4/7 amos

Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse who types by hurling himself at the keys, but he can’t use the capital shift keys and he shuns punctuation marks – except the hyphens and dashes.

the donkey s tale

boss willifred the white

rat invited me to jump in

his tiny time traveler again

this week to visit the site of

the original palm Sunday

celebration

so we attached the tiny

time traveler to my 57

cheese-rolet hopped in

spun around twice and found

ourselves on the outskirts of

first-century jerusalem on

the way to bethany

excitement and tension both

filled the middle eastern

atmosphere boss you could

just sense something was

about to happen

while willifred and i

wandered down the

road and around the

countryside we spied

some mangled palm

branches laying along

and beside the road

before either of us

could speak or ask

the reason why we

saw a small donkey

meandering its way

back from jerusalem

what s the meaning

of all these mangled

palm branches says we

to the hairy little beast

those are instruments

of joy and life death

and destruction says he

how can that be says me

how can one little

palm tree signify both

joy and calamity

you ll see says he don t

you know about jesus

triumphal entry into king

david s city all the way

from bethany

all the people cheered

and shouted waved palm

branches and no one

doubted jesus was the

coming king jesus would

soon rule everything

at least that was the thought

of the cheering crowd pack

when jesus came riding

through on my back

but you see it wasn t

to be says he - at least

not yet but it ll happen

soon you bet

what happened says me

i understand about the

joy and life and freedom

from strife but where s

the death and destruction

part that doesn t make

sense to my mind and heart

here s the deal for those

who see and feel

all those palm sunday cheers

turned to gloomy friday jeers

those palm branches turned

to cat-of-nine-tail lashes

and jesus the coming lord

became the criminal s scorn

but i don t understand all that

says willifred the rat how and

why did jesus go from triumph

to tragedy all of this sounds

a bit bogus and ratchety

actually it was foretold says he

for you see the story hasn t

completely unfolded his death

isn t the end jesus ultimately wins

— just wait till easter morn and

all mourning will be over

boss the donkey knew what

he was talking about

although the palm branches may

have seemingly turned to lashes

for a time they — like the cross

— have become symbols of

victory for you and me

amos