What they found ... Christmas poem
What they found
The light teased them that night. drawing them
away from carpeted hallways, for days
shivering, blizzards erasing their way, invisible
star calling their names.
Desert heat, sun, tepid water. Ground burned.
Sleep never came, between scorpions and thieves. All
sand looked the same, stretched for miles nowhere.
They told stories, memories of home
swirling through dreams.
Families searched, forgot, went on.
Resigned to wandering, so did they.
In the distance, odd light, growing
it seemed from the earth, no visible source.
The house, when they found it, was simple.
A puzzled couple greeted them. Their child, playing,
stared, curious, then returned to his toys.
Was this right?
But unsure what else to do, they left the gifts,
knowing it was time.
Poem and photo by Diane McManus
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A note... I was thinking about what the Magi could have encountered after traveling so far, maybe in response to a dream, a star, something that motivated them to keep pursuing the light from the star for miles and months (I'll leave the question of whether this journey actually took place to others to discuss. For now, I just want to reflect on what that journey might mean for the rest of us. Did they come upon a family excited to see them? Or a family that, by then, had developed a routine and settled into the daily rituals of being a couple, caring for a child? How might they have reacted to three strangers coming to their door with gifts. This isn't Publishers' Clearinghouse. And they may have been so taken by surprise not to realize the significance of the event right off.
Yet there these strangers were with gifts they'd brought and wondering too if they'd come to the right address... they were pretty sure, perhaps, but when we follow our stars or intuitions, we do sometimes ask questions. Still, they left the gifts in faith, maybe not knowing, maybe not certain, but sensing the path and following it.
For so many of us, that's our journey--not always certain, yet trying to stay true to who we are and what we believe is right. The heroism is in the journey, and the affirmation is in the gifts we continue to give, in faith that they've found the right home.
posted by DPMcManus @ 9:52 AM
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