two poems about me, all of us


a story for me
(and you)

let’s
see what I recall

she asked me
do you know what your name
means

and
I said
yes
it means cross-bearer

to which she then asked
do you
know the story

and I didn’t

there was a wide river
and a man who
for a living
carried people to the other side

one day then
a child
came to the man
the child requesting
to
be carried across the water

and
so he took the child on his shoulders
and proceeded
and as they moved
it seemed
the child got heavier to bear
and then
heavier

the current of the river and the distance
made
everything more difficult
though it was the weight of the child
that mattered
most

so that the man
said to the child
I feel as if
I’m carrying the weight of the world
to which the child replied
you are

and that’s the story of the saint
named Christopher
and
I’ve kept that story from
my teacher
when in school and to
this day


so

I know there’s much to write about
about
earthquake and war
fire
flood and strikes
and such

and not
to dismiss
anything in the world with which I often
feel
uncomfortable
and yet
must love so much

but
sometimes it is me
as it is you
and we are one by one
as well
as
together

and each one matters
as
togetherness matters

and sometimes
you know
there is the day and only one soul
then
another

and what happens from inside to
the outside
through one and then another
to
the world
eventually

is what we have
one
two
together
more
the world
forever


c(hristopher) l couch


photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
“long exposure image of a river flowing in the forest”