Let not our hearts be busy inns,
That have no room for Thee,
But cradles for the living Christ
And His nativity.
Still driven by a thousand cares
The pilgrims come and go;
The hurried caravans press on;
The inns are crowded so!
Here are the rich and busy ones,
With things that must be sold,
No room for simple things within
This hostelry of gold.
Yet hunger dwells within these walls,
These shining walls and bright,
And blindness groping here and there
Without a ray of light.
Oh, lest we starve, and lest we die,
In our stupidity,
Come, Holy Child, within and share
Our hospitality.
Let not our hearts be busy inns,
That have no room for Thee,
But cradles for the living Christ
And His nativity.
-- Ralph S. Cushman (b. 1879)