it could be Perelandra
I’d like to say
war does not belong
or
evil in any obvious form
as well as some
sometimes
the insidious
I’d like to go on to say
rampant fire does not belong
whatever
the origin
and
lava flows
eruptions overall
then there are floods
sometimes
seasonal
sometimes otherwise
at hand
in other words
all the problems that destroy the body
try will
with severity
challenge the virtue of the spirit
what promises bad ends
and tries to take us
there
does not belong
could we have a world of this
instead
and what belongs
is
good
and easy
and airy
and practical
and makes a world worthy
from which to explore
and is there
doctrine
or a selling point
that says we’re there already
but
we’re not
and have to deal in all
the evil
with the good
the war
the fire and the flood
and
what goes on inside us
shall we be saved
while everything is motley
to
our spirit-sight
our senses
to celebrate inherent goodness
and
to bring it out
c l couch
Perelandra is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It is considered science fiction and is about a world facing a choice and so be fallen (as a world) or not.
photo by Qingbao Meng on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
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Treading Dawn
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First I think upon
The violet sail
Then the dragon’s head
That sees
Where we are going
But keeps its secrets
Then to notice that
The ship is moving
In the picture
Feel the air
Taste the air
It tastes of salt
Pure crystals from Narnia
Or a zone of it
Or the unbounded sea
x
It’s wet
I’m wet
And there it is
The last allowance
The rooms fills
We leave the world
To go to this one
However attached
Unattached
(its own)
To fall upon the deck
Or into the water
The kindly crew will help
Though there have
Been enemies
Fallen from outside
x
How might I prove
Intent?
Salute somehow?
That will not be enough
With the ship
We undulate
Upon the sea
While they make up their minds
My pockets empty
No weapons
(that might help)
I’ll sit here
On the melodious wooden deck
A while
While they decide
And should this be the start
Of another chapter
Either way
x
C L Couch
x
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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis, third chronicle of Narnia
x
Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash
The frigate Shtandart in calm weather.
x
(x = space)
x
x
Quiet Victory
x
There is yellow sunlight
On things this morning
Or is it gold
Or is it wishful thinking?
Church is going on
I’m trying to listen
The advantage and the irony
Of virtual
If I’m distracted
If I distract myself
It sticks
(the distraction)
x
(Saint) Paul is confessional
I think that’s good
I was thinking yesterday
Of (Saint) Peter
And his qualities to lead
That are pretty awful
He leads anyway
Jesus said so
Called him foundational
To a new movement,
A new church
x
We are flawed
And at our best
We do not deny our flaws
Because that is honest
Because vanity
And ego
Won’t win anything
The battle
Or the day
Or the age
Or the world
Or the cosmos
Better to be the silent planet
As Lewis has created
Until we speak in power
Due to love
And lead the battle
And the world
And the age
In love
x
C L Couch
x
x
Solar Eclipse
Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Shadowlands
x
Plato
C. S. Lewis
My hand by
The computer light
Shadows with shadows,
I suppose
With something firmer
On the other side
That could be relied on
For an eternity
Something waiting
Something inspiring
An ideal
A world of ideals
That’s what we learned
In school
So what have we here?
Which world shimmers
For the other
Though we presume
The other world’s better?
What do we sense here?
What do we make?
What lasts?
We have our treasures
And we try to keep them
We use guards
We have alarms
Things might fade anyway
Or break
And we keep making
Stockpiling art
With care
In both kinds of caves
Like those who aren’t so well-
Obsessed with money
Or better
With a hope for all
The way we might stockpile food
And why not
Against the day
Except for exigent hunger
(there should be enough
for both)
x
Yet if they’re right
We’ll have it all again
Art and food
Anything of profit
By virtue,
Perfect there
And permanent
And with ourselves, perhaps,
Polished and redeemed
As on this side
We sometimes polish
Precious metal with
Satisfaction after
That self-effacing
Might be and become
A shimmering
Evangelism:
Grand art, you see,
And easy,
Arduous science
For both
x
C L Couch
x
x
the verse alludes to Plato’s allegory of the cave
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the title is a term that is a metaphor for mortal life
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