A Swarm of Gnats

Many thousand glittering motes
Crowd forward greedily together
In trembling circles.
Extravagantly carousing away
For a whole hour rapidly vanishing,
They rave,delirious,a shrill whir,
Shivering with joy against death.
While kingdoms, sunk into ruin,
Whose thrones, heavy with gold,instantly scattered
Into night and legend, without leaving a trace,
Have never known so fierce a dancing.

Hermann Hesse