There fell upon them, as a shadow cast

By purple clouds upon a limpid lake,

A sadness that no human voice could tell.

Forebodings of the suffering of Wilde

Depressed them so that, kneeling down, they wept.

They wept over the dire humiliation

Awaiting him who is the pride of God,

And over man’s stupidity they wept—

The colossal stupidity of man.

IMPERIALISM