When the gods drave me forth to toil and assailed me with thirst and
beat me down with hunger, then I prayed to the gods. When the gods
smote the cities wherein I dwelt, and when Their anger scorched me and
Their eyes burned, then did I praise the gods and offer sacrifice. But
when I came again to my green land and found that all was gone, and the
old mysterious haunts wherein I prayed as a child were gone, and when
the gods tore up the dust and even the spider's web from the last
remembered nook, then did I curse the gods, speaking it to Their faces,
saying:--

"Gods of my prayers! Gods of my sacrifice! because Ye have forgotten
the sacred places of my childhood, and they have therefore ceased to
be, yet may I not forget. Because Ye have done this thing, Ye shall see
cold altars and shall lack both my fear and praise. I shall not wince
at Your lightnings, nor be awed when Ye go by."

Then looking seawards I stood and cursed the gods, and at this moment
there came to me one in the garb of a poet, who said:--

"Curse not the gods."

And I said to him:

"Wherefore should I not curse Those that have stolen my sacred places
in the night, and trodden down the gardens of my childhood?"

And he said "Come, and I will show thee." And I followed him to where
two camels stood with their faces towards the desert. And we set out
and I travelled with him for a great space, he speaking never a word,