When it comes to the writers of carols, I think the wise men have a poor deal. I know chronologically they came after the birth, manger and shepherds, maybe even a few years afterwards, but even so they are important. The only ‘kings’ carol we sing regularly at this season is ‘We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we travel afar. (my childlike mind used to wonder what ‘orion tar’ was! A special kind of tar perhaps!). Being a lover of alliteration I love the first verse ‘field and fountain, moor and mountain.’ The wise men certainly travelled a long way.
Three verses deal with the three gifts – ‘gold I bring to crown Him again.’ And ‘King for ever.’ Then frankincense ‘God on earth yet Priest on high.’ And finally myrrh. ‘Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in a stone-cold tomb.’
The centre of the carol seems to be the star. ‘O star of wonder, star of light.’ But of all the written words connected with the kings the most memorable are Christiana Rossetti’s.
‘What can I give Him, poor as I am,
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him, give my heart.’