but for me it was a Homeric poem
:D I know the type
It is a funny thing really, as what has been lost is actually little more than time and energy, but the emotional reaction to it can leave scars. Perhaps we need a little perspective from time to time :)
I think the feeling is like a part of yourself has been erased forever. In addition to simple words, there are sensations, concepts, emotions, searches that are simply reset with a click.
I felt something like this when a watercolor painting was destroyed by a careless spill of dirty turpentine over it.
Paradoxically, the suffering was less than the loss of the writing, perhaps because my prospect of being able to redo the watercolor was more encouraging.
In my dad's collection, there is a painting that has a tire mark on the back, he had left it leaning against the car and then reversed - it gives it character :) Another time, the national gallery lost one of his works that they had on display.... They made it up for it with a hideous piece and that sat in our garage for years - from a relatively famous Australian artist :D
Some things can't be replaced.