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This moving poem was used in our Epiphany service on
th
January 14 and beautifully read by Mary Fontana.

Janet Watts was a member of Rev’d Wendy Fellingham’s
poetry group (An ‘aah’ in the month) and attended St Nicholas
Studland.

Epiphany
It was a new star. It meant a new king.
What we had found crowned our lifetimes’ work
in libraries and observatories, our knowledge and renown.
We were used to rulers receiving us like royalty
but Herod made us uneasy. We were glad to leave
the city and press on despite the cold.
The night was icy; black, yet bright. This star
was like no other. We felt it, knew it;
but no one spoke of it till afterwards.
The camels swung along in silence.
You could hear the sand grains shift and slide back.
The star shone, moving on and on
with us following.

Then it stopped, and stood above that place.
We too stopped short. Shocked.
It was not as we had thought.
Not a palace. Hardly a house. Our young colleague
knocked at the flimsy door.
It opened, and we saw
something that made us fall down on our knees
in tears of joy raining as if from storm clouds
breaking in our brains, flooding our eyes with light
and at that sight our learning fell away
like clay masks cracking open. All we knew
was that this child was God; was Christ; was king of all.

Yet what we saw was simple, ordinary:
A child wrapped in its mother’s arms
who looked at us, saw us see him.
We gave our gifts. His gift to us was change
Of everything: our eminence, our lives;
the way we made it home. Our eyes had seen

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