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The Three Kings (Poem) · Ririro.com - Poetry

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  Speaker 1: The three kings. Three kings came riding from far away,
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  Speaker 1: Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar, three wise men out of
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  Speaker 1: the east were they, And they traveled by night, and
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  Speaker 1: they slept by day. For their guide was a beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: wonderful star. The star was so beautiful, large and clear
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  Speaker 1: that all the other stars of the sky became a
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  Speaker 1: white mist in the atmosphere. And by this they knew
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  Speaker 1: that the coming was near of the prince foretold in
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  Speaker 1: the prophecy. Three caskets they bore on their saddlebows, three
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  Speaker 1: caskets of gold with golden keys. Their robes were of
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  Speaker 1: crimson silk, with rows of bells and pomegranates and furbelows.
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  Speaker 1: Their turbans like blockossoming almond trees. And so the three
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  Speaker 1: kings rode into the west through the dusk of the night,
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  Speaker 1: over hill and dell, and sometimes they nodded with beard
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  Speaker 1: on breast, and sometimes talked as they paused to rest
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  Speaker 1: with the people they met at some wayside. Well of
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  Speaker 1: the child that is born, said Baltasar, good people, I
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  Speaker 1: pray you tell us the news, for we in the
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  Speaker 1: east have seen his star and have ridden fast, and
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  Speaker 1: have ridden far to find and worship the King of
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  Speaker 1: the Jews. And the people answered you ask in vain,
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  Speaker 1: We know of no king but Herod the Great. They
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  Speaker 1: thought the wise men were men insane, as they spurred
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  Speaker 1: their horses across the plain like riders in haste. Who
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  Speaker 1: can wait? And when they came to Jerusalem, Herod the Great,
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  Speaker 1: who had heard this thing, sent for the wise men
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  Speaker 1: and questioned them, and said, go down unto Bethlehem and
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  Speaker 1: bring me tidings of this new king. So they rode away,
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  Speaker 1: and the star stood still, the only one in the
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  Speaker 1: gray of morn. Yes, it stopped. It stood still of
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  Speaker 1: its own free will, right over Bethlehem on the hill
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  Speaker 1: the city of David, where Christ was born. And the
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  Speaker 1: three kings rode through the gate and the guard through
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  Speaker 1: the silent street, till their horses turned and neighed as
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  Speaker 1: they entered the great inn yard. But the windows were
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  Speaker 1: closed and the doors were barred, and only a light
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  Speaker 1: in the stable, burned and cradled in the scented hay,
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  Speaker 1: in the air made sweet by the breath of kine.
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  Speaker 1: The little child in the manger lay the child that
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  Speaker 1: would be king one day of a kingdom not human
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  Speaker 1: but divine. His mother, Mary of Nazareth, sat watching beside
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  Speaker 1: his place of rest, watching the even flow of his breath,
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  Speaker 1: For the joy of life and the terror of death
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  Speaker 1: were mingled together in her breast. They laid their offerings
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  Speaker 1: at his feet. The gold was their tribute to a king.
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  Speaker 1: The frankincense, with its odor sweet, was for the priest,
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  Speaker 1: the peraclet, the murr for the body's burying. And the
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  Speaker 1: mother wondered and bowed her head and sat as still
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  Speaker 1: as a statue of stone. Her heart was troubled yet comforted,
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  Speaker 1: remembering what the angel had said of an endless reign
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  Speaker 1: and of David's throne. Then the kings rode out of
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  Speaker 1: the city gate with a clatter of hoofs, in proud array.
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  Speaker 1: But they went not back to Herod the Great, for
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  Speaker 1: they knew his malice and feared his hate, and returned
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  Speaker 1: to their homes by another way.