March 2026 Slice of Life, No. 29
Last week I shared a sonnet by poet-priest Malcom Guite, “Palm Sunday” (read my post). Today, on Palm Sunday, as we enter Holy Week, I am sharing a poem, also named “Palm Sunday,” by Marie J. Post. With haunting beauty, Marie Post captures the antithesis between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his arrest, trial, and crucifixion later in the week. She accomplishes it with a the use of juxtaposition within each stanza.
Palm Sunday
Astride the colt and claimed as King
that Sunday morning in the spring,
he passed a thorn bush flowering red
that one would plait to crown his head.
He passed a vineyard where the wine
was grown for men of royal line
and where the dregs were also brewed
into a gall for Calvary’s rood.
A purple robe was cast his way,
then caught and kept until that day
when, with its use, a trial would be
profaned into a mockery.
His entourage was forced to wait
to let a timber through the gate,
a shaft that all there might have known
would be an altar and a throne.
–Marie J. Post (1919-1990)
Read more about Marie J Post.
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Alice, what a great poem. I had never read it before today. It is a stark switch of attitudes about Jesus in the few days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. This stanza has so much truth, and so powerful…
A purple robe was cast his way,
then caught and kept until that day
when, with its use, a trial would be
profaned into a mockery.
It is one of my favorites. It is so powerfu. The contrast from Palm Sunday to Good Friday is so well expressed by the juxtaposition in each stanza — two lines for Palm Sunday and 2 lines for the trial and crucifixion.
What a moving poem describing the both what occurred on Palm Sunday and the crucifixion yet to come. I will be keeping and sharing this. Thank you.
Every time I read it, I am moved.
Two lines bring joy; two lines bring pain and sorrow. Two stories entwined. Thank you for sharing this poem.
Great insight into how the tone is impacted by juxtaposition.
Thank you for sharing this poem!
Thank you for stopping by this morning.
I am up early this Palm Sunday to prepare for singing at two services. At one I will join a choir doing a cantata called “Sanctuary” Then I’ll walk across the street to my church for the yearly palm walk around the church. This is a week of contrasts, even of the two different religious celebrations, one Methodist and the other Episcopal. Thanks for this poem. I am struck by the word “timber” for the cross. It seems so ordinary and yet, we know, it was not.
Oh, your morning sounds lovely. Yes, so many contrasts and I really like how Marie Post puts them side by side. Today is such a special day remembering that Jesus was announced as our promised King. And then the week that followed was so full of miracles only to be followed by the horror of His Crucifixion, but then His wondrous Resurrection so that we can be redeemed and that we can know eternal Life. May your celebrations of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry be filled with joy.