For Advent: A Business Trip Poem by Michael Shepherd

Their wives were not too keen about it all:
beyond the call of duty, so it seemed;
for, if they read the heavens' portents so well,
what need of proof, of presence at the scene?

and then, to go without due retinue
through unforgiving deserts; foreign towns;
and forests hiding thieves and wild beasts too?
and carrying rich gifts? and worse, their crowns?

and so to risk three kingdoms, not just one?
and for the sake of some religious creed
not even ours? 'Nay, love - it must be done;
we crown our lives and kingdoms with this deed;

these crowns are symbols of our rule on earth,
to yield the King of Heaven at His birth.'