Be not forgetful, entertain a stranger:
For some have hosted angels unawares,
While others stuck their Saviour in a manger,
Confirming thus they were not wheat but tares.
This is our creed, so we were glad to cherish you:
To offer you our humble daily bread,
That though a stranger here you would not perish - you
Would flourish like a green bay tree instead.
To entertain an angel sounds so glorious:
We were puffed up, no doubt, and rather rash;
You lived among us, grimy and uproarious,
And ever in necessity of cash.
That note you left - was it the wage of sin?
I was a stranger, and I took you in.