All that was is gone to ruin

"Once there were islands all a-sprout with palms: and coral reefs and sands as white as milk.  What is there now but a vast shambles of the heart?  Filth, squalor, and a world of little men." - Muzzlehatch, Titus Alone, Chapter 114, The Illustrated Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake.