December 22

The Wise Men
by Madeleine L’Engle

A star has streaked the sky.
pulls us,
calls.
Where, oh where, where leads the light?

We came and left our gifts
and turned
homeward.
Time had passed, friends gone from sight[

One by one, they go, they die
to now,
to us-
gone in the dazzling dark of night.

Oh how, and where, and when, and why
and what,
and who,
and may, and should, O God, and might
a star, a wind, a laugh, a cry
still come
from one-
the blazing word of power and might-

to use our gifts of gold and myrrh
and frankincense
as needed,
as our intention was to do the right?

Here, there, hear- soft as a sigh-
willing,
loving
all that is spoken, back to the flight

blazing too fierce for mortal eye.
Renew-
redeem,
oh, Love, until we, too, may dazzle bright.