Timing Isn’t Everything
When we pray
There is listening
Because God is infinite,
Which means
There’s plenty of time
C L Couch
Finite
When we exhale
Things go out
We no longer need,
Which is all right because
Parts of the world need them
That, in turn, give up what
We need
And so inhale
To say the least, it’s a good arrangement
We should keep it going
Oxygen doesn’t come from
An artificial tube
We borrow it
And sometimes
Too often, really
Don’t give anything back for it
Let’s not begrudge astronauts
Someday maybe
We’ll make our own sustenance
For breathing
Though really everything we have
Is borrowed, molecules from
Someone else
Call it Mother Nature
Father Time
Or random, hexagonal arrangements
In the universe
Finally, it’s what we’re lent
Of substance and of time with
The energy to use them
C L Couch
Photo by Moses Lee on Unsplash
Comet NEOWISE over Iona Beach through tall grass.
There Are Way Too Many People Dying
There are way too many people dying
Yet we, the living, complain
Because we’re still here
With masks and keeping six feet or
Two meters apart
Staying not in a factory or prison
But at home
From where we live and work
Unless you have to go away to work,
And we thank you
And (everyone) get by hopefully without catching
Anything,
Such as the nineteenth COVID virus
We have to get outside,
And so we protest in Berlin
And politicians in Ohio
And D.C.
Hawk a malarial that not only
Doesn’t work but harms in other ways
If Madame Cleo came back
And recommended something,
I’d be more inclined to listen
This should be the year of doing nothing
I’ve said it elsewhere
I’m saying it again
This should be the year of doing nothing
But getting better
Next year we could try it
Without the disease
C L Couch
(image from Unsplash)
United Nations COVID-19 Response
Frontline. Inspired by images of exhausted doctors and nurses. Image created by Kevin Kobsic. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives – help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Snoopyism
Take out the “stormy” part,
And “It was a dark night”
As most nights are,
When it happened to rain
Snoopy went for this
(the words appear above
his doghouse, when
he’s typing—how does
the typewriter stay perched
along the top
like that?)
But the words were borrowed
From other sources (more
than one writer claims
the cliché!), and we
Smiled, because we were certain
We could do better
It was night; there was rain
Okay, now your turn
C L Couch
(see, Snoopy is a beagle character in the Peanuts comics and cartoons, and Snoopy like to write while on top of his doghouse (Snoopy’s always on top, not in, his doghouse), and the famous words he quotes are “It was a dark and stormy night” that have been used now and then by writers who evidently had nothing else to say
and I keep forgetting that Madeleine L’Engle uses the phrase intentionally (knowing it was cliché) to start her novel A Wrinkle in Time)
Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash
Sabbathism
Resting is a process
When we’re not exhausted
So that sleep is something like
Unconsciousness
(we might as well have fainted)
Spiritual rest, more so
A process, and there are
Some truly mortal things
We can do
Do you have a favorite place?
Something you like to drink
That will enhance
(not abrogate) the experience?
Like violins singing beneath
The piano solo,
Can you wear something comfortable
Or comfortably?
And here it is,
Will you give yourself some time?
By doctrine, it’s a whole day
But take what you will give
Half a day, an hour
Twenty minutes, five
Do you need a prescription?
Get someone to write you one
Better yet, write it
Yourself
Read something, then and there
Write something
Pray something
Or do next to nothing
But be present
In the moment, as de Caussade
Has recommended
Think things
Feel things through
Decide something, if you must
Though you don’t have to
And it might be better
If you don’t
Afterward,
Reach out to someone else
Especially, if you took help
To make sabbath happen
Didn’t I mention getting help?
Well, feel free
Always feel free
C L Couch
(The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade)
Photo by Matthew Angus on Unsplash
Devotion in prayer.
All Days
(pandemic time)
July seems to be rushing
Toward conclusion
I’m not sure how that is
But there is a number at
The lower right-hand corner
That changes
Every day
And soon will be over
Maybe because it’s hard to
Tell the weekdays from
Each other
I was certain Sunday it was
Saturday,
Which should be the
Mind providing one more day
Rather than one less
But, you see,
All the days are merging
In self-quarantine
I imagine you know
What I mean
Some day we’ll be over it
Not because we say so
And we’ll look back in time
To wonder how we did it
With worse help
From Washington—well, there
I’ll need
To get beyond it, too
Not simply the spate of days
Cheers to August
More time for discovery
Maybe the science news
Like numbers for days
Will turn forward
C L Couch
Photo by Tim Umphreys on Unsplash
While shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July, a summer storm rumbled in the distance. Crystal clear skies, beautiful stars, and picturesque lightning made for an incredible moment.
Ordinary Invitation
A pale day
Painted in yellow
Talking to the trees and sky
Green and blue in perfect tones
Framed through the window
Because the house is old,
Tall and wide
In this moment, there is fortune
Lucky to be here
You’re invited—look at that,
You’re here
C L Couch
No Indifference
If there is a God
And there is
Then why all the terrible things?
Because there are
There have to be
Otherwise, it’s all a game
And God is a demon,
Only the biggest
But there’s another question, too
For all the terrible things
That happen,
There should be no inspiration
No interest in virtue
Even to using it when lying
Why should good have an interest
At all in our deliberations?
But it does
We want it, pursue it
Even bad people
Want good things
Companionship, ambition
Self-satisfaction, pleasure
Nice things
Nice sensations
The bad has been twisting them
Hiding inside means that
Should be hidden,
A bent form of going after
What is good
Like every villain in every story
But there are heroes
Please understand, as women
As men
And people of all colors
And locations
And there is virtue
That usually starts with something
That is true,
Perhaps the truth
C L Couch
Photo by Pavel Nekoranec on Unsplash
Am Lustgarten 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany, Berlin
[cropped]
Miracling
I’d like to live in sunshine
I’d need some shade
Maybe water in the distance
Perhaps a chair and a small table
While I’m ordering
I shouldn’t forget the breeze
That would be an easy place
Oh, all the time
I’m imagining
My situation next
To a tall tree
From which, you know,
All the shade has come
Did you get that, angels?
I know you have important work
To do
Are you ever on a break?
Maybe between assignments, you could
Swing (should I say wing?) my way
Toward what really are
Small miracles
Even though they’d make a world
For me,
Any company—
So I’ll need more chairs
C L Couch
Photo by MusicFox Fx on Unsplash
reminds me of the character of the seraphim in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet
clcouch123 
Recent Comments