Sweeter was Loss by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Sweeter was loss than silver coins to spend, / Sweeter was famine than the belly filled; Better than blood in the vein was the blood spilled;

Better than corn and healthy flocks to tend

And a tight roof and acres without end

Was the barn burned and the mild creatures killed, / And the back aging fast, and all to build:

For then it was, his neighbour was his friend. Then for a moment the averted eye

Was turned upon him with benignant beam, / Defiance faltered, and derision slept; He saw as in a not unhappy dream

The kindly heads against the horrid sky, / And scowled, and cleared his throat and spat, and / wept.