Heard Outside the Window
Town birds call each other early
For the farmer’s market
In the square
Come on! They drop the good stuff
All morning long!
We can watch from wires high above
All the antics
We’ll have all the fun
And be filled
We wake up at dawn, and we’re ready
We serenade the humans,
And they’re soft for us
Why not, we like the singing, too
Fit for forest still
But we’ll stay here for a while
C L Couch
Follow your dreams!
No Sin Required to Have Grace Abound
(Romans 6:1 and 2, that funny, funny Paul)
Grace
I want to write about it
Maybe because I need it
I don’t know how the mealtime
Prayer became “grace”
Because grace is momentary?
We ask for your blessing now, because
We’ll only need it
‘Til the food is gone
Grace is a surprise
And, as I’ve said, like a bird
It flies, it alights, it sings
It takes off again
Grace goes where it is needed
Costs nothing, and it saves
Sometimes we do get
What we didn’t pay for
Grace cuts through works
Though doesn’t undervalue them
(show me faith without works)
Like Jesus, grace provides means
And a way to God
Though discipleship is not required
When you receive grace,
Nothing is required
But a hope (a hope) for better living
And sometime or no time
To respond to
What goes quietly below
A plea for faith
An argument to hear
If not, then not
Grace will help us, anyway
That is its nature
And its calling
You can hear in every bird
Even the ostrich through the sand
(I don’t think ostriches really do that
I can look that up
I did: they don’t)
C L Couch
Donarreiskoffer – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7869007
https://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/do-ostriches-really-bury-heads-in-sand.htm
clear and helpful article about ostriches and sand
Congress
(visiting a beach in NC)
Topsail
I’m pretending that the air is
Ionized
And that it’s good for me
Up-and-over steps, across the dune
Down to the sand
A public access, though
There are only a few people here today
Some dogs
But all the birds
Are meeting
Fish and trash on the agenda
I have nothing for them so
They fly from me
Disdain
I pick up shells and stones
Some with rough edges
Some worn smooth through the refinement
Of the sea
Together we show
Large and small
Nature’s power
C L Couch
(photo credit, http://www.treasurerealty.com/uploads/TopsailBeach_OceanView.jpg)
Saint Francis and the Animals
(4 October)
Eight hundred years
Ago in the
Middle part of Italy,
A person walked and others
Walked with him
But when he tried to preach
No one would hear;
So he spoke his message
Unto the birds
The raccoons (in my telling)
And all things that crept
Or flew through the air
He would return to people:
He visited the pope
He met with the sultan of
The Muslim warriors who
Fought in Jerusalem,
Because he hoped
That peace as a cause
Might overwhelm
The rest
That keeps
Getting in our way
Dawn-Calling
Who calls dawn
One bird, two birds
I hope it’s at least two
No one should have
To call the new day
All alone
At such a time, there
Should be company
And, if it works out,
Friendship through
The morning
That’s how I’d like to
Start the day
With someone near
To know me now
When the day begins
Pre-Dawn
Birds are noisy
Waking up the rest
Of the world
Mist along the
Edges of the yard
A damp feel
Light enough for
Artificial lamps
Turning useless
Now earth turns
Over a bit to be
Washed by the
Day’s new air
Bending without
Voice the arcs
Of branches
Enough for them
To moan a little
Wind cleans night
With round beads
Of dew water
Surprise and
Comfort in the
Dawning tasks
clcouch123 
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