ded to earth,
A manifestation to tell me
The Prince had come to his birth--

The Prince to rule the nations,
The blessed Prince of Peace,
Through the scepter of whose kingdom
Confusion and war shall cease.

And God to me has been gracious,
Though one of his children the least,
For I have seen his token
All glorious in the east.

Yea, God to me has been gracious,
And shown me the way of love,
A revelation of goodness
As fair as heaven above."

The kings sat down together,
Communed in the breaking of bread,
And each the heart of the other
As an open volume read.

They felt the new force within them
Through fellowship increase:
The one he called it beauty,
The other named it peace.

All through the silent night-tide
Their thoughts one burden bore:
There was a joy eternal
Their longing souls before.

But still they waited, waited,
They hardly knew what for.
"What lack we yet, O Gaspar!"
At length asked Melchior.

"Three lights in yonder heaven
Wait on the polar star.
Hast eyes to read the poem?
Dost see how calm they are?

_Three_ lights in yonder heaven
Wait on the polar star;
But we are _two_," said Gaspar.
"Not _two_, but _three_ we are,"

Belthazzar said, dismounting,
Another king from far;
"And we whom God hath chosen
Follow a greater Star.

O, what are peace and beauty,
Except they stir the soul
And make the man a hero,
To gain some happier goal?

O, what are peace and beauty
That stop this side of God,
Though infinite the distance
Remaining to be trod?"

In haste, in haste they mounted,
The kings in God's employ,
And quickly peace and beauty
Began to change to joy.

They left behind their kingdoms
Whose lure was far too small,
To keep them apart from the kingdom
Of Him who is all in all.

They left behind their people,
Of loving and loved a host,
The first of the thronging Gentiles,
To love the Redeemer most.

They left behind possessions,
Their flocks in all their prime,
In haste to greet the Shepherd
Whose charge is the most sublime.

They passed through hostile regions;
For fear they halted not;
And weariness and hunger
Were less than things forgot.