Behind us the wrath and the ruin left,

We are bruised and broken in fields bereft

Of their gentle flocks and peaceful herds;

We know, we know in our black war-woe,

There’s not a grace of gain for it all,

There’s not a spear of grain from it all.

O woe are we in this rusted red,

And woe the hearts which we’ve pierced and bled;

No honor is here, no glory bright,

But shame that is deeper than speech can tell,