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Edgar Guest - The Inn-Keeper Makes Excuses
Work rating: Medium

"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 to-day
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!"
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