Three Kings?

by Ed Pacht

Three Kings,
wise men,
students of the stars,
and of old and sacred books,
who left no thrones behind,
yet here they are, see them come:
three kings who are not kings
come from far to see the King

Three kings,
wise men,
students of the stars.
and of old and sacred books,
but are there only three?
Could three kinds of gifts
be brought by number more or less?
Could it be that there are four or more?
But this we truly know:
three kings who were not kings,
and may have not been three,
came from far to see the King.

Three kings,
wise men,
students of the stars.
and of old and sacred books,
who knelt beside the manger bed,
in the stable where they did not go,
but no, 'twas in a house they found the child,
and in a house bowed down,
and in a house gave gifts,
three kings who were not kings,
and may have not been three,
come from far to see the King.

Three kings,
Twelfth Day,
or the next year,
or the next;
three kings who were not kings,
and may have not been three,
on a day unknown
to a place unknown,
came from far to see the King.

Three kings, or not,
wise men who followed a star,
and came to a land they did not own,
strangers in a land of promise,
strangers, foreign, gentiles they.
three kings who were not kings,
and may not have been three,
came from far to see the King,
and so have we.