Magi

by Michael H. Lythgoe

Originally published on February 1, 1999

It is a dangerous time
For travelers and exiles
With the bandits about
And beaches awash with refugees;
Skeletons herded behind barbed
Wire wear burnt holes in blankets
For eyes. The displaced
Are wading over borders
On moonlight nights
Or put to sea in leaky skiffs;
They pole the Arab marshes.
         In Biblical times
Three robed astrologers arrived
Dazed from charting galaxies
To counsel the family to trek
A different [...]