Jacopo Bassano, “Adoration of the Magi” (1560s)
The star of Bethlehem has risen, shining
And bringing us the warmth of Paradise.
The Magi had the power of divining.
They went to bow down before Christ.
Inside the cave, they all were horrified
To see such poverty in His birthplace.
They bowed their knees and looked aside
To His blest parents, feeling holy grace.
The Magi said to Mary, “The Almighty
Has done you a great honor, the star shines…
God’s Son was born by you—it’s not just likely,
But it’s the truth confirmed by sacred signs.
His soul will soar much higher than an eagle,
And the entire world will bow before Him.
He’ll took upon himself the sins of people
To give the humankind blameless dreams,
To save you both as well as all the others,
Despite our sins which hurt the Heaven hard.
As that was ordered Him by His Almighty Father
Who always reads inside our hearts.”
The cave became a holy church from where
God’s Child Jesus Christ began His way.
The Magi didn’t say to Mother Mary
That Golgotha would be in her son’s fate.
December 24, 2010.
About the author
Mikhail Strannik is the pen name of Mikhail Dymshyts, a Russian poet and fiction writer. Born in 1969, he graduated from the First Moscow State Medical University in 1995. His first book of poems On the edge of reality (Na grani realnosti) appeared in 2010. Since then he has published more than a dozen books of poetry and fiction for children and adults. Mikhail is a member of the Writers’ Union of Russia. For his literary work, he was awarded several Russian prizes, including Nekrasov Prize and Chekhov Prize. He lives in Moscow, Russia.
