"How lonely she is now, the once-crowded city!
Widowed is she who was princess among provinces.
She has gone into exile;
Yet where she lives she finds no rest.
Her roads mourn for lack of pilgrims;
All her gateways are deserted.
Her filth is on her skirt;
O look, Lord,
upon her misery! (Lam 1:1,3,4,9)"

How fitting that something written thousands of years ago would
be so appropriate now.