CHAPTER V.

  I know not whether Laws be right,

                 Or whether Laws be wrong;

               All that we know who lie in gaol¹

                 Is that the wall is strong;

               And that each day is like a year,

                 A year whose days are long.

 

               But this I know, that every Law

                 That men have made for Man,

               Since first Man took his brother's life,

                 And the sad world began,

               But straws the wheat and saves the chaff²

                 With a most evil fan.

 

               This too I know—and wise it were

                 If each could know the same—

               That every prison that men build

                 Is built with bricks of shame,

               And bound with bars lest Christ should see

                 How men their brothers maim³.

 

               With bars they blur⁴ the gracious moon,

                 And blind the goodly sun:

               And they do well to hide their Hell,

                 For in it things are done

               That Son of God nor son of Man

                 Ever should look upon!

 

               The vilest⁵ deeds like poison weeds

                 Bloom well in prison-air:

               It is only what is good in Man

                 That wastes and withers⁶ there:

               Pale Anguish⁷ keeps the heavy gate,

                 And the Warder is Despair

 

               For they starve the little frightened child

                 Till it weeps both night and day:

               And they scourge⁸ the weak, and flog the fool,

                 And gibe⁹ the old and grey,

               And some grow mad, and all grow bad,

               And none a word may say.

 

               Each narrow cell in which we dwell

                 Is a foul¹⁰ and dark latrine,

               And the fetid breath of living Death

                 Chokes up each grated screen,

               And all, but Lust¹¹, is turned to dust

                 In Humanity's machine.

 

               The brackish¹² water that we drink

                 Creeps with a loathsome¹³ slime,

               And the bitter bread they weigh in scales

                 Is full of chalk and lime,

               And Sleep will not lie down, but walks

                 Wild-eyed and cries to Time.

 

               But though lean Hunger and green Thirst

                 Like asp with adder¹⁴ fight,

               We have little care of prison fare,

                 For what chills and kills outright¹⁵

               Is that every stone one lifts by day

                 Becomes one's heart by night.

 

               With midnight always in one's heart,

                 And twilight¹⁶ in one's cell,

               We turn the crank, or tear the rope,

                 Each in his separate Hell,

               And the silence is more awful far

                 Than the sound of a brazen¹⁷ bell.

 

               And never a human voice comes near

                 To speak a gentle word:

               And the eye that watches through the door

                 Is pitiless and hard:

               And by all forgot, we rot and rot,

                 With soul and body marred¹⁸.

 

               And thus we rust¹⁹ Life's iron chain

                 Degraded and alone:

               And some men curse, and some men weep,

                 And some men make no moan:

               But God's eternal Laws are kind

                 And break the heart of stone.

 

               And every human heart that breaks,

                 In prison-cell or yard,

               Is as that broken box that gave

                 Its treasure to the Lord,

               And filled the unclean leper's house

                 With the scent²⁰ of costliest²¹ nard.

 

               Ah! happy day they whose hearts can break

                 And peace of pardon win!

               How else may man make straight his plan

                 And cleanse²² his soul from Sin?

               How else but through a broken heart

                 May Lord Christ enter in?

 

               And he of the swollen²³ purple throat.

                 And the stark²⁴ and staring eyes,

               Waits for the holy hands that took

                 The Thief to Paradise;

               And a broken and a contrite²⁵ heart

                 The Lord will not despise.

 

               The man in red who reads the Law

                 Gave him three weeks of life,

               Three little weeks in which to heal

                 His soul of his soul's strife²⁶,

               And cleanse from every blot²⁷ of blood

                 The hand that held the knife.

 

               And with tears of blood he cleansed²⁸ the hand,

                 The hand that held the steel:

               For only blood can wipe out blood,

                 And only tears can heal:

               And the crimson²⁹ stain that was of Cain

                 Became Christ's snow-white seal.

1 gaol   

n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢

参考例句：

• He was released from the gaol.他被释放出狱。
• The man spent several years in gaol for robbery.这男人因犯抢劫罪而坐了几年牢。

2 chaff   

v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳

参考例句：

• I didn't mind their chaff.我不在乎他们的玩笑。
• Old birds are not caught with chaff.谷糠难诱老雀。

3 maim   

v.使残废，使不能工作，使伤残

参考例句：

• Automobile accidents maim many people each year. 汽车车祸每年使许多人残废。
• These people kill and maim innocent civilians.这些人杀死和残害无辜平民。

4 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

5 vilest   

adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 )；可耻的；极坏的；非常讨厌的

参考例句：

6 withers   

马肩隆

参考例句：

• The girl's pitiful history would wring one's withers. 这女孩子的经历令人心碎。
• "I will be there to show you," and so Mr. Withers withdrew. “我会等在那里，领你去看房间的，"威瑟斯先生这样说着，退了出去。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

7 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

8 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。

9 gibe   

n.讥笑；嘲弄

参考例句：

• I felt sure he was seeking for some gibe. 我敢说他正在寻找一句什么挖苦话。
• It's impolite to gibe at a foreign student's English. 嘲笑外国学生的英语是不礼貌的。

10 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

11 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

12 brackish   

adj.混有盐的；咸的

参考例句：

• Brackish waters generally support only a small range of faunas.咸水水域通常只能存活为数不多的几种动物。
• The factory has several shallow pools of brackish water.工厂有几个浅的咸水池。

13 loathsome   

adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的

参考例句：

• The witch hid her loathsome face with her hands.巫婆用手掩住她那张令人恶心的脸。
• Some people think that snakes are loathsome creatures.有些人觉得蛇是令人憎恶的动物。

14 adder   

n.蝰蛇；小毒蛇

参考例句：

• The adder is Britain's only venomous snake.蝰蛇是英国唯一的一种毒蛇。
• An adder attacked my father.一条小毒蛇攻击了我父亲。

15 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

16 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

17 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

18 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

19 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

20 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

21 costliest   

adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• At 81 billion dollars, Katrina is the costliest natural disaster in American history. “卡特里娜”飓风造成了近810亿美圆的损失，是美国历史上最严重的自然灾难之一。 来自互联网
• Senator John Kerry has proposed a tax on the costliest health plans sold by insurance companies. 参议员约翰？克里(JohnKerry)已经提议对保险公司销售的高价值的保险计划征税。 来自互联网

22 cleanse   

vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗

参考例句：

• Health experts are trying to cleanse the air in cities. 卫生专家们正设法净化城市里的空气。
• Fresh fruit juices can also cleanse your body and reduce dark circles.新鲜果汁同样可以清洁你的身体,并对黑眼圈同样有抑制作用。

23 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

24 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

25 contrite   

adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的

参考例句：

• She was contrite the morning after her angry outburst.她发了一顿脾气之后一早上追悔莫及。
• She assumed a contrite expression.她装出一副后悔的表情。

26 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

27 blot   

vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍

参考例句：

• That new factory is a blot on the landscape.那新建的工厂破坏了此地的景色。
• The crime he committed is a blot on his record.他犯的罪是他的履历中的一个污点。

28 cleansed   

弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The nurse cleansed the wound before stitching it. 护士先把伤口弄干净后才把它缝合。
• The notorious Hell Row was burned down in a fire, and much dirt was cleansed away. 臭名远场的阎王路已在一场大火中化为乌有，许多焦土灰烬被清除一空。

29 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

• She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
• Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。