hospitality

the Levite's concubine replays Sodom
where hospitality's turned on its head
no matter where the stranger might come from
he'll find no sanctuary in his bed
ten righteous men could justify a town
a sacerdotal mission to the folk
but one would see his ethics trampled down
'til all gets purged in brimstone, fire and smoke
Homeric themes transcend the tongue we speak
respect for strangers grounds society
as much for Israelite as for the Greek
to treat them ill is grave impiety
back home in Ithaka, Ulysses burned
foul brimstone where a stranger had been spurned