(x = space)

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A Wish for Songs to Be Enough

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Love, love, love, love

The Gospel in a word is love

Love each other

Sister, brother

Love, love, love

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(with a little adapting)

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Dona nobis

All the songs

We used to sing

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Often away from buildings

On retreats

A time at camps

Sometimes with circles

In the woods

Even farther away

A distance from our cabins

And the lodge

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I thought these

Were sanguine places

And the songs

Well

They meant something

And I think they did

And they did

Though there were leaders

Sweating out the details

While we sang

About the program hours

When

They’d have to let us go

Let us be ourselves

A little

For a while

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It didn’t matter

I wouldn’t be me

For anything

Too many inside things

Contradicting

Outside complacency

While adolescing

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Then I would return

To find out

The lyrics didn’t matter

The guitars

Or a cappella

Hands in hands

(tentatively)

Singing of no boundaries

But freedom

In the Lord

That

I guess

No one believed

We were on hold

Is all

For part of a weekend

Then return

To homework

And

All of our prejudgments

We had gotten

From our parents

And each other

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Sigh

Youth groups

And time away

And when away from that

Seeking the green

Leaves and breathing

In and out

Among them

With the better oxygen

Provided there

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Then back

Always back

For a retreat

There never was advancing

After

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C L Couch

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Photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash

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