Баллада Редингской тюрьмы

And thus we rust Life's iron chainDegraded and alone:And some men curse, and some men weep,And some men make no moan:But God's eternal Laws are kindAnd break the heart of stone.And every human heart that breaks,In prison-cell or yard,Is as that broken box that gaveIts treasure to the Lord,And filled the unclean leper's houseWith the scent of costliest nard.

Ah! happy day they whose hearts can breakAnd peace of pardon win!How else may man make straight his planAnd cleanse his soul from Sin?How else but through a broken heartMay Lord Christ enter in?

* * *

And he of the swollen purple throat.And the stark and staring eyes,Waits for the holy hands that tookThe Thief to Paradise;And a broken and a contrite heart

The Lord will not despise.The man in red who reads the LawGave him three weeks of life,Three little weeks in which to healHis soul of his soul's strife,And cleanse from every blot of bloodThe hand that held the knife.And with tears of blood he cleansed the hand,The hand that held the steel:For only blood can wipe out blood,And only tears can heal:And the crimson stain that was of Cain

Became Christ's snow-white seal.

VI

In Reading gaol by Reading townThere is a pit of shame,And in it lies a wretched manEaten by teeth of flame,In burning winding-sheet he lies,And his grave has got no name.And there, till Christ call forth the dead,In silence let him lie:No need to waste the foolish tear,Or heave the windy sigh:

The man had killed the thing he loved,And so he had to die.And all men kill the thing they love,By all let this be heard,Some do it with a bitter look,Some with a flattering word,The coward does it with a kiss,The brave man with a sword!

Баллада Редингской тюрьмы

(перевод Нины Воронель)

Памяти К. Т. У., бывшего кавалериста королевской конной гвардии. Казнен в тюрьме Его величества, Рэдинг, Беркшир, 7 июля 1896 года.

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