"No Country for Two Kings"
By Leslie Leyland Fields, coeditor of A Radiant Birth
How fitting that the Advent season often comes during the U.S. election season. I would not have designed it so, but here we are, and I cannot turn away. Two kingdoms are in the offering. Both are offering light and hope and promises of peace. Both are asking for singular allegiance. Both will spare no means to that end. So has it always been since the radiant birth of our Savior in that dim Bethlehem cave. As Advent opens up before us once again, we get another chance to choose.
"No Country for Two Kings"
A king is come. There is no bed
in hostel or hearth for a girl
bursting with child. No bed for a birth
and less room for a king, no matter how infant
and Hebrew he is, no matter how long
the signs of his coming. See,
there he lies among dung and black sheep
in a two-mule town:
This is no place for a king.
But Herod hears. When you're the solo royal
any rumor of a rival is good enough
to make the mad exchange:
1000 babies dying for his crown,
1000 mothers wailing grief
for his relief.
This is no country for two kings.
And when that child grows up crude
with tools and wood, yet dares to rule
over sickness, greed and fear,
he wins a timber throne, is crowned
with thorns and irony—
King of the Jews.
The signs are clear:
this is how kings are kept,
how man redeems:
Yes, let all the children die for me,
while another, lifts his bloody head, decrees
Let me die to make my children royalty.
This is no country for two kings.
This bonus poem by Leslie Leyland Fields was originally written for A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season and it appeared in IVP's spiritual formation newsletter. Sign up for IVP's email list and select "spiritual formation" to get more content like this straight to your inbox.
About the Author
Leslie Leyland Fields
Leslie Leyland Fields is the award-winning author of twelve books, the founder of Your Story Matters Ministry, and an international teacher and speaker on matters of faith and culture. When not traveling, she lives on two islands in Alaska, where she has worked in commercial fishing with her family and where she leads the Harvester Island Writers' Workshop.
