The Ballad of Reading Goad

"The Ballad of Reading Goad"

by Oscar Wilde

And all the woe that moved him so

That gave that bitter cry,

And the wild regrets and bloody sweats,

None knew so well as I;

For he who lives more lives than one

More deaths than one must die...

And every human heart that breaks

In prison-cell or yard,

Is at that broken box that gave

Its treasure to the Lord,

And filled the unclean leper's house

With the scent of costliest nard.

Ah! Happy day they whose hearts can break

And peace and pardon win!

How else may man make straight his plan

And cleanse his soul from sin?

How else but through a broken heart

May Lord Christ enter in?