God I respect, yet love the universe.

Not pride, alas, it is, but love of man,

To mourn so terrible a stroke as this.

Would it console the sad inhabitants

Of these aflame and desolated shores

To say to them: “Lay down your lives in peace;

For the world’s good your homes are sacrificed;

Your ruined palaces shall others build,

For other peoples shall your walls arise;

The North grows rich on your unhappy loss;