Quality of Day
We have the day
Is all
It seems
And it can be good
Or bad
Or
Like as not
Indifferent
But
If a day
It is a day that God has
Given
And toward gratitude
Behooving
Except on evil days
We think
When
Gratitude is due
But God must have understanding
For even the virtuous
To rail
Then after
Maybe during
All
The cries
When thinking to leave or
To have left
And if left
To be a delight
Upon
Returning
Maybe a prodigal
Maybe a simpler turning
To
Have come back
Then still
To have the day and in
One way or another
Have
Share
Maybe share joy
And
Thus
If in a small contributing way
The next
C L Couch
Photo by Paul Csogi on Unsplash
the question of this evening
(responding to “Now the Day Is Over”)
evening draws nigh
the old song
imposes
for the song becomes
well
rather maudlin
melancholy
minimally
there is a prayer
and that’s fine
for Jesus to keep us through
the night
but
some will ignore
all this prayer
to fire up
the evening hours
instead
so lie low tonight
or charge
the time there is
to pub
and such
though morning comes
and with it
some responsibility
unless
retirement
has taken over
as an age
or
attitude
and then
what then
a song of peace
results in consternation
for there is much to figure out
by night
by day
rebellion
indifference
extremes cut through
by rest
c l couch
(the song often sung in my college chapel Sunday night—here, sorry, the assurance questioned
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.
verse 1)
photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
“Sometimes you just have to look up.”
(caption given)
Remember the Good People of Plains then and New Orleans Now
I don’t think I’ve said anything yet
To post
Or what I’d prefer
Briefer
Thoughtful
Something for all or most or many of us
To share
This might be a day off
Though I’m unsure
Why
I mean
I didn’t get much sleep
And the difficult situation locally
Around me
Occurred last night regarding sleep
And about the situation
Generally
These days
But what have I for you
A good word
Maybe
Could be
Think
Or could be
Love
And
Yeah
How ‘bout
We go with these
Today
We go with both
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Photo by iSawRed on Unsplash
merry
there was a creche
and a lamb
was
part
of that with other sheep
and it seemed the
lamb
had looked
at me
that was Christmas Eve
enough
for Christmas day
and for the world
each
in the world
a merry day
a happy
season
of
whatever kind
for you
and should nature nod at you
find the joy
live in
the joy
c l couch
photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash
When Sunday Is the First
Tridecaphobes beware
This should not
Be your day
A day for black
Cats
Ladders
Broken mirrors
Cracked backs
(awful!)
Bad thirteens
Judas
The thirteenth follower
Somehow
With Christ dying
On a Friday
Too
Though the bad
Day that pegs it is
Just inside
The fourteenth century
When on a Friday the
Thirteenth
A trap was sprung
Upon
The Templars
Arrested
Tortured
Executed
And the king of France
Who started the campaign
No longer
He decided
Had to pay the ruined Templars
Back
Then again
The origin could be African
Or India
Or from the Americas
Ancient Greece
Or Atabia
Where the numbers were invented
So
Good
Day
Inside
Or should you dare outside
Where black
Cats will be set on ladder steps
To sing in fiddled fashion
Of
The hours
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Photo by Zhen H on Unsplash
[not unlike “Croatoan” on a certain tree, also a subject of suspicion]
Black Hours
Black hours
Don’t have to mean
A dark night for the soul
Or for
Another part of
Self
An exclusive mediation
That must go
Sadly
Matched exhaustion
With frustration
Due to
Existential form
For
Sometimes
When I was done
With day
And daytime matters
Care for mother
And
Father-negotiation
With
House and home such-like
And also work outside
Of these
I could claim some
Time
And I was tired
I had some time
I took some time
And I was
Tired
Yet so many things
Were sunlit
Surface things were quiet
So
I could
Own
An hour or so
To sit and think
Like Pooh
Beside the jar
Or like the Satchel cat
That sits and thinks or sometimes
Only sits
C L Couch
Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash
The classic Dark Night of the Soul is a poem and also commentary by Saint John of the Cross.
gray time
it’s late
it’s fall
winter’s rise
a month away
the bears
have eaten salmon
I saw the camera’s highlights
of
bear
red flesh
and moving stream
taking
what is red
away
so now
the bears are done
(the
salmon gone)
and time for the
sleep
of a season
in the impulse of the bear
and the gray comes
earlier
should clouds
impede
a brilliance for a sunset
either way
and then
is
black-paned night
maybe
rest
regardless
after
hours
the next
the new day
c l couch
photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash
Sunset in Cluj, Romania
Last Gray Day
Last day of gray
Someone
Says whose job it is to say
I guess
So maybe yellow tomorrow
Red
And orange
Burnt-umber crayon
Too
Though gray belongs
In autumn
In spite of its mood
By tone
Interesting
And
Cloudy days
Out back of fall
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Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek on Unsplash
Unlikely Sabbath
(a kind of call to worship)
We
Understand
Misunderstand
(together)
The sabbath
As a time to go to church
To pray
Officially
For things we might remember
Afterward
Then be free of all of it
For food
For games
For preparing all the real time
To follow
The next day
Or
Instantly
As we might be driven
Driving
That is
Ourselves
But is the sabbath more than services
And really
Was it ever
Well
Ancient reminders
I suppose
The priests to the people
Saying
Or as if to say
By the tent
Then by the temple
In here is the
Holy of holies
Don’t forget it
Don’t forget
Our dedication
So
What is the sabbath
We might
Wonder
Being first
A seventh day
Created
A day for God to rest
And so
A model for
Ourselves
Modeled after God
After all
And so
First week
Completed
And so
Laid out for us
Six days of creating
Then a day
This day
To keep it holy
As in set apart
For
A spiritual reason
Like the fruits of
Field and vine
Set apart
For spiritual
Remembrance
And
I don’t know what
To say
Anymore
Except that it was
Said
Thank goodness not by me
To remember
As in have
The sabbath
It’s a discipline
To rest
An invitation
To play well
To remember
The source
Of love
And everything
That’s good
C L Couch
Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash
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