo's Calling.