26 March 2021

​BLESSING OF THE PALMS 
for Palm Sunday
By Jan Richardson

This blessing
can be heard coming
from a long way off.

This blessing
is making 
its steady way
up the road
toward you.

This blessing 
blooms in the throats
of women,
springs from the hearts,
of men, 
tumbles out of the mouths
of children.

This blessing 
is stitched into 
the seams 
of the cloaks 
that line the road, 
etched into 
the branches 
that trace the path, 
echoes in 
the breathing 
of the willing colt, 
the click 
of the donkey’s hoof 
against the stones.

Something is rising 
beneath this blessing. 
Something will try 
to drown it out.

But this blessing 
cannot be turned back, 
cannot be made 
to still its voice, 
cannot cease 
to sing its praise 
of the One who comes 
along the way 
it makes.

Richardson, J. (2015). Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. Wanton Gospeller Press.