Holy Week Triptych Two Thousand and Twenty Two. I: Palm Sunday
Dedicated to the Parish of St George’s Crosby, in the Diocese of Lincoln.
The First Citation
““Why are you untying the colt?”. They said, “the Lord
needs it””[i]
The Second Citation
“Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of paradise
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood
The land of spices, something understood”[ii]
“Lo! He comes with clouds descending”[iii].
Steep, dusty, paths of our hearts.
Sweet Mount of Olives.
Rough Kidron Valley.
Rampant Lion Gate.
Squadrons of Donkeys,
Dressed red for the day,
Carry the principal players,
Onto the stage of the drama of Holy Week,
Their blood red banners unfurled.
The Squadron of the First Division.
Primus inter pares.
The Ox and St Luke[iv],
The Lion and St Mark[v],
The Angel and St Matthew[vi],
The Eagle with St John[vii].
The Squadron of the Second Division.
A Saltire and St Andrew,
A sling shot, stone and St David[viii],
A sword and St George,
The breastplate and St Patrick.
The Squadron of the Third Division.
Glistening tight and wrapped in thorns,
One blood red Crown.
Purple rapt,
One seamless robe.
Transfigured,
One Hammer of Blood Red Lies.
Finest elegant English Hallmarked,
Seven silver nails.
“And the first will be last”[ix].
“Ride on, ride on in majesty”[x].
Vulnerable. Intimate.
Glistening in Sovereign Virgin Glory.
“Those dear tokens of [their] passion
See [their] dazzling [donkey] bears”[xi].
Is this Entry Triumphant?
Do victorious imperial Roman Generals pass The Lion Gate?
Today, with our Ancestors in faith,
Donkey’s parody power.
Hosanna!
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”[xii]
The First Codex[xiii]
Bishops and Cabinet Members
Plot over the port in plum Pall Mall
To finance
Thirty pieces of finest elegant Hallmarked English Silver
To buy Judas.
Everyone has a price.
The First Codicil[xiv]
St David,
St Patrick.
Celtic Pilgrims.
Like Magi.
Search.
In vain.
St George sleeps.
With Jesus.
In the bow.
Of the boat.
Through the storm.
On the Sea.
Of Galilee[xv].
Copyright
© Lottie E. Allen
The Third Sunday of Lent
20 March
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Two
Footnotes
[i]
Luke, chapter nineteen, verse thirty-one. (New Revised Standard Version).
[ii]
“Prayer (I)” by George Herbert. The Church (1633).
[iv]
Luke, chapter nineteen, verses twenty-eight to forty.
[v]
Mark, chapter eleven, verses one to ten.
[vi]
Matthew, chapter twenty-one, verses one to nine.
[vii]
John, chapter twelve, verses twelve to nineteen.
[viii]
“David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the
Philistine on his forehead”. I Samuel chapter seventeen verse forty-nine”.
“Inside David’s head, Goliath is already defeated. What
is your slingshot? – the thing about you that God is waiting to use?” The Art
of Advent by Jane Williams (SPCK 2018 page 88-89).
[ix]
Matthew, chapter twenty, verse sixteen.
[x]The
hymn “Ride on, ride on, in majesty” by Henry Hart Milman (written 1827)
[xi]
The hymn “Lo! He comes with clouds descending” by Charles Wesley (written
1758). Verse three reads “Those dear tokens of his passion, still his dazzling
body bears”.
[xii]
Luke, chapter nineteen, verse thirty-eight.
[xiii]
“Codex: (2) A manuscript volume… of the Scriptures 1845”. The Shorter Oxford
English Dictionary. Volume I. A-Markworthy. Clarendon Press (1986 Edition page
361).
[xiv]
“Codicil: (2) Supplement, Appendix, 1784”. Ibid.
[xv]
Luke, chapter eight, verses twenty-two to twenty-five.
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