XXV The Three Kings
An Old Story in a New Light
Gaspar, a king and shepherd,
Alone at the door of his tent,
Thus mused, his eyes uplifted
And fixed on the firmament:
“Is it a dream, this vision
That haunts me day and night,
This beautiful manifestation
Of some eternal delight?
God set me to watching and waiting
Long years and years ago,
Waiting and watching for something
My heart could not forego.
I caught the hope of the nations,
The desire of the common heart,
Which grew to an expectation
That would not from me depart.
My soul was filled with hunger
Deeper than I can tell,
The while I watched for the shining
Of the Star in Israel.
O Star, to arise in Jacob!
I cried as my heart grew bold;
O Star, to arise in Jacob,
By prophecy seen of old!
For the sight of Thee I am dying,
For the joy of Thy Beautiful Face!
Of Thy coming give me a token,
Grant me this favor and grace!
At length there came an answer
Flaming the desolate year,
A revelation of beauty,
A more than mortal cheer;
For afar in the kindly heavens
The blessed token I saw!
And now my life is transfigured,
And lost in a nameless awe.
In a nameless awe I wander,
As one with a joy untold,
Too great for his own defining,
Too great for him to withhold.
But deep in my heart is the secret,
And in yonder beckoning Star,
And I must wait for the telling
Until I can hasten afar,—
Until I can find in travel
A heart akin to mine,
That day and night is adoring
And imploring beauty divine.
And so I will share the gladness
Which God intends for the world;
And so will I lift the banner,
To remain forever unfurled.”
Hardly had Gaspar ended
The musing he loved so well,
When he heard the dreamy tinkle
Of a distant camel-bell.
He set his tent in order;
He brought forth of his best,
After the Arab custom,
To welcome the coming guest.
Who is this eager stranger
Dismounted so soon at the door?
A king from another kingdom,
Who has traveled the desert o’er,
In search of the same communion
That Gaspar was longing for.
And before of food he tasted,
Thus spake King Melchior:
“O Gaspar, God hath sent me
In the light of a peaceful Star,
To tell thee, my royal brother,
What my sweet communings are.
My life has been hid with Nature
For many a quiet year,
And in the hearts of my people,
Whose love hath cast out fear.
And I have been a dweller
With God, who is everywhere,
On earth, in the stars, the Spirit
Sublimest, calmest, most fair.
Among his mediators
And messengers of rest,
Which fill the earth and the heavens,
The stars I reckoned the best.
To the stars I gave my study,
I watched them rise and set,
And heard the music of silence
My soul can not forget;—
The music that seemed prophetic
Of the reign of peace to come,
When men shall live as lovers
In the quiet of one dear home.
But contemplation only
My heart could not satisfy:
I longed for the very presence
The stars did prophesy,
And eagerly looked for a token
Of heaven descended to earth,
A manifestation to tell me
The Prince had come to his birth—
The Prince to rule the nations,
The blessed Prince of Peace,
Through the scepter of whose kingdom
Confusion and war shall cease.
And God to me has been gracious,
Though one of his children the least,
For I have seen his token
All glorious in the east.
Yea, God to me has been gracious,
And shown me the way of love,
A revelation of goodness
As fair as heaven above.”
The kings sat down together,
Communed in the breaking of bread,
And each the heart of the other
As an open volume read.
They felt the new force within them
Through fellowship increase:
The one he called it beauty,
The other named it peace.
All through the silent night-tide
Their thoughts one burden bore:
There was a joy eternal
Their longing souls before.
But still they waited, waited,
They hardly knew what for.
“What lack we yet, O Gaspar!”
At length asked Melchior.
“Three lights in yonder heaven
Wait on the polar star.
Hast eyes to read the poem?
Dost see how calm they are?
Three lights in yonder heaven
Wait on the polar star;
But we are two,” said Gaspar.
“Not two, but three we are,”
Belthazzar said, dismounting,
Another king from far;
“And we whom God hath chosen
Follow a greater Star.
O, what are peace and beauty,
Except they stir the soul
And make the man a hero,
To gain some happier goal?
O, what are peace and beauty
That stop this side of God,
Though infinite the distance
Remaining to be trod?”
In haste, in haste they mounted,
The kings in God’s employ,
And quickly peace and beauty
Began to change to joy.
They left behind their kingdoms
Whose lure was far too small,
To keep them apart from the kingdom
Of Him who is all in all.
They left behind their people,
Of loving and loved a host,
The first of the thronging Gentiles,
To love the Redeemer most.
They left behind possessions,
Their flocks in all their prime,
In haste to greet the Shepherd
Whose charge is the most sublime.
They passed through hostile regions;
For fear they halted not;
And weariness and hunger
Were less than things forgot.
So on and on they hastened
Where they never before had trod,
And the flaming Guide that led them,
Was ever the Glory of God.
By night in yonder heavens,
Within their hearts by day,
As of old the blessed Shekinah
Along the Red Sea way.
And they have troubled Herod
And left Jerusalem,
The joy-giving Star before them,
The Star of Bethlehem.
And they have seen and worshiped
The Everlasting Child,
In whom sweet Truth and Mercy
Were never unreconciled.
They have kissed the Beauty of Heaven,
Incarnate on the earth,
The Babe in the lap of Mary,
Of whom He came to his birth.
Their gifts of love they have rendered
Unto the new-born King,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense,
The best that they could bring.
And vanished the Star forever,
When they turned from the Child away?
Shone it not then in their bosoms,
The light of Eternal Day?
They could not return to Herod—
Too precious for any swine,
The pearls which they had gathered
Out of the Sea Divine!
O Vision of the Redeemer,
In which faith has struggled to sight!
They carried it back to their country,
And published it day and night.
They carried it back to their country,
The vision since Eden’s fall,
Which seen afar off has sweetened
The wormwood and the gall.
And it has become the story
Of every triumphant soul,
That in seeking the Eternal
Reaches a blessed goal.