Our Epiphany

Why?
They gazed up.
A star beckoned them:
Journey to an unknown land.
Give homage to a newborn king.
For months and miles they sojourned.
On spice-laden camels across arid deserts?
Clad in jeweled turbans or topaz-studded crowns?
From where and how they came we’ll never know but this:
They brought with them triple treasured gifts.
They paused before a dissembling king
sitting on his jealous throne.
They asked him where?
He asked them when?
Scripture foretold
the journey’s end,
least of Judah,
Bethlehem,
home to Israel’s
only shepherd king.
We know this story.
They are us in every age
seeking, searching, knowing
the lights we call our own will
never pierce sorrow’s darkness.
Because they left, they could arrive.
Because they searched, they could find.
Because they wandered, they discovered.
Not something, but Someone; yes, a child
who gifted them far beyond what they gave.
They came not knowing, yet returned reassured.
They followed their own path, but came home by another.
Pursuing a treasure beyond any measure
Bearing his Light.