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Presuming Invitation

(x = space)

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Presuming Invitation

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Dear citizens of heaven,

I hope to meet you

One day

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I mean, I believe;

But like the Amish who

Respond I hope so when asked

About salvation,

I too am not taking anything

For granted

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But I do look forward

(if not too forwardly)

To understanding

Golden streets that are

Transparent

And how a person (Jesus)

Might be a building,

Too

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And if you don’t mind,

I’d to visit the renewed

Earth that revelation

Promises;

Maybe I could be assigned

There for a while

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And what about the rest

Of the cosmos?

How much fell,

And how much will be restored?

I hope there are tours

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I hope I might be allowed

To journey on my own

Or with a few companions,

Maybe newbies

Such as myself

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All this is presuming, I

Understand;

And maybe nothing’s like

The screen that I see

Through for now

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C L Couch

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Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash

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Own

(x = space)

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Own

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So, Lord,

What shall we have

Today?

We shall have burnt toast,

It seems,

My fault

The coffee is all right

Except now the

Button doesn’t work

That turns if on and off,

The last

Of many things, I think,

That say it’s

Time for another

Will you lead me to another

Coffeemaker, Lord?

Or have an angel do that,

Please?

So small

And there are many things

So much larger

(the ocean is so large,

and my boat is so small)

But things push

The economy, I suppose,

And angels

Are your agents

x

There are clouds

There might be rain,

Perhaps a storm

This is your day

Because you made it

This is my day

Because my choices

Matter in it

Because of will

And degrees of determination,

This day belongs

To all of us

I wonder how we’ll own it

I wonder what we’ll do

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C L Couch

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Stormy Stornoway

Photo by Lachlan Gowen on Unsplash

Stornoway, United Kingdom

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Law of Love

(x = space)

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Law of Love

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What does

God want of us?

Through the prophets,

We are told

To walk humbly

With an arch concern for

Justice,

More generally

To repent

And turn toward God,

The people

And the nation

x

Through Moses

We are given

Laws from God

On Sinai,

Starting with

The ten laws that

We know,

Most of which

Tell us what not

To do

x

God speaks

Through angels

And sometimes

Maybe

God speaks through us

In smaller ways,

Perhaps

One to another

x

The measure,

The pendulum

That swings with ease

When set with

Accord

Should be love

That might be difficult

And hard

And sacrificial

But moves with equanimity

Respecting all

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Sometimes in silence

Bearing nonetheless

The message

Of the prophets

Of the angels

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All enact

The law of love

(James would say

the law

of freedom)

And thus

Are closing in

On what God wants

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C L Couch

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12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 2 (Christian New Testament, New International Version)

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The Old Bell

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

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You Know

(x = space)

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You Know

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I don’t know

I should have something

More to say

How are you?

What’s up with you?

What have you read

Or heard,

Seen or

Smelled, Tasted

Or touched?

How is the world for you

These days?

I hope you’re well

And having a good day

You deserve it

And to be told so

Many times

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C L Couch

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Friends

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

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Evening Hours

(x = space)

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Evening Hours

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Tonight, somewhere

Vespers will be sung

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Then maybe at midnight,

Those keeping vigil

In a circle

In a loft

Will utter prayers at midnight

For the sake of the new day

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That this midnight

Will mean Monday

Though it could be

Any day,

Any set of twenty-four

Dedicated hours

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All our sundials

All our watches

All our singing

As God wills

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C L Couch

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Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

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Waking

(x = space)

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Waking

The backs of my front teeth

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That I ground in my sleep

Skin tags

The iffy vision when I needed

Clarity

My ingrown or overgrown

Toenails

White hair (dark again)

The perils of left-handedness

In a right-handed, mortal world

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Fears resolved

All the fear

That drove

The body and the brain

x

The soul that speaks

At last

To say, I knew you were there

Thank you for the journey home

To end at last

To start

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C L Couch

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Watchmaker’s Junkyard

Photo by Heather Zabriskie on Unsplash

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Beneath Us

(x = space)

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Beneath Us

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If God looks down

Then God should look up

Through the ground

Through all the loose dirt

In the garden

Through mountaintops

Or valleys,

Through all the fractured

Places we have made

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God looks up through

Everything

We’re planting

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C L Couch

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A mother teaching her child how to plant a tree.

#greenlegacyethiopia #pmgreenlegacychallenge

Photo by Eyoel Kahssay on Unsplash

@eyoel_kahssay_photographer

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The Gifter

(x = space)

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The Gifter

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Something brief and fragile

Like the low candle

Ready to touch the plate,

Run out of life

Of thread and wax to burn

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Who says “brief candle,”

Hamlet or Macbeth?

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Both ready for an end,

Relinquished from the missions

Set upon by ghosts and witches

Daggers and blood

And other apparitions

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That like the dagger

Blood on hands

In fact, all apparitions

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Might be of the mind,

Modern interpretation

Of medieval magic

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A gift of time in time

The gifter having only one

For whom the limitations

Of one time can

Never, never, never, never, never

Be enough

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C L Couch

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And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more.

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Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

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red light

Photo by Maeghan Smulders on Unsplash

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Half a Building Gone

(x = space)

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Half a Building Gone

(Surfside, Florida)

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Half a building gone

It seems,

Unreal

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I mean, how do we

Take it in?

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High-rise exposure—the

Condos look

Like cells,

Like empty egg cartons

Many stories high

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The back that stands

Looks brown;

The open part looks

Silver,

Though I imagine

The effect is the light

Of day

And camera resolution

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How many died?

How many live?

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Already a pack appears

Around a microphone,

Mouthing

Not enough details

Although with

Many assurances

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Maybe that’s good

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Maybe it symbolizes

There should not

Be panic

But that the best advice

Is to sit

Or stand around

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While the recues

Work on,

Heroes

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When the experts

Do their jobs

That they do well

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Stand by

For more information,

More assurances

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C L Couch

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Photo by Dan Russo on Unsplash

Florida, United States

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