Carol of the Seekers

This poem, written Christmas 1939, is from Water at the Roots: Poems and Insights of a Visionary Farmer.

We have not come like Eastern kings
With gifts upon the pommel lying.
Our hands are empty, and we came
Because we heard a baby crying.

We have not come like questing knights
With fiery swords and banners flying.
We heard a call and hurried here –
The call was like a baby crying.

But we have come with open hearts
From places where the torch is dying.
We seek a manger and a cross
Because we heard a baby crying.

Photograph by Bernice Tong