how challenging should be the choice for faith

and
what is all
and what is enough
if
we are here
with the assurance of not much

abuse
terror then
all kinds of
fear
if
simply in the abstract
as in
I live all right but
what is next

and those who ask
while
some ignore
how shall I be judged

or
what are the requirements
generally
unless
death is in molecules
alone
by nuclei closing over without energy
that’s finite
one by one or so
it seems

there is an empty or a
sleep
that doesn’t end and how about more

a Sheol in which to wait
or
a Hades to take death’s boat
to
by coins or if
we don’t have any

what then

or
are there halls or
the divine versions of mountaintops

deep away
or
far above

and is this doubt or reason
to believe and if so why
these
stories
than
about what comes
after

or between such as visits by Eurydice
for Orpheus
or
Penelope for seasons or
visitations
of all kinds from anywhere

why do we sacrifice
and
call for sacrifice
while
some believe the time for sacrifice
is ended
by sublimation of one kind
or person

so we are free
then
to wait
and in the waiting
live by faith
even to enjoy a peace
that
passes understanding

like
the evidence of faith unseen
and yet there’s
joy
in something

and a certainty that led martyrs to relent
or
to fight
to reach toward earth life
until the end
with
assurance that the same
next
comes to either sort
for
who loves life that should not give it
over
ever

and maybe I am speaking to
my first
heart attack
in
which it seemed I went through struggle
and relenting
and
am here
not like Job’s
servant
to tell the story

and so we wait
even
now
believing
unbelieving
some quantities of each and both
and
on the side of
faith
to be enough because perfection’s not so much
required
now

c l couch

photo by Benjamin Chambon on Unsplash
(“WAIT”)