Editor’s note: Over the course of this week, in celebration of Epiphany, we will be publishing a series of poems by Bishop Graham Kings, originally included in Andrew Wheeler’s Desire of Nations: The Magi, their Journey and the Child (2015).
We Refugees
By the first dream,
I was assured:
Mary was faithful,
not fooling around.
That was fulfilled.
By the second dream,
I was warned:
We three refugees
needed to flee.
This was frightening.
We took the road South,
To Gentile territory,
terrified.
Oppressive or safe?
Who could tell?
Sad and miserable,
Sleepless nights,
Hungry and thirsty,
on the move,
Hardships, distress.
How can we sing
the Lord’s song
in a strange land?
How long, O Lord?
Owning nothing,
yet, with this child,
Possessing everything.
The featured image is a stained glass at St. Pius V Church in St Louis, MO. The photo by Flicker user hickory harscrabble is licensed under Creative Commons.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Graham Kings, in his retirement in Cambridge, is honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ely and research associate at the the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, which he founded in 1995. He has served as Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion; Bishop of Sherborne; and vicar of St. Mary’s Church, Islington, London, where he co-founded Fulcrum.
