The Life
(own question marks, as you will)

So who is Jesus
The son of God
There
That was easy
But really
A child
Like you and me
With parents
And upbringing
The awkwardness of being
Adolescent
The quaking feelings
Of first love
The breaking heart
After
Learning
Schooling
Listening to authority
Tussling with it
Giving in
Though not all the way
Learning the work of this father
Deciding
It is not for him
And then diverging
No longer like us
Perhaps
Except in a search for freedom
And to get it right
With God
With everyone who matters
And to be disappointed
To give in
Or to wander off
Or in his case
Do both

Now he is divergent
God and human
Will and way
Thirty years to grow
Three to live
Then famously
What happens next

Then quietly
For the sake of souls
The living and the dead
Those there
There here
What happens
After that

It all seems quieted
Padded somehow
To hear the story
And to picture it
With or without
Pictures
We know
We’ll think them up
Regardless

But the actions
After death
After three days
Were they amazing
And is that
A silly question

Tangential circles
And did they start
In hell
Where Christ declared
I am risen
So are you
If you want
To be
Come with me

And hell was harrowed
Cleared
Horrified the demons
Hosting nothing
Like their agenda’s
Nothingness

And now on Earth
Where we live
Who live
Was it an angel
Or a gardener
Or Jesus himself
Who was a help
At the empty
Tomb

And were the spices
Cherished
Thank you
Mary
He could have said
They smell wonderful
Even though
There is no need

An empty tomb
Except for a shroud
Perhaps
Guards absent
Or emptied of
Responsibility

Death became reality
Instead of faith
With him
Or her
Or anyone to believe in
While we live
Forgetfully
Until someone has died
And we have responsibilities
To our families
To our minds
To our emotions
And wrestle
Losing
With mortality

But here it is
An empty tomb
Do we believe again
In one whose faith
We had
And then surrendered

And there it is
A ghost
And we don’t believe
In ghosts

And it speaks
Becomes a person
Different
And the same
For God can manage
Paradox

It is me
I am here
I was death
And now
I am life

And while they cower
Reasonably
In Jerusalem
Witnesses appear
To say
Jesus is back
I mean
Jesus lives
The temple to be torn down
In three days
Then raised again
A miracle
Is Jesus
And the miracle is not of stone
But soul
And it is that
Of Jesus

And
Reasonably
They do not believe
‘Til the Christ appears
Offers up wounds
As evidence
Jesus is there
In spirit
And in flesh

Yes
We believe
Jesus is there
Jesus is here
In spirit
We’ll remember
Jesus
In that way

No
No
Jesus is here
Don’t you understand
Really here
We could take meals with him
I believe
And I believe
Please
My friends
Believe

And after all belief
Had turned to Herod
And to Caesar
While we were calculating
How to live
With earthly lords
Again
This is what we’re told
This is what
She tells us
And those
Who were with here

What shall we do
What shall we do
Prepare to surrender
All again
To rise above the fear
We feel
For reason of our hiding
That we decided
Could be waiting
Until we’re
Forgotten

To come out again
Into the daylight
Of suspicion
And arrest
And execution
Like the cousin John
And what fortune like that
Might await the rest of us

We were about
To disband
All our community
Return to what jobs we had
What houses
Might accept us
And now you say
He’s here
Believe again

Yes
Yes
I do
Yes
You do

But all lines come together
For Jesus here
Who will believe
And will we believe

Maybe with a meal
We take together
We shall know him
As we knew him
He shall be our friend
As he had told us
All of us are friends

But also rabbi
And as some of us had said
Out loud
Even before him
Our Messiah

The one who saves
Both Israel
And the world
For the sake of Gentiles
He received

Jesus is here
How can we doubt
And where is Thomas
He should be here

Later on
He will
He and she
And everyone
Shall be here
At the point
Where lines and circles meet
The nexus
The zenith and the nadir
Whatever names you have
For what
You believe in
All directions
Meeting points
And places
Jesus
Is there
Jesus is here
And will stay
Once we decide
Once we all
Have decided

C L Couch


I am Christian, and I don’t mind if you are not.  I like the other faiths.  They fascinate, and I like to learn about them.  And, more importantly, I respect them.  I respect you.  But sometimes I must be who I am and even for the sake of those who believe as I believe.  Or I believe because they do.  And God calls.  And I respond.  So here is something out of our beliefs, our faith, our code.  It is creatively expressed, and I hope there is some accuracy to it.  But it is poetic because poetry has strength of thought and feeling--and strength of imagination with the words at least.  I offer this to you, what you will.  Thank you.

CLC


Photo by Jacob Amson on Unsplash