"Ah! happy those whose hearts can break..."

And thus we rust 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 scent of costliest nard. 

Ah! happy those whose hearts can break 
And peace of pardon win! 
How else may man make straight his plan 
And cleanse his soul from sin? 
How else but through a broken heart 
May Lord Christ enter in? 

~Oscar Wilde, from “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”

A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ~Psalm 51:17