Arise, ablaze (Epiphany)

Arise, ablaze because your light now beams,
Godly insight, shine on just abiding aims.
The darkness that would cover earth still dreams
Of battle victory in Satanic games.

The poverty of the poor brought to nought,
The dryness of the drought be drowned in rain,
The violence of the vicious be stopped short,
The upright once disgraced honoured again.

So yes: God’s mystery wise has been revealed,
the Gospel locked in sepulchre set free,
and Jesus master of this battle-field
is fruiting flower of the frankincense tree.

For darkness has no means of quenching light:
Wise men blaze in the beacon of Twelfth Night.

• Isaiah 60:1-6,
• Psalm 72:1-7,10-14,
• Ephesians 3:1-12,
• Matthew 2:1-12

Adoration of the Magi, Andrea Mantegna, 1495-1505. Painting in John Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles