The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Palm Sunday version)

Inspired by the anti-far right and No Kings rallies around the world today, I’ve rewritten Bob Dylan’s classic protest song to imagine how it might have been sung on the first Palm Sunday…

Come gather round people wherever you roam
Galilee or Judea, Corinth or Rome
Wherever you’ve travelled from this is your home
Jerusalem’s festival is waiting
And the king on a donkey is one of our own
Yeah the times they are a-changing

Come prophets and teachers, come Pharisees too
And see what the King on his donkey will do
If you’re cheating the poor then he’s coming for you
And he isn’t afraid to turn tables
He will take your injustice and replace it with the truth
Yeah the times they are a-changing

Come kings on your thrones with your weapons in hand
And armies in readiness at your command
Leaving trails of destruction all over the land
As you sit there ranting and raging
But the king on the donkey has peace in his hands
For the times they are a-changing

Come women and men, the old and the young,
The uncertain, the lonely, the prodigal sons,
Let the king on the donkey loosen your tongue
Grab your palm branches high and start waving
There’s plenty of Hosannas left to be sung
For the times they are a-changing

The line it is drawn, the die it is cast,
And the world as we know it will soon be surpassed
Cos the king on the donkey is coming on fast
The old order is rapidly fading
Yeah the last shall be first and the first shall be last
For the times they are a-changing

The Ravens Go Dancing

The ravens are dancing together
as the sunlight warms the air
burning off the mists and cares
of the late autumn weather
and the ravens go dancing together

The children are walking together
and their voices fill the air
as the classroom calls them where
from their earthbound endeavours
they watch ravens go dancing together

The passengers jostle together
daily gossip twists the air
into tales of who and where
and what happened and never
notice ravens go dancing together

The loved ones all gather together
as the bells resound the air
and in hope and joy they swear
to be faithful forever
like the ravens out dancing together

The curtains are long drawn together
silent memory soaks the air
while a rasping whispered prayer
rises fragrant as heather
where the ravens are dancing together

The ravens are dancing together
weaving magic in the air
all of life below them sharing
the spell of their feathers
like the ravens we’re dancing together
life is just dancing together
the ravens are dancing

(c) Rich Clarkson, 2024

Photo by Alexandr Rusnac on Unsplash

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