Palms

Some haiku for Palm Sunday.

““Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’””

—Matthew‬ ‭21‬:‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash

The way stretches out,
cool as death beneath our feet,
our palms raised in praise.

The heat of the day
brings a lone colt stepping on
down the city street

in the very midst
of chanting bodies, waving
reeds green as the Nile,

calling out the name
of the man who came riding,
head bare, with long hair,

save for the favor
of the bright light transforming
his face in its place—

this place, where he came
to live; living well, to die—
this, the only way

of bringing wholeness
to this broken mass gathered,
bidding him welcome.

Our palms became his
thorns; our delightful fanfare,
his hammer and nails.

Yet still he rode on—
this beast bearing to the grave
the Way, Truth, and Life. 

©Graham Jackson, 2025