THE ROAD OF MYRRH

The Magi too did dream. I heard them speak
Of being warned to go some other way
Back to their own country and not to Herod,
Who will reckon now without their counsel;
He seems determined now to slay all boys
The same age as my son. (He is
My son, you know - he was given
To me, the husband of his mother Mary,
and I shall be his father until his Father takes me.

The Magi had been delighted to find this child
Given to me to protect and raise and teach.
Gifts they brought will certainly be some help
To carry out my holy obligation from on high,
Although those precious three are just burdens now
On the donkey Mary rides with Jesus
As we flee from Herod's fury;
For he was fooled by wiser men
Who wisely failed to follow that darkly false command.

The Magi were just gone from the house which sheltered us
When again I dreamed of Gabriel appearing.
Though miles and days away from Bethlehem,
My blood still rises to recall that urgent word;
The angel of the LORD told me to get on up,
To take my boy and Mary away from there
And flee that very night to Egypt.
So have we fled, up Hebron's hills and down
Across the Brook of Egypt into the Wilderness of Shur.

The Magi spoke of the mad king's conversation,
How perturbed he was that wise men came
To do homage to some rival and yet infant king.
They remarked how careful Herod was to ask
About the precise time the eastern star appeared.
Herod desired to go also to pay homage,
Or so he wanted them to believe.
Thus did the angel bid me stay in Egypt until told,
For Herod sought to kill and not to worship Christ.

The Magi took their caravans away
Returning home to mystery lands there in the East
Where frankincense and gold is found, and myrrh
To lure the living and bury the dead.
This tiny caravan I lead travels roads another Joseph trod
When he, too, was compelled to leave that promised land
On myrrh-bearing beasts. His brothers, too, despised him
And sought to do away with whom they would not worship.
His mother, Rachel, says the prophet, weeps
Because her children are no more.

The Magi did worship, though, and it is well
that I should imitate their humble wisdom,
For though I now may be my small boy's haven,
And though we fly to find refuge now in Egypt,
I marvelled then when Simeon spoke and do realize now
That this little one of mine is destined to save me.

- Craig R. Tavani, Epiphany 1991
(Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Flight with Obelisk at the Left , from the series "Picturesque Ideas on the Flight Into Egypt", 1753, Etching)