Hospital For Sinners

Some have crosses bells that ring

Most have angels painted with wings

Old men and blind ones can find their way in

Got statues and apostles and other godly things

In desserts they build them of mortar and clay

In barrios they stick them by fire escapes

They outlast the setbacks of earthquakes and plagues

They burn them like haystacks and another one is raised

In the backwoods of the country and the empire state

Wherever there's somebody at the crossroads that waits

At the junction of right now and a little too late

You'll see one before you with wide open gates

It's a hospital for sinners ain't no museum of saints

There could be a casket bums on the steps

A baby in a basket being left

It's a good place to shuffle when you've gone through the deck

It's the closest to heaven on earth you can get

It's a shelter a poor man it'll humble a great

It's where derelicts and outlaws can hide for a day

The worst hearts you've known can be salvaged and saved

In the same room that lovers' vows are exchanged

It's a hospital for sinners ain't no museum of saints

You'll sin till you drop

Then ask to be saved

If it's a comeback you want

Then get your hands raised

There's more than a few on nearly every map

More than a couple alone on this path

You ought to be in one when you beg your way back

Cut off at the knees at its feet you'll collapse

It's a hospital for sinners ain't no museum of saints

It's a hospital for sinners ain't no museum of saints