TITLE: Palm Sunday By Keith Wallis 04/06/06 |
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Palm Sunday
Behind, in the hot distance, in dust and haze,
a mystery-cloaked cloud approaches
a playful meander breaking the monotony of the day.
The anticipation of something special
catches the pulse and breath of pilgrim souls
on the road to celebration.
Whispers grow to discussion,
opinion to argument
theories fleet between mouths and ears.
... ..A dignitary on his way to the feast.
... .......A groom – there’s going to be a wedding.
.. ...A prince comes.
All forward trudging stops
expectant voyeurs, glad for the chance to rest,
turn their weary bodies
to view the distant disturbance.
Children look up, their enquiring glances
hurtfully piercing parental armour,
breaching the Achilles heel of their ignorance:
answers still hidden in that veiling distance.
No music escapes the approaching cloud,
no prelude clue to a wedding party,
nor mournful wails precede the dust
no funeric suffering or life-engulfing loss.
Occasional gasps ripple the lookers-on
sidelined and puzzled.
Prophetic words begin bubbling
through grey remembrances in uncoordinated trickles.
Palm leaf fans keep the heat at bay
as, footweary, they stand and stare
into the distance, into the past.
.....Someone glimpses a colt
.....fading in and out of the approaching cloud.
.....Another makes an association,
.....begins a journey through scrolls
... .and half forgotten temple arguments.
.....A donkey, a king, Jerusalem,
.....meeting, melting, intertwining.
.....History, legend, prophecy, melding:
.....a whirlpool of delight and fear.
Discussions become awe-overtaken whispers.
Palm leaf fans begin drizzling down upon the dusty pathway.
Glimpses become sightings as the figure nears,
the dust-encrusted party showing none of the fatigue
that dogs other pilgrim marchers.
Half-heard phrases chinesewhisper the roadside.
Noise becomes words become shouts:
“Praise to David’s Son” the psalmists words
reach out in recognition
escaping in surprised voice from a speaker
amazed at hearing his thoughts aloud.
The excited party passes by.
The sea of souls parts before the riding figure
taking their cues and echoing words
“Bless him who comes in the name of the Lord”
a clamour of “Hosanna”.
Each excited voice adding adrenalin and volume,
accelerating the expectation, the puzzlement, the wonder.
.....A prince is riding into Jerusalem,
.....a groom is coming for his bride
.....this excited festival crescendos
.....in a swell which will storm the gates of heaven
.....then shatter the doors of hell.
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