XVI Yet, none the less

 Yet, none the less, on thee I call,

If thou wilt¹ listen verily,

As thou art glorious over all,

Hearken the while I question thee.

Within some splendid castle wall,

Have ye not dwellings³ fair to see?

Of David's city, rich, royal,

Jerusalem, thou tellest me.

In Palestine its place must be;

In wildwood such none ever saw.

Since spotless is your purity,

Your dwellings should be free from flaw.

"Now this most fair and flawless rout⁴,

Thronging⁵ thousands, as thou dost tell,

They must possess, beyond a doubt,

A sightly city wherein to dwell.

'T were strange that they should live without;

For so bright a band it were not well;

Yet I see no building hereabout.

Dost thou linger as in a woodland cell,

Alone and hidden, for the spell

Of rushing stream and shining shaw?

If thou hast a dwelling² beyond this dell,

Now show me that city free from flaw."

"Not flawless the city in Juda's land,"

That gentle one gently to me spake,

"But the Lamb did bless it when He planned

To suffer there sorely for man's sake.

That is the old city we understand,

And there the bonds of old guilt⁶ did break;

But the new, alighted from God's hand,

The Apostle John for his theme did take.

The Lamb Who is white with never a flake⁷

Of black, did thither⁸ His fair folk draw;

For His flock no fenced fold need He make,

Nor moat for His city free from flaw."

"To figure flawlessly what may mean

Jerusalems twain: the first of those

Was 'the Sight of Peace' as it is seen

In the word of God, for the gospel shows

How there our peace made sure hath been,

Since to suffer therein the Saviour⁹ chose;

In the other is always peace to glean¹⁰,

Peace that never an ending knows.

To that city bright the spirit goes

When the flesh hath fallen beneath death's law;

There glorious gladness forever grows

For His fair folk that are free from flaw."

"Flawless maid so mild and meek,"

Then said I to that lovely flower:

"Let me that stately city seek,

And let me see thy blissful bower¹¹."

That bright one said, "Thou art too weak,

Thou may'st not enter to its tower;

Yet of the Lamb I did bespeak¹²

This goodly gift, that He would dower

Thine eyes with the sight for one short hour,—

From without,—within none ever saw;

To step in that street thou hast no power,

Unless thy soul were free from flaw."

1 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

2 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

3 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

5 thronging   

v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Architects from around the world are thronging to Beijing theacross the capital. 来自世界各地的建筑师都蜂拥而至这座处处高楼耸立的大都市——北京。 来自互联网
• People are thronging to his new play. 人们成群结队地去看他那出新戏。 来自互联网

6 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

7 flake   

v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片

参考例句：

• Drain the salmon,discard the skin,crush the bones and flake the salmon with a fork.将鲑鱼沥干，去表皮，粉碎鱼骨并用餐叉子将鱼肉切成小薄片状。
• The paint's beginning to flake.油漆开始剥落了。

8 thither   

adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的

参考例句：

• He wandered hither and thither looking for a playmate.他逛来逛去找玩伴。
• He tramped hither and thither.他到处流浪。

9 saviour   

n.拯救者，救星

参考例句：

• I saw myself as the saviour of my country.我幻想自己为国家的救星。
• The people clearly saw her as their saviour.人们显然把她看成了救星。

10 glean   

v.收集(消息、资料、情报等)

参考例句：

• The little information that we could glean about them was largely contradictory.我们能够收集到的有关它们的少量信息大部分是自相矛盾的。
• From what I was able to glean,it appears they don't intend to take any action yet.根据我所收集到的资料分析，他们看来还不打算采取任何行动。

11 bower   

n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽

参考例句：

• They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。
• Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。

12 bespeak   

v.预定；预先请求

参考例句：

• Today's events bespeak future tragedy.今天的事件预示着未来的不幸。
• The tone of his text bespeaks certain tiredness.他的笔调透出一种倦意。