The Innkeeper's Excuse

"Oh, if I had only 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,
I'd have killed beyond a doubt
All my trade at Bethlehem.

All my patrons now are dead
And forgotten, but today
All the world to peace is led
By the one I sent away.

It was my unlucky fate
To be born that Inn to own
Against Christ I shut the gate,
"Oh, if I had only known."

If we are ashamed of Jesus here,
We will be ashamed of ourselves for all eternity.

From Willie Pollock's poem book.