Chosen

Orders shouted in a strange guttural tongue that resounded
Along the walls of the houses, which seemed dead and deserted
While behind the closed shutters, eyes watched the conquerors
Who by right of war, were now masters of the city
And of the lives and fortunes of its people
In their darkened ruins, the inhabitants have given way
To the same feeling of panic which is aroused by natural cataclysms
Those devastating upheavals of the Earth
Against which wisdom and strength alike are of no avail
Though the same feeling is experienced
Wherever the established order of things is upset
When security ceases to exist
When all that was previously protected by the laws of man and nature
Is suddenly placed at the mercy of brutal, unreasoning force
The earthquake, burying a whole people
Beneath the ruins of their houses
The river in spate, sweeping away the bodies of drowned
Peasants, together with the carcasses of cattle
And rafters torn from roofs
And the victorious army slaughtering all who resist
Making prisoners of the rest, looting by right of the sword
And thanking their God to the sound of cannon
All these are terrifying scourges
Which undermine all our belief in Eternal justice
And all the trust we have been taught
To place in divine protection and human reason