Than to us poor spirits, damned perpetually.

If all the sins that in the world there be

Were wholly done by one sole man

And then in heartfelt earnest he began

To feel remorse, straight he to grace hath won.

And we poor spirits, who have nought misdone,

Save for one brief presumptuous thought,

We be to the abyss down brought,

Hopeless in everlasting pain.

I, Lucifer’s procurator, ask again