THE PERFECT HOST
Reading edition
(From Lady Trenchard’s Visitor’s Book)
Sir Walter Raleigh
What is it makes the Perfect Host?
Not wine and coffee, eggs and toast,
For these you can get just as well
In any dreary good hotel;
Not resolute attempts to please,
For money will procure you these.
The Perfect Host thinks vastly less
Of comfort than of happiness.
He’s happy; and the overflow
Belongs to those who come and go.
Within his house you’ll hear no quarrels
And very little talk of morals,
He does not lead a perfect life,
He sometimes has a perfect wife.
But this of all his points is best—
He does not want a perfect guest;
And even when you go too far
He’s friendly with you as you are.
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