Advent in Verse

Working on the sermon for this coming Sunday I came across the poem below that references the passage for the sermon, Matthew 2.1-18. The poet is a man with a saint's name, Thomas More.

Here is the poem:

Matthew 2.1-18
Herod the Great

I - Audience

I hate Medo-Persians. Always have. Always will.
But I receive them anyway
International relations.

Send them in.

Magi this time. Not even real envoys. Sky mystics.

II - Tremor

Ruler of these parts, we’ve come to celebrate the birth of your son.

What?

Where is the child born King of the Jews?

Who?

The one
Born
King

III - False Teeth

Thanks for waiting.
My people tell me Bethlehem’s the place.
But tell me
When did this star first appear? Exactly?

You find the boy
Then we will all come down.
Royalty deserves recognition.

IV - Fury

Another route?
When?
Don’t you know anything more?

Well then how about this?
Kill every boy
No, wait.
Kill every child yet to reach its second year.
Use your imagination

And if anything more than weeping is heard it will be your head too.
Royalty deserves recognition.