On them my noblest skill seems worse than thrown away.

How many thousands have I not buried!

Yet still a new fresh blood is hurried

Through fresh young veins, that I must sheer despair.

The earth, the water, and the air,

The moist, the dry, the hot, the cold,

A thousand germs of life unfold;

And had I not of flame made reservation,

I had no portion left in the creation.

Faust.