An unusual, tender Christmas / Epiphany anthem with an interesting connection to a mysterious 16th-century inscription (see program note in score above).
TEXT:
THE THREE KINGS
Their wisdom is the load they bear
unknowing, yet they bring a gift
of glowing gold and fragrance fair
and worship without words, and lift
a coin, a leaf, a herb, a prayer.
They followed from their distant lands
a star, and saved their riches rare
to place the prizes in his hands.
He sees three rulers of the earth;
he sees the gold, he hears them sing,
he smells the fragrance. Fresh from birth,
he need not tell them he is King.