Search

clcouch123

I talk you talk we'll talk

Open Search
Category

Uncategorized

Catbird

(x = space)

x

x

Catbird

(recalled)

x

I’d like to speak

Of God

But sometimes silence

Is called for

To listen to the maybe

Maybe something grand

Maybe single

Bird-call

Can one hear the dawn

Or the vibrations in

The setting sun?

Hearing apparatus

Is not required

So much as to

Open up whoever we are

Enough to gather in

What the quiet Earth

Has to say

A gift for any, all the senses

We may have

x

Speak through the Earth

If we are mute

Savor unimpeded,

Unreconstituted wind

If we have lost our

Sense of taste

Let the sun move us through

The day

If we have no movement

Otherwise

What we’ve had,

What we’ve never had,

What we’ve lost

x

We have so much

To take in

Then contribute

To the cause,

Nourishing

And strengthening

All our

Good communities

x

C L Couch

x

x

On the Road from Stanley to Boise, Idaho

By TonyCastro – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83018649

x

0

The A T

(x = space)

x

x

The A T

(from Maine to Georgia)

x

The trail goes

Uphill and down

Around big cities,

I imagine,

Nearer to small towns

x

There is a station

Near me,

Which must be

A welcome sight

To trail-goers

x

I should

Go in sometime,

Though I’m

Not qualified

Having only walked

The trail

For an hour or so

x

I doubt

There are brandy kegs

Or Saint Bernards

To go with them

x

There might be

Maps,

Maybe words

Of encouragement

Left by other hikers,

Other errants,

Other pilgrims

x

Who wanted to

Accomplish something

Or own some

Really long spells

For thinking

Or simply

Had to take

A long, long walk

x

Safety can’t be

Guaranteed,

As it is an adventure

x

C L Couch

x

x

We hiked up Blood Mountain in a thick mist, the air sharp and refreshing as the clouds shifted around us at shoulder height. When we reached the summit, we found ourselves perfectly sandwiched between two cloud shelves. For the most part, our view was white and void for a nondescript distance, but for moments here and there, mountains and valleys emerged, both in the blankets of clouds and visible briefly beneath.

Photo by Mitchell Griest on Unsplash

Blood Mountain Shelter, Blairsville, United States

x

Appalachian National Scenic Trail (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

x

Appalachian Trail Conservancy

x

0

Sigh

(x = space)

x

x

Sigh

x

Something less dangerous

I wish the world could be safer

But we don’t build with

The best materials,

And too easily we go to war

And the virtue is not not-cheating

But not getting caught

x

C L Couch

x

x

Scrap Yard

Photo by Taylor Grote on Unsplash

x

6

A Song about Creation

(x = space)

x

x

A Song about Creation

x

I am a Calvinist who

(enough of a Calvinist

who)

Believes the world has

Fallen with the first

Sin we decided to take on

x

The world should

Be different, though there

Are reminders everywhere

In nature, in the

Morning, in the soft way

That evening falls

Sometimes

x

Maybe it’s in newborn

Life that we have

The promise of creation

To be constant if not perfect,

Wonders in asymmetry

x

Science and religion

Taken over by

The awe that greets us

In the mornings of

Every hour, every day

x

Hexagons and spirals,

Nature seems

To favor these

(bee cells and nautili,

for instance)

And nebulae sometimes

Look like one-celled wonders

x

And for all the shapes

And sizes

In leaves and roots,

Mitochondria, and the

So-much larger flesh outside

x

Above and under all we know,

There is amazement

In waking to creation

Remade in amazement

Until “Earth and all stars”

Be renewed perfectly

One day,

A moment

Signaling forever

x

C L Couch

x

x

“Earth and All Stars,” a hymn composed by David N. Johnson

x

Photo by Gabi Scott on Unsplash

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

x

1

North and South

(x = space)

x

x

North and South

x

As we believe

In omnipresence,

We may say

That God is in the rock

Though God is not

The rock

Unless a metaphor

Is needed

x

Soul-breathed things

Such as ourselves

Can know that God

Is in us

Not that God is us

The closeness is a marvel,

All the same

x

The nearness of God

That some might find

Unnerving

(and it is awesome)

Is correcting as a compass

(metaphor)

Toward the journey home

As in a day

As in a life

As in forever

x

C L Couch

x

x

Compass

Photo by Sunil Ray on Unsplash

x

2

Bland Recovery

(x = space)

x

x

Bland Recovery

x

I was hoping

I’d feel better

Even with the brace

I couldn’t find

x

I was hoping

I could cross my legs

To write

And not pay for it,

Afterward

With added pain

x

Here I am on

The fifth Saturday

Wishing it would

Go away,

Wishing that

Too much would

Go away

x

Well, I can walk

On it but then

I wear it out

And it wants to cry,

To complain

About injustice

And why it should

Be me

x

Time to think

About the others,

Which sometimes

Is cold comfort

For why should

You hurt more

So that I feel less

And berate myself

For lack

Of sympathy?

x

Sigh,

The days goes on

And I am in it

You’re there, too,

Most likely with

Your greater pain

And I’m sorry,

Really am

x

I hope we are

Forgiven for

All the nothing we

Have done

To warrant pain

As punishment

And the lessons others

Will impose

x

Our pain an object—then

An object lesson

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Ginny Rose Stewart on Unsplash

x

0

Following Discoveries

(x = space)

x

x

Following Discoveries

x

If God wanted us to fly

Well, I think God did want this

We’re there

We’re going far

And we go deep

There are barriers

We make them for each other

And ourselves

But on the other side

Yes, there we will have something

All our rewards

In the arrival

We will have everything

We will be loved, at last

We will be loved

By the universe

Maybe on Earth it hasn’t

Gone so well

But here

Wherever here

There is something grand to do

Every day

Forever

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Justin W on Unsplash

San Diego, CA, USA

x

2

Affectionately Yours

(x = space)

x

x

Affectionately Yours

x

All the things

That drive us to aberrant

Distraction, should

We let them:

What if our autonomics

Fail and I must be responsible

For breathing, blinking

The beating of my heart?

You see,

That won’t happen

But we can get into states

From time to time

x

As if the wrong angel

On my shoulder

Has been given too much sway

And I have let

The silent one

Stay silent in its wisdom

x

The demons call

Now and then

With sugar-words

And honeyed expectation

They must seem irresistible

In certain moments

x

But utter no,

Laugh

Move on—there,

You’ve removed the

Curse and thus joined

The anti-damnation league

Whose numbers

Are unknown

Whose fee is nil

But do they shine

In Parousiac moments

x

C L Couch

x

x

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

x

angel in a cemetery, weathered by time but still a powerful image

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

x

0

Nosh

(x = space)

x

x

Nosh

x

Tea time

Tee time

Take a break

Let someone else

Do something,

Even if you have to pay

A little for it

x

A moment of vacay

As they say

Small return

On the investment

On so much living

So far,

Giving and trying

To get it right

x

Enjoy the moment

Then get back to work

A little easier

x

C L Couch

x

x

Food Stack Collection

Photo by Nico Smit on Unsplash

RiverCity Christian Church (Hobart), North Hobart, Australia

x

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑