Summary

The poem begins with the Three Kings traveling across an unforgiving winter landscape to reach the home where Jesus Christ was born. The speaker is one of the Three Kings who describes it as “the worst time of the year / For a journey, and such a long journey” (2-3). The camels they are traveling on struggle with the snow and cold in “The very dead of winter” (5). The speaker laments the loss of the comfort and beauty of the summer long since past since it has made the winter that much more withering. He remembers “The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, / and the silken girls brining sherbet” (9-10). The Three Kings were not treated with kindness on their journey by the townspeople and found it easier to “travel all night, / Sleeping in snatches” (17-18).

The second stanza of the poem describes the physical...