Why do the clock-hopperssing, <br />And fever rustle <br />And dry stove crackle -- <br />It is red silk burning. <br /> <br />Why do the mice grind with their teeth <br />The slender ground of life -- <br />A swallow has loosened <br />My shuttle for her daughter. <br /> <br />Why does rain murmur on the roof -- <br />It is black silk burning, <br />But the cherry blossom will hear, <br />And on the bottom of the sea, forgive. <br /> <br />Because of the death of the innocent <br />And with no way to help, <br />In a nightingale's fever, <br />There is still a warm heart.<br /><br />Osip Emilevich Mandelstam<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/why-do-the-clock-hopperssing/
