{
 "id": "oscar-wilde/the-ballad-of-reading-gaol",
 "title": "The Ballad of Reading Gaol",
 "poet": "Oscar Wilde",
 "poet_slug": "oscar-wilde",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Ballad of Reading Gaol",
 "book_slug": "the-ballad-of-reading-gaol",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 1,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1898,
  "venue": "The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1057"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/oscar-wilde_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1338",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lotus_Leaves",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wasted_Days_(from_a_Picture_Painted_by_Miss_V._T.)",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102953450",
   "https://archive.org/details/ravennarecitedin00wildrich",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010824214",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006061074",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100217578",
   "https://archive.org/details/cu31924013571082",
   "https://newspapers.bc.edu/?a=d&d=pilot18770721-01.2.24"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 654,
  "n_stanzas": 109,
  "n_parts": 6,
  "longest_line_chars": 50,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    16
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    16,
    29
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    29,
    66
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    66,
    89
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    89,
    106
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VI",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    106,
    109
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "He did not wear his scarlet coat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For blood and wine are red,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And blood and wine were on his hands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When they found him with the dead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The poor dead woman whom he loved,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And murdered in her bed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He walked amongst the Trial Men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In a suit of shabby grey;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A cricket cap was on his head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his step seemed light and gay;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But I never saw a man who looked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So wistfully at the day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I never saw a man who looked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a wistful eye",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon that little tent of blue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which prisoners call the sky,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And at every drifting cloud that went",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With sails of silver by.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I walked, with other souls in pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within another ring,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And was wondering if the man had done",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A great or little thing,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When a voice behind me whispered low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“That fellow’s got to swing.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Dear Christ! the very prison walls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Suddenly seemed to reel,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the sky above my head became",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a casque of scorching steel;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, though I was a soul in pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My pain I could not feel.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I only knew what hunted thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Quickened his step, and why",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He looked upon the garish day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a wistful eye;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The man had killed the thing he loved,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And so he had to die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet each man kills the thing he loves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By each let this be heard,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Some do it with a bitter look,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some with a flattering word,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The coward does it with a kiss,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The brave man with a sword!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Some kill their love when they are young,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And some when they are old;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Some strangle with the hands of Lust,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some with the hands of Gold:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The kindest use a knife, because",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dead so soon grow cold.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Some love too little, some too long,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some sell, and others buy;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Some do the deed with many tears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And some without a sigh:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For each man kills the thing he loves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet each man does not die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not die a death of shame",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On a day of dark disgrace,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor have a noose about his neck,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor a cloth upon his face,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor drop feet foremost through the floor",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into an empty space.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not sit with silent men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who watch him night and day;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who watch him when he tries to weep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And when he tries to pray;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who watch him lest himself should rob",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The prison of its prey.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not wake at dawn to see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dread figures throng his room,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The shivering Chaplain robed in white,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Sheriff stern with gloom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the Governor all in shiny black,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the yellow face of Doom.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not rise in piteous haste",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To put on convict-clothes,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats, and notes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each new and nerve-twitched pose,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Fingering a watch whose little ticks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are like horrible hammer-blows.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not know that sickening thirst",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That sands one’s throat, before",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The hangman with his gardener’s gloves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Slips through the padded door,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And binds one with three leathern thongs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That the throat may thirst no more.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not bend his head to hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Burial Office read,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor, while the terror of his soul",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tells him he is not dead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Cross his own coffin, as he moves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the hideous shed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He does not stare upon the air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through a little roof of glass:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He does not pray with lips of clay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For his agony to pass;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor feel upon his shuddering cheek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The kiss of Caiaphas.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Six weeks our guardsman walked the yard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the suit of shabby grey:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His cricket cap was on his head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his step seemed light and gay,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But I never saw a man who looked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So wistfully at the day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I never saw a man who looked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a wistful eye",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon that little tent of blue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which prisoners call the sky,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And at every wandering cloud that trailed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its ravelled fleeces by.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He did not wring his hands, as do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Those witless men who dare",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To try to rear the changeling Hope",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the cave of black Despair:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He only looked upon the sun,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drank the morning air.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He did not wring his hands nor weep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor did he peek or pine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But he drank the air as though it held",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some healthful anodyne;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With open mouth he drank the sun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As though it had been wine!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And I and all the souls in pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who tramped the other ring,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Forgot if we ourselves had done",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A great or little thing,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And watched with gaze of dull amaze",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The man who had to swing.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And strange it was to see him pass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a step so light and gay,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And strange it was to see him look",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So wistfully at the day,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And strange it was to think that he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had such a debt to pay.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For oak and elm have pleasant leaves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That in the springtime shoot:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But grim to see is the gallows-tree,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With its adder-bitten root,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, green or dry, a man must die",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before it bears its fruit!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The loftiest place is that seat of grace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For which all worldlings try:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But who would stand in hempen band",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon a scaffold high,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And through a murderer’s collar take",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His last look at the sky?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It is sweet to dance to violins",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When Love and Life are fair:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To dance to flutes, to dance to lutes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is delicate and rare:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But it is not sweet with nimble feet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To dance upon the air!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So with curious eyes and sick surmise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We watched him day by day,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And wondered if each one of us",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would end the self-same way,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For none can tell to what red Hell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His sightless soul may stray.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "At last the dead man walked no more",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amongst the Trial Men,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And I knew that he was standing up",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the black dock’s dreadful pen,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And that never would I see his face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In God’s sweet world again.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Like two doomed ships that pass in storm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We had crossed each other’s way:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But we made no sign, we said no word,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We had no word to say;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For we did not meet in the holy night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But in the shameful day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A prison wall was round us both,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Two outcast men we were:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The world had thrust us from its heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And God from out His care:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the iron gin that waits for Sin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had caught us in its snare.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In Debtors’ Yard the stones are hard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the dripping wall is high,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So it was there he took the air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the leaden sky,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And by each side a Warder walked,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For fear the man might die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Or else he sat with those who watched",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His anguish night and day;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who watched him when he rose to weep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And when he crouched to pray;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who watched him lest himself should rob",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their scaffold of its prey.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Governor was strong upon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Regulations Act:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Doctor said that Death was but",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A scientific fact:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And twice a day the Chaplain called,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And left a little tract.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And twice a day he smoked his pipe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And drank his quart of beer:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His soul was resolute, and held",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No hiding-place for fear;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He often said that he was glad",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hangman’s hands were near.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But why he said so strange a thing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No Warder dared to ask:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For he to whom a watcher’s doom",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is given as his task,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Must set a lock upon his lips,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And make his face a mask.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Or else he might be moved, and try",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To comfort or console:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And what should Human Pity do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pent up in Murderers’ Hole?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "What word of grace in such a place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Could help a brother’s soul?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With slouch and swing around the ring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We trod the Fools’ Parade!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We did not care: we knew we were",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Devil’s Own Brigade:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And shaven head and feet of lead",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Make a merry masquerade.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We tore the tarry rope to shreds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With blunt and bleeding nails;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cleaned the shining rails:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, rank by rank, we soaped the plank,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And clattered with the pails.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We turned the dusty drill:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sweated on the mill:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But in the heart of every man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Terror was lying still.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So still it lay that every day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Crawled like a weed-clogged wave:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And we forgot the bitter lot",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That waits for fool and knave,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till once, as we tramped in from work,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We passed an open grave.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With yawning mouth the yellow hole",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gaped for a living thing;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The very mud cried out for blood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the thirsty asphalte ring:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And we knew that ere one dawn grew fair",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some prisoner had to swing.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Right in we went, with soul intent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Death and Dread and Doom:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The hangman, with his little bag,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went shuffling through the gloom:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And each man trembled as he crept",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into his numbered tomb.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "That night the empty corridors",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were full of forms of Fear,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And up and down the iron town",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stole feet we could not hear,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And through the bars that hide the stars",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "White faces seemed to peer.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He lay as one who lies and dreams",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In a pleasant meadow-land,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The watchers watched him as he slept,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And could not understand",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "How one could sleep so sweet a sleep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a hangman close at hand.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But there is no sleep when men must weep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never yet have wept:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So we⁠—the fool, the fraud, the knave⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That endless vigil kept,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And through each brain on hands of pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Another’s terror crept.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Alas! it is a fearful thing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To feel another’s guilt!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For, right within, the sword of Sin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pierced to its poisoned hilt,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And as molten lead were the tears we shed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the blood we had not spilt.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Warders with their shoes of felt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Crept by each padlocked door,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And peeped and saw, with eyes of awe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Grey figures on the floor,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And wondered why men knelt to pray",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never prayed before.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All through the night we knelt and prayed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mad mourners of a corse!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The troubled plumes of midnight were",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The plumes upon a hearse:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And bitter wine upon a sponge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was the savour of Remorse.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The grey cock crew, the red cock crew,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But never came the day:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And crooked shapes of Terror crouched,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the corners where we lay:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And each evil sprite that walks by night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before us seemed to play.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They glided past, they glided fast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like travellers through a mist:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They mocked the moon in a rigadoon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of delicate turn and twist,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And with formal pace and loathsome grace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The phantoms kept their tryst.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With mop and mow, we saw them go,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Slim shadows hand in hand:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "About, about, in ghostly rout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They trod a saraband:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the damned grotesques made arabesques,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like the wind upon the sand!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With the pirouettes of marionettes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They tripped on pointed tread:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But with flutes of Fear they filled the ear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As their grisly masque they led,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And loud they sang, and long they sang,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For they sang to wake the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Oho!” they cried, “The world is wide,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But fettered limbs go lame!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And once, or twice, to throw the dice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is a gentlemanly game,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But he does not win who plays with Sin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the secret House of Shame.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No things of air these antics were,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That frolicked with such glee:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To men whose lives were held in gyves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And whose feet might not go free,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah! wounds of Christ! they were living things,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most terrible to see.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Around, around, they waltzed and wound;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some wheeled in smirking pairs;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With the mincing step of a demirep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some sidled up the stairs:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And with subtle sneer, and fawning leer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each helped us at our prayers.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The morning wind began to moan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But still the night went on:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Through its giant loom the web of gloom",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Crept till each thread was spun:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, as we prayed, we grew afraid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the Justice of the Sun.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The moaning wind went wandering round",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The weeping prison-wall:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till like a wheel of turning steel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We felt the minutes crawl:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O moaning wind! what had we done",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To have such a seneschal?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "At last I saw the shadowed bars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a lattice wrought in lead,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Move right across the whitewashed wall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That faced my three-plank bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And I knew that somewhere in the world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God’s dreadful dawn was red.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "At six o’clock we cleaned our cells,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At seven all was still,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But the sough and swing of a mighty wing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The prison seemed to fill,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the Lord of Death with icy breath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had entered in to kill.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He did not pass in purple pomp,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor ride a moon-white steed.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Three yards of cord and a sliding board",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are all the gallows’ need:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So with rope of shame the Herald came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To do the secret deed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We were as men who through a fen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of filthy darkness grope:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We did not dare to breathe a prayer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or to give our anguish scope:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Something was dead in each of us,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And what was dead was Hope.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For Man’s grim Justice goes its way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And will not swerve aside:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It slays the weak, it slays the strong,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It has a deadly stride:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With iron heel it slays the strong,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The monstrous parricide!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We waited for the stroke of eight:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each tongue was thick with thirst:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That makes a man accursed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And Fate will use a running noose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the best man and the worst.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We had no other thing to do,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Save to wait for the sign to come:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So, like things of stone in a valley lone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Quiet we sat and dumb:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But each man’s heart beat thick and quick,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a madman on a drum!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With sudden shock the prison-clock",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smote on the shivering air,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And from all the gaol rose up a wail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of impotent despair,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Like the sound that frightened marshes hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From some leper in his lair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And as one sees most fearful things",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the crystal of a dream,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We saw the greasy hempen rope",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hooked to the blackened beam,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And heard the prayer the hangman’s snare",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strangled into a scream.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And all the woe that moved him so",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That he gave that bitter cry,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "None knew so well as I:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For he who lives more lives than one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More deaths than one must die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There is no chapel on the day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On which they hang a man:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Chaplain’s heart is far too sick,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or his face is far too wan,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Or there is that written in his eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which none should look upon.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So they kept us close till nigh on noon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then they rang the bell,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the Warders with their jingling keys",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Opened each listening cell,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And down the iron stair we tramped,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each from his separate Hell.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Out into God’s sweet air we went,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But not in wonted way,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For this man’s face was white with fear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And that man’s face was grey,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And I never saw sad men who looked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So wistfully at the day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I never saw sad men who looked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a wistful eye",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon that little tent of blue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We prisoners called the sky,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And at every careless cloud that passed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In happy freedom by.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But there were those amongst us all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who walked with downcast head,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And knew that, had each got his due,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They should have died instead:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He had but killed a thing that lived,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whilst they had killed the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For he who sins a second time",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wakes a dead soul to pain,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And draws it from its spotted shroud,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And makes it bleed again,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And makes it bleed great gouts of blood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And makes it bleed in vain!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Like ape or clown, in monstrous garb",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With crooked arrows starred,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Silently we went round and round",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The slippery asphalte yard;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Silently we went round and round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And no man spoke a word.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Silently we went round and round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And through each hollow mind",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The Memory of dreadful things",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rushed like a dreadful wind,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And Horror stalked before each man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Terror crept behind.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Warders strutted up and down,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And kept their herd of brutes,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Their uniforms were spick and span,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they wore their Sunday suits,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But we knew the work they had been at,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the quicklime on their boots.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For where a grave had opened wide,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There was no grave at all:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Only a stretch of mud and sand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the hideous prison-wall,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And a little heap of burning lime,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That the man should have his pall.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For he has a pall, this wretched man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such as few men can claim:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Deep down below a prison-yard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Naked for greater shame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He lies, with fetters on each foot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wrapt in a sheet of flame!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And all the while the burning lime",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eats flesh and bone away,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It eats the brittle bone by night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the soft flesh by day,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It eats the flesh and bone by turns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But it eats the heart alway.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For three long years they will not sow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or root or seedling there:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For three long years the unblessed spot",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will sterile be and bare,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And look upon the wondering sky",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With unreproachful stare.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They think a murderer’s heart would taint",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each simple seed they sow.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It is not true! God’s kindly earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is kindlier than men know,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the red rose would but blow more red,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The white rose whiter blow.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Out of his mouth a red, red rose!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of his heart a white!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For who can say by what strange way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Christ brings His will to light,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Since the barren staff the pilgrim bore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bloomed in the great Pope’s sight?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But neither milk-white rose nor red",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May bloom in prison-air;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The shard, the pebble, and the flint,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are what they give us there:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For flowers have been known to heal",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A common man’s despair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So never will wine-red rose or white,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Petal by petal, fall",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "On that stretch of mud and sand that lies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the hideous prison-wall,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To tell the men who tramp the yard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That God’s Son died for all.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet though the hideous prison-wall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Still hems him round and round,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And a spirit may not walk by night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That is with fetters bound,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And a spirit may but weep that lies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In such unholy ground,",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He is at peace⁠—this wretched man⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At peace, or will be soon:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "There is no thing to make him mad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor does Terror walk at noon,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the lampless Earth in which he lies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has neither Sun nor Moon.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They hanged him as a beast is hanged:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They did not even toll",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A requiem that might have brought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rest to his startled soul,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But hurriedly they took him out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hid him in a hole.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They stripped him of his canvas clothes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And gave him to the flies:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They mocked the swollen purple throat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the stark and staring eyes:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And with laughter loud they heaped the shroud",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In which their convict lies.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Chaplain would not kneel to pray",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By his dishonoured grave:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor mark it with that blessed Cross",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That Christ for sinners gave,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Because the man was one of those",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom Christ came down to save.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet all is well; he has but passed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Life’s appointed bourne:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And alien tears will fill for him",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pity’s long-broken urn,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For his mourners will be outcast men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And outcasts always mourn.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I know not whether Laws be right,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or whether Laws be wrong;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "All that we know who lie in gaol",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is that the wall is strong;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And that each day is like a year,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A year whose days are long.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But this I know, that every Law",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That men have made for Man,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Since first Man took his brother’s life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the sad world began,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But straws the wheat and saves the chaff",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a most evil fan.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "This too I know⁠—and wise it were",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If each could know the same⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That every prison that men build",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is built with bricks of shame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And bound with bars lest Christ should see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How men their brothers maim.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With bars they blur the gracious moon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And blind the goodly sun:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And they do well to hide their Hell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For in it things are done",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That Son of God nor son of Man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ever should look upon!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The vilest deeds like poison weeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bloom well in prison-air;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It is only what is good in Man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That wastes and withers there:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the Warder is Despair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For they starve the little frightened child",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till it weeps both night and day:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And gibe the old and grey,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And some grow mad, and all grow bad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And none a word may say.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Each narrow cell in which we dwell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is a foul and dark latrine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the fetid breath of living Death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chokes up each grated screen,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And all, but Lust, is turned to dust",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Humanity’s machine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The brackish water that we drink",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Creeps with a loathsome slime,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the bitter bread they weigh in scales",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is full of chalk and lime,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And Sleep will not lie down, but walks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wild-eyed, and cries to Time.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But though lean Hunger and green Thirst",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like asp with adder fight,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We have little care of prison fare,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For what chills and kills outright",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Is that every stone one lifts by day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Becomes one’s heart by night.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With midnight always in one’s heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And twilight in one’s cell,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We turn the crank, or tear the rope,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each in his separate Hell,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the silence is more awful far",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than the sound of a brazen bell.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And never a human voice comes near",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To speak a gentle word:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the eye that watches through the door",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is pitiless and hard:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And by all forgot, we rot and rot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With soul and body marred.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And thus we rust Life’s iron chain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Degraded and alone:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And some men curse, and some men weep,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And some men make no moan:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But God’s eternal Laws are kind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And break the heart of stone.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And every human heart that breaks,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In prison-cell or yard,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Is as that broken box that gave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its treasure to the Lord,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And filled the unclean leper’s house",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the scent of costliest nard.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ah! happy they whose hearts can break",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And peace of pardon win!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "How else may man make straight his plan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cleanse his soul from Sin?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "How else but through a broken heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May Lord Christ enter in?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And he of the swollen purple throat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the stark and staring eyes,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Waits for the holy hands that took",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Thief to Paradise;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And a broken and a contrite heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Lord will not despise.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The man in red who reads the Law",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gave him three weeks of life,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Three little weeks in which to heal",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His soul of his soul’s strife,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And cleanse from every blot of blood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hand that held the knife.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And with tears of blood he cleansed the hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hand that held the steel:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For only blood can wipe out blood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And only tears can heal:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the crimson stain that was of Cain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Became Christ’s snow-white seal.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In Reading gaol by Reading town",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There is a pit of shame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And in it lies a wretched man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eaten by teeth of flame,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In a burning winding-sheet he lies,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his grave has got no name.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And there, till Christ call forth the dead,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In silence let him lie:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "No need to waste the foolish tear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or heave the windy sigh:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The man had killed the thing he loved,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And so he had to die.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And all men kill the thing they love,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By all let this be heard,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Some do it with a bitter look,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some with a flattering word,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The coward does it with a kiss,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The brave man with a sword!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}