The Three Magi

They will probably come just after the New Year. 
As usual, early in the morning. 
The forceps of the doorbell will pull you out by the head 
from under the bedclothes; dazed as a newborn baby, 
you'll open the door. The star of an ID 
will flash before your eyes. 
Three men. In one of them you'll recognize 
with sheepish amazement (isn't this a small 
world) your schoolmate of years ago. 
Since that time he'll hardly have changed, 
only grown a mustache, 
perhaps gained a little weight. 
They'll enter. The gold of their watches will glitter (isn't 
this a gray dawn), the smoke from their cigarettes 
will fill the room with a fragrance like incense. 
All that's missing is myrrh, you'll think half-consciously--
while with your heel you're shoving under the couch the book they mustn't find--
what is this myrrh, anyway, 
you'd have to finally look it up 
someday. You'll come 
with us, sir. You'll go 
with them. Isn't this a white snow. 
Isn't this a black Fiat. 
Wasn't this a vast world. - S. Baranczak