The Ballad of Reading Gaol #244429

The chaplain would not kneel to pray By his dishonored grave; Nor mark it with that blessed Cross That Christ fir sinners gave; Because the man was one of those Whom Christ came down to save. The verses shame all of us fir we know their truth. Hospitals and doctors and nurses must take the place of prisons and judges and jailors and the sooner the better. Wilde's verses sound the requiem: they remind us that only he who is without sin has any right to punish. Listen to the words.