Epiphany
January  3,  2010

When everyone was still asleep

The magi slipped out of their homes

To study the stars.

The night was clear

And the stars were brighter than ever;

A perfect night for doing what stargazers do:

Chart the position of the stars,

Hoping to learn the destiny of empires

And the futures of kings and queens.

This night they saw

One star brighter than the rest,

Moving across the sky.

I t was the night and moment

They had lived for,

As the first observers of a heavenly sign

That the world was about to change

Quickly, they went back to their homes,

Kissed their wives,

Hugged their children,

Packed their bags,

loaded them on the backs of their camels

And followed the star.

The star stood still

Over a barn behind an inn

On the outskirts of a small forgotten town.

It wasn’t what they had expected to see;

A palace is what they had in mind:

Large rooms and long decorated halls,

Not a barn with oxen

And a baby in a bin filled with straw

Watched over by a young girl and a rugged man

Dressed in workman’s clothes.

“What will we do with

Gold, incense and myrrh?

Should we take the gifts

Back home with us or leave them here?”

“ ‘Obey the stars,’ is what our fathers

Taught us, so we’ll leave them here

Beneath the star.”

As they knelt to place the gifts

Beside the crib, they looked closely at

The baby’s face’s and knew at once

That their journey was not about palaces,

Worldly kings and precious gifts,

But about the possibilities of

A new world,

A new humanity,

And a new life for all.

They could see this in the little child’s eyes.

The magi stood, smiled and thanked

The girl and man for the moments shared,

Bade farewell, climbed up on their camels backs

And headed to their homes and families

To live the lives foretold in the infant’s eyes:

Lives of peace, justice and mercy.

The magi had the courage

To go in search of the unknown

And as all who have this kind of courage,

Discovered who they were meant to be.