The Three Wise Men

The weather has been awful,

The countryside is dreary,

Marsh, jungle, rock; and echoes mock,

Calling our hope unlawful;

But a silly song can help along

Yours ever and sincerely:

At least we know for certain that we are three old sinners,

That this journey is much too long, that we want our dinners,

And miss our wives, our books, our dogs,

But have only the vaguest idea why we are what we are.

To discover how to be human now

Is the reason we follow this star.

~W. H. Auden