right for wrong reason
the saint’s final temptation
cathedral murder
c l couch
prompt is the play Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot in which the following is given: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
Canterbury Cathedral
undeferred
maybe the universe
is better noise
except for that half hour from heaven
otherwise
a harmony
of spheres
of cubes
planes on or off axis
axes
and
dimensions
better when we’re talking
even better when
we’re singing
that is
anything by way of music
mountains as instruments
moons as notes
on staffs of
interplanetary compositions
let dreaming become
utterance
instantly encouraged
no deferring here
or there
at first
at last
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What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
. . .
—Langston Hughes
photo by Benjamin Chambon on Unsplash
so far, the line-spacing remains uniform, no matter how I’d like to separate the elements on the page (and it seems I’m needing to reformat often, part or all, sigh)
the wild wood
there is a church there
according
to my mother’s favorite hymn
I’m not
sure if the church is
supposed to stand against the wild
or
to complement somehow
as in the kairos
of God
in
creation
and I imagine church is for order even to call
the program that
and
often that is how peace is associated yet
the day an age of having made
well
everything by God’s design
and by the will and by
the hand
for
actual or metaphor
and since we cannot measure cannot
count
so many things
and
good we try
for many
maybe it is mystery the mind
and the enactment
of God that from a mortal distance we can guess at
and
yet as a paradox of understanding
must
believe
if at all to believe
and so something uncounted in the wild
might
be acceptable
number of stems
petals
branches
leaves
while for leaves we might count pages
in our books
and
have the ordered time together
though in between
the solid
and ephemeral
we
might emply a medium of
humor
to keep us honest
time
and
or
in the wild at the church
that was
my mother’s favorite
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I know the hymn as “Come to the Church in the Wildwood” (though I tend to separate the wild and wood words); it is known as hymns are known by the first line, which is “There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood.” The song, by reason of its lore, also has the name “The Little Brown Church.”
photo by Leo_Visions on Unsplash
n.b.
the song is about
a church that did not yet
exist
but was the verse-fancy of a writer
passing through
the Midwest
town and then there was a church
and yet is
my fancy
has me thinking of a Baptist church in or near
Bell Buckle
Tennessee which was where my mother
lived
and grew
and did the family go to church
I do not know
though she was
became
what have you a person of
faith
clc
gray building’s angles
trying shapeless loneliness
round peg in square hole
[prompt is the photograph]
Canada on fire
so many serve and rescue
feathered hope in rain
[prompt is the haze outside]
photo by Alexander Kaufmann on Unsplash
I’m nervous over an operation I have tomorrow
I’m nervous when you have operations
valleys of fear
fear
the Lord
so we won’t fear on Earth
and yet
we’re human
and we will
I think I’ve read that
fear is not of God
which
sounds ominous for all we have it
and
have it closely
well
we’re flawed
blame everything
and
yes
I think it all gets better when
we’re well
and
when we’re well for good
sigh
and I’ve done a little checking to distinguish
fear
the spirit of fear from Timothy
the fear not
given us
the fear that begins
wisdom from
Proverbs that is
the fear
of God
and I’ve thought the second fear
is awe
and should we ever meet
in the same room how
would we
fear the Lord
when
even angels address fear as in fear-not
severally when they appear
fear
don’t be afraid
keep the wonder
maybe
the truth closely of God
and
God with us
and
yeah
I’m still worried for tomorrow
and I worry over you
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2 Timothy 1:7 = For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
Proverbs 9:10 = The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
photo by Martina Nette on Unsplash
stand as it’s delivered
look at the yellow
paling
the blue
pasteling green branches look lighter
too
and if we’re waking take it easy
while impulsively receiving
everything that
happens
stand as may
as all the selections might
in
the paint-washed and more sensoral day
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photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash
applying what is read to the realities outside
the poem appeals
to hope
to strive
to find
to yield
we should be so lucky as to call a final voyage
and then at the dock find
the ready ship
thinking “Ulysses” by Tennyson
Frodo departs
the wound never healed
did it
Weathertop
nice name for tn outlook more than
a small battle
in
the night when all we hoped for
in our travel was
food cooked in our fire
and rest
after
but they came
and not
for the sullen hero on our side
would
have prevailed and did
so far as to lave a wound
that
has not healed not in the land behind
these shores
and so after
all the travail even of
victory
it must be time to go for now not qualifying
anymore
if
ever was to stay
to live through future parties
beneath the large tree
now
a park
as all might grow anew after the war
and yet
departure for
the ones who bore the most
it seems
with
promise of a haven
behind blurred lines
as
surf and land compete
even for the sure place behind of
healing
and
other blessings
near the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
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photo by Ray T on Unsplash
still Monday
Bible study, pedantry, sorry
sigh
so however counting
today liturgically
is Holy Monday
if mostly
which
is
a Monday
to acknowledge spiritually
to slog through as with any Monday by
perception
of our culture
aiming for
Friday
Jesus is in Jerusalem
by
tradition
clearing out the Temple
having
final meetings with
strangers
maybe those who
came
to meet him
and what kind of take is this
on meetings
in
our culture
intrsansigent gatherings in
blank rooms to
variously
go through an agenda
then
leave in secular gratitude
maybe with ideas
for
the next hours
next days
or
religionless season
we also read
hear
of an encounter Jesus has
with the leaders of the day
not
Romans so much
as Christ’s own and it goes
badly
really badly
to reinforce a conspiracy
that bad
there will be a meal
later
shared momentously
founding Eucharist
Communion
and
impose a focus on command
to love each other and to be called
friends
who follow Jesus
then more final things
happen
with bitterness and
danger
in
fact
condemnation
increasing
so here we are on Monday
how to have it into
unmarked
by
attitude
Tuesday and Wednesday
what to do
how
to do it
how to have these hours and these days
if
in the spirit of one kind
or another
the spirit of the age
claimed by a few
or
the spirit of all ages claimed by one
then
offered to the rest
like and as
the choice for faith
and
to change the rest so that
the law
the code
come
through and all the love that is
in fact
commanded
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photo by Martin Joos on Unsplash
teachables
learnables
a week from now is Maundy Thursday
I believe
antique name made from mandatum
meaning command
because they were not suggestions Jesus gave
at the Last Supper
but
orders
ours to obey
if we’re going to follow him
the savior with indwelling spirit and creating God
three
one
God all the time
who
John 3:17
sent Jesus here not
to condemn the world but that the world
by Jesus
would be saved
we might be saved
in present
tense
the price paid
made into grace that is free for us
not because the cost was weightless
in meaning but because
God
dying is what God may do
and then once
first
victorious
over death offer eternity to us
as by that grace we may
choose
to live
if after the irony of mortal death
which doesn’t change
sigh
so on Thursday
we had a dinner at the church each year
cooked and
served
by deacons
elders
many meal volunteers
what followed then
was a service of worship with
Communion
special ‘cause it was at night
and
I don’t know even the child of me
felt the community
gathering
first
in the hall and then the mullioned
beamed and genially beaming
room
c l couch
photo by Geda Žyvatkauskaitė on Unsplash
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