Suffering is a leading motif; it permeates the poem. It occurs in two distinct aspects, the wise men’s journey and their post-journey life. The journey is difficult from the beginning. The Magi had to overcome many obstacles, from bad weather to unfamiliar terrain, stubborn camels, irresponsible camel drivers, lack of accommodations, and a hostile reception wherever they went. “A hard time we had of it” (Line 16), the Magus says. Their lives post-journey were even harder, it seems. The birth that they witnessed did not bring them joy; on the contrary, “this birth was / Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death” (Lines 38-39). It would be hard to imagine presenting suffering in any harsher terms. Finally, the Magus confesses that he would be “glad of another death” (Line 43)—that is, his own. It seems then, that over the many decades that began with the journey and continue up to the Magus’s old age, suffering was the pervasive reality.

In the second stanza, the three travelers come to a tavern “with vine-leaves over the lintel” (Line 26). This is a positive symbol in Christian art and literature. In the Gospel of John, for example, Jesus describes himself as “the true vine,” and his “Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1).