Magi’s farewell to the King of Kings

The lines that years have carved upon The old man’s face that day Are awash with a rivulet of tears As he sees the Man pass on His way.

He stands alone in silence now As once he’d stood with pride, Bearing his own gift for the Baby With two other kings beside.

He listens now to the cheers and shouts, The joyous waving of the palms Yet in his mind’s eye he sees the Child still Who slept in Mary’s arms.

A Child who now has become a Man, Who has reached His destiny For the days ahead will touch the earth, Will change the course of history.

The old King Balthazar has come To watch the journey’s end, Aware that the Man Himself will know What the coming days will send, He follows, does the aged king Throughout the week until He becomes a watcher in the shadows Upon Calvary’s lonely hill.

He sees the nails in the Hands and Feet, The blooded Crown of Thorns, He hears the mockery and the taunts, The crowd that jeers and scorns.

Within the shadow of the Cross Balthazar his vigil keeps, He feels the agony of the Man He bows his own head and weeps.

When at last the end has come, The final act now done, Balthazar’s pilgrimage is at an end With the death of Mary’s Son, Yet the old king knows the Cross is not the end, Death will, like the stone, be rolled away As the Love born in Bethlehem’s stable Brings the joy of Easter Day.

Mrs L.M. Wadlow, Redditch, Worcs.