I think of wife and child who perished not;

When dies my wife or son, I thank the gods

That Death crept all so near and touched not me.

And when his certain hour to clutch me comes

I'll think of famines, plagues, of earthquakes, floods,

And nations swept away. And still I'll cure

Such broad affliction with the thought of how

The Universe itself is but a shell

To crackle when it please the hand that made it.

So, friends, I mend each woe with its own cloth