So, now we are destroyed; utterly; more than utterly! <br />The gang of shameless peoples, the maddening music of war, <br />The sword fat with blood, the thundering of the guns <br />Have consumed our sweat and toil, exhausted our reserves. <br />Towers are on fire, churches turned upside down; <br />The town hall is in ruins, the strong cut down, destroyed. <br />Young girls are raped; wherever we turn our gaze, <br />Fire, plague, and death pierce heart and spirit through. <br />Here, town and ramparts run with ever-fresh streams of blood. <br />It's three times six years now, since our mighty river's flow <br />Was blocked almost by corpses, just barely trickling through. <br />Yet, I pass over in silence something more terrible than death, <br />More desperate even than plague, fire and famine; <br />That so many were bereaved of their soul's treasure too.<br /><br />Andreas Gryphius<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tears-of-the-fatherland/
