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Shadowlands

(x = space)

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Shadowlands

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Plato

C. S. Lewis

My hand by

The computer light

Shadows with shadows,

I suppose

With something firmer

On the other side

That could be relied on

For an eternity

Something waiting

Something inspiring

An ideal

A world of ideals

That’s what we learned

In school

So what have we here?

Which world shimmers

For the other

Though we presume

The other world’s better?

What do we sense here?

What do we make?

What lasts?

We have our treasures

And we try to keep them

We use guards

We have alarms

Things might fade anyway

Or break

And we keep making

Stockpiling art

With care

In both kinds of caves

Like those who aren’t so well-

Obsessed with money

Or better

With a hope for all

The way we might stockpile food

And why not

Against the day

Except for exigent hunger

(there should be enough

for both)

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Yet if they’re right

We’ll have it all again

Art and food

Anything of profit

By virtue,

Perfect there

And permanent

And with ourselves, perhaps,

Polished and redeemed

As on this side

We sometimes polish

Precious metal with

Satisfaction after

That self-effacing

Might be and become

A shimmering

Evangelism:

Grand art, you see,

And easy,

Arduous science

For both

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C L Couch

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the verse alludes to Plato’s allegory of the cave

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the title is a term that is a metaphor for mortal life

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Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

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1

Humility Blues

(x = space)

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Humility Blues

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(verse)

Virtue’s gone away

Vanity is here to stay

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(chorus)

O, Christians, I got the

Humility blues

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(verse)

Cool cats keep it humble

Don’t want to rumble, stumble

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(chorus)

O, Christians, I got the

Humility blues

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(bridge)

Vanity’s a bummer

Winter, fall, or summer

Wake up into spring

Humility’s the thing

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(one more time)

Cool cats keep it humble

Don’t want to rumble, stumble

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(bring it home)

O, people,

We got the humility blues

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C L Couch

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(I misread the title to something as “Humility Blues”—what the title was supposed to be I can’t recall)

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Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

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3

And, But, Or, Nor, For, Yet, So

(x = space)

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And, But, Or, Nor, For, Yet, So

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What do I do

When God is gone?

A question I don’t have to ask

Because it doesn’t happen

God doesn’t go away

I do

I go away when I want

To think of someone else

Of something that I want

That I shouldn’t have

When I need

Or presume to need

Enough to bump out God

From my awareness,

Which qualifies the need

As something else

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This is straightforward:

I choose to have God in my life

Closer to me, anyway

Since God is there

Creating

Maintaining

Weeping or laughing at

What we do

Preparing for Parousia

Yet

Cherishing each moment

The now we have

We linear beings

Meaning for us

It’s a saving moment

To a saving moment

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God is close

God is inherent

In electrons

And cellular nuclei

God will become more obvious

As we wish

As we choose

As we ask it so

(the asking’s prayer)

The devil has many ways

To snare us away

It is agenda

Of the kind that pushes will

And understanding

Inside a frame that illustrate

An attitude

Against people and the

Environment

The Earth we stand or glide

Or rest upon

All of which, the devil says,

Is unimportant

When favoring

Profit

Unhuman strategies

(inhumane)

That only matter as

Winning so that the rest

Are losers

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Who is lost?

The burden’s hard

The burden’s easy

It’s paradox

Of faith

Of belief in God who’s only known

Through evidence unseen

Who wins a case through this?

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Such contradictions

Such opposites

The world we love must be eschewed

If we would live, there is first

The inevitability of dying

Sheesh

No thank you

Or thank you

Our will to embrace

To choose

To live in love

With the good in everything

With faith

And hard belief that has gentle edges

In what we show each other

(as in manifest)

In what we sense

And how we deal

With everyone

With everything

By which and in which

A spirit accompanies

For good

For upbuilding

For faith

And, yes, for love

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We live in hope

That God is there

That God is there when we return

Or when we turn around

In attitude

Repentance

Sorry and a new embrace

Of faith

Gove love this Earth

And the extraordinary creatures

That you’ve made

That is each of us

Not that we are perfect

Or perfectly anything

But in everyone

And everything

The three remain close by

The three remain close by

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C L Couch

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By Finoskov – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109525350

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Please Pass the Pray

(x = space)

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Please Pass the Pray

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Welcome home the victims

Heal the victims here

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Quick prayer for those who died

And those who are wounded

And still here

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Something in the house

Or in the car

Aloud or silently

It counts

The most basic ask of intercession

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Like asking God

Be with whoever’s involved

In that emergency

Who are these people?

Someone knows

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What is needed by way of comfort

Or of sutures

Or of passage?

Someone knows

We don’t know

Maybe we don’t have to

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Prayer is involvement

Even anonymous

That works

We may not know the outcomes

That is faith

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C L Couch

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Photo by Mikhail Volkov on Unsplash

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Photo by YANGHONG YU on Unsplash

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2

An Angel Drops the Mic

(x = space)

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An Angel Drops the Mic

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Show’s over

Time for applause

Be impressed with me

The talent

And the portent

The agency

I am

And represent

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This was fun

Next time you see and hear me

The show will be the last

And best

And afterward

Maybe a revue in

Our new place

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C L Couch

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Photo by BRUNO EMMANUELLE on Unsplash

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Before We Leave

(x = space)

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Before We Leave

(or stay at home)

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Keep us

Safe at home

Safe far away

Safe in a crowd

Safe on our own

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Fed

Watered

Like valued plants

We also sometimes

Talk to

Sheltered from

All evils

All extremes

That cruelly stretch

Reason out shape

For decent use

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Help us to use

Our senses

As we have them

To expand

And justify

And celebrate

Your placing us

On Earth

Inside the cosmos

Our greater purpose

Serving you

Two great

Commandments

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C L Couch

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Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

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An Odd Prayer to Share

(x = space)

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An Odd Prayer to Share

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God, help us

As we must know you

Something besides us

For people fail

They go away

Often for normal reasons

We are inside

And something should be known

Outside the skin

Of each of us

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We breathe

And that’s good

What is breathing for

And other pleasures?

And when it hurts

And they

What then?

Where is the reason

Who’s the reason?

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Nature is good

We can humanize

When we’re not exploiting

Its indifference

With our indifference

We can worship it

It will not specifically respond

We can destroy it

But then

We can destroy each other

Too

(not recommended)

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There is something

That is not us

Someone

Who is not us

We are talking to you

Unless we’re sure there’s nothing

And we’re only talking

To ourselves

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Either way, something more

Is needed

Not that each of us is bad

Or useless

Not that self-destruction is a choice

And we’re committed

(or we’re careless)

In which case

There is no talking

To oneself or anything

And we choose that way

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Or talk us out of it

(and here is a conceit

if not a cheat,

for this is a collective prayer)

Set us on paths

Toward light

Toward life

Toward righteousness

Not the indignant kind

Not ego-driven

But has illumination

As a cause

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Beyond self

There are so many things

So many people

There is much within us, too

Even the storm

And we are enough

For that

For them

For us

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C L Couch

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a prayer to say together, on behalf, or one by one

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Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash

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For a Sad Time

(x = space)

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For a Sad Time

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God gives

We say

God takes away

It’s true

Especially

If we accept Job

As a template

Loss for what seems is

No good reason

If reason

Loss arrives

What shall we do

But keep

The good we know

The hope we have

Say

In other stories

Our own

That we compose

As best we may

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C L Couch

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Photo by Jules Marvin Eguilos on Unsplash

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2

In Kabul

(x = space)

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In Kabul

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Nine hundred twenty dead

Early counting

Now over a thousand

In Kabul

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The Taliban has asked

With urgency

For aid

The people in the city

Are receiving help

From local sources

People, groups

And from outside Afghanistan

Organizations

Other nations

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So many dead

The faithful will mourn

Accept

The will of God

While they mourn

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C L Couch

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck a rural, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing at least 920 people and injuring 600 others in the deadliest temblor…Read More

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Photo by farin sadiq on Unsplash

Kabul, Afghanistan

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