(x = space)

x

x

Drastic Season

x

Soon it will be Lent

Time to think

Of Jesus

For all the times

Out scatter-gun approach

(sheesh)

Hopes to hit the mark

x

Forty days

With time off

For Sundays

For Communion

For the Catholics,

A churchly kindness

x

Otherwise,

We count

And do not count

For who says

Well, today is Lent 19

When we have it

In a book

If we must know

x

No, the season moves

Slowly

(it’s even in the name)

And we wish

For Easter treats

Especially because

We might give up something

For these days

x

It is tradition

And some choose

Something that it’s

Helpful

(healthy)

To avoid for a time

If not forever

x

Something small

Like caffeine

Something bigger

Like adultery

Or other

Eldritch bond

The priest might say

If saying

That is mortal

Meaning uneternal

For our lives

x

My, that would be a season

Of such change

To right a wrong

And who decides

Not priest

Or even angel on the shoulder

But the motivation

Of one’s own

In time

x

And such a season

Angels would approve

Though the loss

Of what sin brings

Forever

Shall seem to hurt that way

For the while

While things change

For forty days

(now a dreadful count)

And fifty

And beyond

x

As the healthy sun

Lights from far

The mortal planet

That in renewal

Might have something better

In its molecules

And the un-atomed spirits

After judgment

Knowing joy

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

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