something stronger
tea
as
or something stronger
through stronger
is
what the refreshment
means
in that we sit
like rest
and how are you
today
and I hope
well
though if not then
not
and I’d like to meet you
anyway
of course
and if we could have tea
in a room by
Beatrice
or
by Bilbo
I’d so much like to hear
your story
up to now and then
a little
speculation toward
the future
yours
and with a taste of the last
lukewarm sip
might stand
a guess
toward
the future of us both
and by extension
all
though it’s our time
as is this
time
with minutes only for
each other
and
I shall hear you better than
the rest that is
the ministry
of tea or something like
and
listening
for which there’s nothing
like
c l couch
photo by Colin Roe on Unsplash
quiet as a
I sit
on an old creaking
and solid bench
and could I be quiet
like that church mouse over there
I neither see
nor hear
but wears gray
with brown
and
needing to clean the dust of Earth
when drops of water I might
find
somewhere there
c l couch
photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, NYC, USA
sun day
I’m supposed to write of God
today
it being Sunday
and I told myself
directly about spiritual things
on
Sunday
being the day
you know
for that
then what happens tomorrow
when
it’s Monday and the untrending grudge
(or is it grunge)
returns
with six more days
‘til another break
for heaven or
at least for
heavenly consideration
well
today I think on God
because by experience it’s obvious
and I’ll even think on church
though
that bond
over time as well as exploitation
has become more and more tenuous
and what of God
whom we don’t know
or even
intimacy with Christ
which hardly seems appropriate
to think
Christ is our pal
with ironically the Spirit
the closes part
of God
we know even less
which might speak to knowing ourselves
and yet
we have the caveat
not
to dwell on self against all other
preoccupations
and yet
two sides of the equation
to love neighbor
and self
preceded by the command
not
nice suggestion
that we love God first
which sounds like law
and is
though we know
well the only kind of law we get
on Earth
that sometimes is filtered
through mercy
as well as
justice
sometimes realizing these are the same
in fact
though mostly laws and lawmakers
who serve self
not the good self
or self’s
agenda
first
well
I started back on Sunday
and it’s
still Sunday
a day of value because
it’s the now
we have
and could be Monday
any day
that’s the now
we have
and God is over us
and as we want
God
through us
and how much
so very
agonizing much
must God
be waiting
for faith to start and also faith
to live
beyond the start
sigh
so believe in God
in spite of all our
well
things of us
that get in the way
of our being us
or things of the world
that do the same
and also
take us from
the love we have in God
self
and each other
about as
simple as it gets
really
God made everything
and us
and it as “good” by God
to have done so
or add an exclamation point by
James Weldon Johnson
and
things went wrong
and
don’t blame anyone but everyone
fell to the extent
that over ages
we’re still measuring
though as far as goes
can get up
whenever
meaning whenever
ask God
for help
and even for the life
and is in thanks
to offer service
to the good
as one is able
and let one work that out
with God
not for perfection
yet
but for redemption
yes
and also frankly
the delight
in the pleasures of the moments
with having the better way
for
the other moments
then on to delight
and
did God say
(and did)
peace and joy
even
now
if in irony with the world
the promises good things yet
does not
know them
really
but life with God
now
and was it mentioned
(and it was)
a life to come
that we should know has come
already to
the saints before us
and
small “s”
that is
for the sants among us
as us
now
c l couch
photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
(haiku about the gathering storm)
bright day turning haze
storm wind blowing through tree leaves
as the sun leans west
c l couch
photo by rhett sorensen on Unsplash
space prayer
God
keep us
and God will
while we’re on Earth
and then more so
beyond
I think
which could make this
a prayer for astronauts as
well
who shall leave Earth and meet
who knows
what knows
out
there
c l couch
photo by Vincenzo Malagoli on Unsplash
Grace Fully
So believe
If you will
And only as you will
Grace
That makes faith real
Is offered freely
And
Exists regardless
Believe in God or do not
Same
With the life of faith
After and
With belief
And
Don’t let any tell you
Another person
Anyway
That he or she dispenses grace
If only you subscribe
Grace
And also faith
Don’t work
That way
The first need being only
You and God
Should you choose
And
Should you accept
Then there is the life of faith
In which you might choose
Healthy
Earthly affiliation
And while to have and keep
Sadly
It’s not
To say the faithful life is easy all the time
While
Through it all
The obstacles
Worldly
Self-styled
Do promise
Spiritually
Well
The Spirit’s ease
And even peace and joy
Be the judge of grace
And faith
To start with God or
Not
And
Don’t let any other take the judging role
Except God
And then remember God is truth
And also
God
Is love
I heard once that church should be rejected because it claims to dispense grace—and also, as such, the church charges something (membership, money, doctrinal adherence) in order to receive the grace if offers, if not dangles. But grace is not or ever owned this way. (Or owed, either.) Grace is from God, and grace is free. It is the free means to receive the saving favor of the Lord. As means or to exist at all, grace comes at no cost of ours, the price for grace, so to say, having in fact been paid by God. We are saved by faith in God. And as if faith were great art, grace is the frame.
C L Couch
Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash
“In the Park”
Kyiv, Украина
brass buttons
(like other tokens by good stories)
I think Peter Rabbit
as well as
Bilbo Baggins had them
as
I think both beings
lost their own
one set to a fenced farmer
while
the other
to the great door
of a goblin
lair
brass buttons
then
might be a trinket and
a trophy
in addition to staid usefulness
to fasten
but the brightness of small things
to have
to lose
by farmers and by goblins
and other
taller foes in the world
and shall
new
gilded circles be given
or
otherwise arranged
so that vests and coats might be
fastened
against the cold and rain
or other depredations caused
by
great and closed cropper fences
or
Orc doors
as also shining things for
pleasures
be
restored
maybe to the reader
to match with likened
tokens
treasures
too
and
hey
even with their
losses
the rabbit and the hobbit
respectively
escaped from
their foes
c l couch
(Peter, whose jacket is classically depicted with bright buttons, actually loses the whole jacket plus his shoes in escaping from McGregor; Bilbo loses his brass buttons squeezing through the back door of the goblins’ mountain)
photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash
(pretend the door is green, which, in fact, it is)
2 weekend haiku
Saturday crowds green
back and out front glisten ‘round
wider spring’s sunlight
city slides from hill
bushel claims the under-light
weekend gospel press
c l couch
photo by Ruslan Zh on Unsplash
What Kind of Country
The Constitution
A grand response to the ancient notion
Of democracy
Preamble
Principles
And rationale
And then how to operate a nation
Amendments
Laws to address exigent
Inequalities
And is all this worth defending
It’s worth repeating and
Defending
We could say
Defending to the last
We could say
Defending for the first
If the first is a child
If the first is First Family
Is the first was a slave
If the first
Lives and by living
Is mistreated
That’s the first
She is the first
And all
Who by birth and by the way
Are here
Only one of us was here
To begin with
The rest of us have
Come in waves
With each wave unwelcome
Scaring
The preceding wave as
A single ocean
Never acts
C L Couch
photo by Sean Oulashin on Unsplash
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