The Three Wise Kings
Ruben Dario (Author)
Salomon de la Selva (Translator)
My name is Kaspar. I the incense bear.
The glamor of the Star has made me wise.
I say that love is vaster than the skies.
And God exists. And Life is pure and fair.
My name is Melchior. And my myrrh scents all.
There is God. He is the light of morn.
The fairest blossoms from the dust are born,
And joy is shadowed by a threatful pall.
My name is Balthasar. I bring a wreath
Of Orient gold, my gift. I haste to say
That God exists. I know all by the ray
Of starry light upon the crown of Death.
Balthasar, Melchior, Kaspar, be ye still.
Love triumphs and has bid you to his feast.
Radiance has filled the void, the night has ceased:
Wearing Life's crown, Christ comes to work His Will!
A key figure in Spanish literature of the early modern era, Ruben Dario is considered the national poet of Nicaragua. This lyrical ode to the Three Kings is included in school texts and read at holiday celebrations. Nicaraguan Artist Ignacio Fletes Cruz paints in a naif folk art style, originating in a utopian Christian commune founded in an island chain of Lake Nicaragua in the 1960s to support the poor in their struggle for social and economic justice. His Three Kings are not exotic oriental potentates but Wise Men who come on horseback as emissaries of the people. (John Kohan)