You chose the decaying lepers,

You spoke fearlessly with unacceptable strangers,

You sat with notorious sinners, and you said

that streetwalkers would be the first in Paradise.

You got on well with the poor, the bums, the crippled.

You belittled the religious regulations.

Your interpretation of the Law

reduced it to one little commandment: to love.

Now they are avenging themselves.

They have taken steps against you;

they have approached the authorities, and action will follow.