Psalm 31
a song, a request
Lord, your love rises above
All; let me, with your choosing,
Rise with you
Lift me without pain that
I might see the borderless
World below, source of your
Love in that we were made
Out of your will
Better than the dawn
Is waking to new life with
All things seeming new—so let
Me rise with you
Better than all other pleasures
And pursuits, please let
Me rise with you
Midst
There is no storm just now;
Yet I am between two poles
And, like the compass magnet,
Cannot find a true direction
In the middle and cut off, I
Drift alone—the sun is bright
Though I feel no thirst, no
Longer any hunger, either
I am alone—I don’t know
What happened to the crew—
No storm now and yet I feel
I am only between one
Tempest and another, that
One will come to overturn my
My unsteady craft; so how
Does the Latino saying go?
Your sea is so great, and my
Boat is so small—for the time,
And but for swelling waves,
There is no current bearing
Me away: yet I believe I am
In the midst of all, awaiting
What happens, what catches—
Compelling, never planned
Annie, How Do Lizards Leap?
(the answer might be, Very well)
Extra day
One day in four
We leap
With twelve lords
In British fancy-
Fashion
Well, I guess we
All own the song
By now
(Domains
Notwithstanding)
So leap—that’s
Falling with intention
Yet toward an
Unknown landing
Don’t expect
To touch down
(This is living,
After all)
On cushions
C L Couch (Coussin)
Desert Mother and Father
(contemplating Holy Family narratives)
With her husband, she
Flees with her child;
They go in the desert way,
If anyone can hurry.
They arrive in pharaohs’
Land, now a Roman colony.
What happens now?
They will live in exile,
Then return to native land,
Moving toward home in
Relative safety. She is
The desert mother, now—
He the desert father.
Child of the wilderness,
He will be taken there
Again, driven by God and
God-made agencies. He
will defeat the devil: after
To home and elsewhere in
The land, nevermore in
Safety. In millennial ages,
Spirit-led parents, not
Attached, will live in
Heathen caves and cells
To mentor the will of God,
To recall in scoured
Understanding and
Legacied devotion—what
This first desert family
Rescued and made real.
A Memory of Church
The family of God
That is the church
I have a memory:
A small church building
On the edge of town
Maybe on the way
To the next place
Or into the countryside
Or simply on the
Outskirts; and in this
Church, there was
A very pleasant man
The pastor with whom
I had enjoyed an
Ecumenical Bible
Study in the town
I liked that man, and
I liked that church
He and it were simple
(In the best way we
Use that word), set
Apart—the way I
Think the universal
Church should be;
And isn’t—we want
To be in the center of
Town, where everything
Fashionably important
Takes place
We want to be in
And will accommodate
Much about ourselves
So we can be there
Psalm 30
a song of I-don’t-know
what is the resolution
of an unsolvable equation
when one plus one
makes love
what more is there to say
to add or calculate
what function can enhance
the totality of this
one plus one makes love
Numbers
Eleven-fourteen
Three minutes past
My time, which is
All ones
But three is for the
Trinity, so I can’t
Complain
The numbers of
Our lives: my dates
In spite of ones
Are rife with threes:
Add up the numbers
Of my birth and now
Divide—there are
Exponents of three
Multiples abound
And I am only one
Of these
Sometimes there’s
Great comfort in
That, in being one
Of these
Pray for Fiji
Pray for Fiji.
I cannot go.
I don’t know how to build or
how to advise others how to do it.
I cannot send money.
It seems so small,
but I can pray.
Psalm 29
a song wanting simplicity
Innocence or stupidity, I want a simple life. I want my books and films. I want to write. I want a few nice things to wear. I’d like to keep my health in check. I’d like to be able to get around, not in an extravagant way. I’d like to quiet my ego by layering it over with love. I’d like a loving life. I’d like a faithful life. I’d like a life in which the Spirit guides me, even if that might ruin all the rest. Sigh, I’d like to follow God.
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