The Ballad of Reading Gaol

“Yet each man kills the thing he lovesBy each let this be heardSome do it with a bitter lookSome with a flattering wordThe coward does it with a kissThe brave man with a sword””

— Oscar Wilde

“Each man kills the thing he loves.””

— Oscar Wilde

“For he who lives more lives than oneMore deaths than one must die.””

— Oscar Wilde

“We know not whether laws be right Or whether laws be wrong All we know who lie in gaol Is that the walls are strong And each day is like a year A year whose days are long.””

— Oscar Wilde

“Like two doomed ships that pass in stormWe had crossed each other's way:But we made no sign, we said no word,We had no word to say;””

— Oscar Wilde

“Some love too little, some too long, Some sell, and others buy; Some do the deed with many tears, And some without a sigh: For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die. He””

— Oscar Wilde

“I never saw sad men who lookedWith such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue We prisoners called the sky, And at every happy cloud that passed In such strange freedom by.””

— Oscar Wilde

“Silently we went round and round,And through each hollow mindThe memory of dreadful thingsRushed like a dreadful wind,And horror stalked before each man,And terror crept behind.””

— Oscar Wilde

“For each man kills the thing he loves yet each man does not diehe does not die a death of shame on a day of dark disgracenor have a noose about his neck, nor a cloth upon his facenor drop feet foremost through the floor into an empty spaceHe does not sit with silent men who watch him night and dayWho watch him when he tries to weep and when he tries to prayWho watch him lest himself should rob the prison of its prey””

— Oscar Wilde