When no stone is left standing,
and ruin is complete,
When all is ash and scattered,
salted earth beneath our feet,

The rise and fall of nations
ought be no deep concern.
If time has come for cleansing
fire, let it burn.

Preserve by living daily
by values, by ideals,
That which the mass, unthinking,
eventually steals.

Endure the rude transition,
Relocate and rebuild.
We live and die by that which God
permits as much as willed.

We don't need all the answers,
we wouldn't understand,
Except to know, howe'er winds blow,
the final chapter's grand.