Keep It Holy
A life set aside
For a spiritual purpose
Wow, that’s enticing
A ritual for morning
For brushing teeth
(I already have one—ritual,
that is)
For going out into the world
Or staying in
Ever mindful of
The senses, the oxygen
It takes to have them remade
By a Spirit
Not unlike the kind invoked
When first people gather
Smoke, bread, shadow
Gray colors, brown
Small brilliances in flowers
All reminders, lessons
Items on a clipboard
Of discipline
A life by candlelight
By words, by work,
By what we do to have enough
For sustenance and charity
But everything
Every breath is holy
Set aside like taxes
Only next to nothing must be
Rendered to Caesar
Life in a cave above the ground
We could have hours of quiet
We could listen
For and as another way
The ordinary molecules
Upended
Changes we can’t see, though
Sometimes there is a bell
There are other signals, too
That this is a new dedication
Joy and energy
Sister, brother
Mother, father
And all sorts of strangers
This kind of world has a chance
Without a way to count
Expanding or diminishing returns
Wealth of a new kind
Everything is new
For being ancient
Every second, every nanosecond
Not measured
But go as a new kind of priceless
An order an accountant shouldn’t know
Unless she join the order, too
God speaking, whispering, crying
We have attuned our molecules
To hear
Our books are turned into
Absorption unrelenting
To catch
As if it’s tossed to catch
The borning cry, the adolescent rage
And grown-up sorrows (any age)
Newly tuned like any instrument
Invested
We’ll live in an endless sabbath
Abbey, monastery
But really I mean a life
We could really try
(chronos left for kairos)
In which there is no little thing
That goes unnoticed
Every mote transformed
Newly and forever sensed
For the effort and results
This takes
Is why
Prayer has led to bleeding
The world conquered by rebuttal
Because the spiritual life so contrary
A crazy rendering of nuclei
That sometimes
Only makers and comakers
Approve
C L Couch
Photo by Evi Radauscher on Unsplash
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