MAGI

An unaccustomed clamor at the door,

the sound of voices in an unknown tongue—

and foreign priests now bowing to the floor

before you and the child, the child too young

to know. Why were they here, these alien priests?

What did it mean, their worship and their treasure?

(Familiar sounds outside of road-worn beasts

settling to rest offered you greater pleasure.)

But wanting to offer some kind of exchange,

you held the naked infant up to view.

With this they seemed content. However strange

or threatening their presence seemed to you,

you also sensed that ancient human rifts

began to mend in giving of these gifts.