Explore "The Poor Man's Guest" by Edith Nesbit on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
ONE came to me in royal guise / With banners flying fair and free / But many griefs had made me wise / And I refused to bow the knee.
Then one drew near who bore the flower / Of all the flowers of June and May; / But many griefs had lent me power / And I was strong to turn away.
Then came a beggar to my gate / With shoulders bowed to sorrow's pack, / So weary and so desolate / I had no heart to turn him back.
I let him share my board, my bed, / I warmed him in my shrinking breast, / I gave him all I had, and said: / "You, only you, have been my guest.
"Love passed in many a fair disguise / But never could an entrance win, / But you came in such piteous wise, / Poor friend, I could but let you in."
Low laughed my guest: "Kind friend! " said he, / And dropped the rags he was weary of; / And I, betrayed, saw over me / The terrible face of outraged Love.