Poetry at Epiphany: Malcolm Guite

Adoration of the Magi From a fresco in Cappadocia, ca 12th century

Epiphany: the magi

It might have been just someone else's story; 
Some chosen people get a special king,
We leave them to their own peculiar glory,
We don't belong, it doesn't mean a thing.
But when these three arrive they bring us with them,
Gentiles like us, their wisdom might be ours;
A steady step that finds an inner rhythm,
A pilgrim's eye that sees beyond the stars.
They did not know his name but still they sought him,
They came from otherwhere but still they found;
In palaces, found those who sold and bought him,
But in the filthy stable, hallowed ground.
Their courage gives our questing hearts a voice
To seek, to find, to worship, to rejoice.*

* Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons, Canterbury Press, 2012

You can hear Mr. Guite reading his sonnet aloud; click HERE and scroll down.