The Innkeeper's Lament

"Oh, if only I had known!"~said the keeper of the inn.~"But no hint to me was shown.~And I didn't let them in.~~~~~~"Yes, a star gleamed overhead,~But I couldn't read the skies,~And I'd given every bed ~To the very rich and wise.~~~~~~"And she was so poorly clad,~And he hadn't much to say!~But no room for them I had,~So I ordered them away.~~~~~~She seemed tired, and it was late~ And they begged so hard, that I ,~Feeling sorry for her state,~In the stable let them lie.~~~~~~"Had I turned some rich man out~Just to make a place for them,~'Twould have killed, beyond a doubt,~All my trade at Bethlehem.~~~~~~"Then there came the wise men three~To the stable, with the morn,~Who announced they'd come to see~The great King who had been born.~~~~~~"And they brought Him gifts of myrrh,~Costly frankincense and gold,~And a great light shone on her ~In the stable, bleak and cold.~~~~~~"All my patrons now are dead ~And forgotten, but today~All the world to peace is led~By the ones I sent away.~"It was my unlucky fate~To be born that inn to own,~Against Christ I shut my gate - Oh, if only I had known!"