TO THE PREACHER.

 Preach about yesterday, Preacher!

The time so far away:

When the hand of Deity¹ smote² and slew³,

And the heathen plagued the stiff-necked Jew;

Or when the Man of Sorrows came,

And blessed the people who cursed his name—

Preach about yesterday, Preacher!

Not about to-day!

Preach about to-morrow, Preacher!

Beyond this world’s decay:

Of the sheepfold Paradise we priced

When we pinned our faith to Jesus Christ;

Of those hot depths that shall receive

The goats who would not so believe—

Preach about to-morrow, Preacher,

Not about to-day!

Preach about the old sins, Preacher!

And the old virtues⁵, too:

You must not steal nor take man’s life,

You must not covet⁶ your neighbor’s wife,

And woman must cling at every cost

To her one virtue⁴, or she is lost—

Preach about the old sins, Preacher!

Not about the new!

Preach about the other man, Preacher!

The man we all can see!

The man of oaths, the man of strife⁷,

The man who drinks and beats his wife,

Who helps his mates to fret⁸ and shirk

When all they need is to keep at work—

Preach about the other man, Preacher!

Not about me!

1 deity   

n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物)

参考例句：

• Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
• The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。

2 smote   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

3 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

4 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

5 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

6 covet   

vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)

参考例句：

• We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
• Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。

7 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。

8 fret   

v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损

参考例句：

• Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急，我们能准时到那里。
• She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.