(x = space)
x
x
(leaves can testify)
x
leaves can testify
an acceptable word tree
inherits earthly
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by guillaume bergaglia on unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
armageddon morning
x
all earthly alliances
whose treaties are for war
in violation
with a claim
to win the world
x
God will fight us
weeping
with the rain
no doubt of victory,
would rather gather us
on a field
for celebration
will take the victory
if we shall give it
insisting we are right
in no other way
x
dawn after
final skirmishes at night
surrendered remnants will
be healed
and taken home
surprising what was won
in defeat
who was the foe
we battered in the dark
who struck
who struck
we have forgotten
or will forget
with a will
x
the place is clean
Earth an altar
all other altars served
without knowing
the template
last sacrifices needed
and these weren’t
x
we will come home
quiet first
names
and wounds
the celebration shall come
later when renewed
x
when we awake forever
a universe
to get to know
and new assignments
x
there is a party
only for an age or so
inside new heaven
over new Earth
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Dan Senior on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Briefly, the Apocalypse
x
The circle won’t be broken
Angels will hold
The breaking places
‘Til we get there
x
We’ll keep the world together
Until an ending that is proper
Appropriate for
New heaven and
New Earth
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by bhuvanesh gupta on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Stained/Strained Glass
x
O God,
We believe
Variously
x
Most of the world
(mid- to upper-nineties)
Believe in you
Some way
Somehow
x
I know what
I must believe
But am loath (to use
an antique word)
To insist
That the next one
Must believe as I
x
I’d rather have respect
For belief, lack of belief
And for us meeting
Anyway,
This way
Transacting with each other
And the Earth
x
Bad evangelism, maybe
For us all to meet
With friendship and respect
(as if meeting
friendship and respect
as angels met in
Baucis and Philemon)
To realize
Humanity
Alive on Earth
x
Withholding conscripted hands
By the switch
That only proves
Annihilation
x
So we learn
And maybe for petition,
Maybe gently pushing us
To places where people
Of Earth
Believe otherly
Or don’t believe
But worthy
On both sides
All sides
All around
x
And welcome
To the table
Of the Earth
Amen
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Adam Gonzales on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Presenced
x
It should not come to this
But God
Rescue us
With miracle
Maybe miracles all around
Friend and foe alike
Even on the blooded field
Now turned
For fallow ground
Ready for
New planting
New heaven and new
Earth
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Quaritsch Photography on Unsplash x
(x = space)
x
x
Mud-Healing
x
Jesus didn’t need
Things
He didn’t need mud
To heal,
To draw in the dirt
To make a point
He didn’t need a drove
Of pigs
(poor pigs)
He didn’t need a feast
He didn’t need
The perfumed oil,
Though he adored
The one who gave it
I am sure
x
He didn’t need Martha’s
Food
He didn’t need Mary
At his feet to learn
Though I imagine
He was happy for
Her devotion
x
Jesus didn’t need
The Earth
Though he came
To save it
And to give
Too much
x
This was
And is
A God of love
x
When we love,
So many things
Don’t matter,
Anymore
And what does
We’re willing
If not ready
To give up the world for
x
Sacrifice
For service
For devotion
Life for another life,
To dive or run into
Dangerous waters
For rescue
x
C L Couch
x
x
(the sermon started in John 9, mud-healing)
x
Photo by Piotr Hamryszczak on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Wolf Moon
x
The wolf cries
For food, for family
For companionship
The monogamous wolf
Who knows companionship
Who knows a mate
And family
And food
And wonders why the Earth
Is barren
Crying for itself
And for its mate and family
x
Crying for its mate and family
And for the barren Earth
That the community
Knows and tells,
It wasn’t always this way
There was plenty
And a law
For every living thing
x
Some nights
What might the Earth and wolf do
But cry
x
C L Couch
x
I thank Judith Nilan (https://stonefireblog.com/) for the inspiration.
x
x
Photo by Marek Szturc on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Lean-To
x
Earth tilts
Unlike pinball
The other way
Then tilts
The other way
x
We light fires
To appease
So that the axis
Listens
Turns us back
To growing seasons
x
We’ll have winter
Now
While they have
Summer
The world is made
Of complements
As well as
Paradox
Winter summer,
Equator and the poles
x
A world on which
All things hold
That must hold
x
Our home
Embraces opposites
In seasons
In tilting one way
Then the other
In value for us all
And each one
x
C L Couch
x
x
Sunrise in Iceland 11:19 this morning.
Hafsteinn Robertsson from Hafnarfjordur, Iceland – Winter Solstice, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73751614
x
(x = space)
x
x
Paradisal
x
God, love us
From afar
And in our cells
From walls to nuclei
Better than gravity
Your affection
Keeps everything together
Not that the loss
Is chaos
Everyone needs chaos
From time to time
But you know that
You know us
Made us for chronos
And for kyros
x
In time
(both kinds),
We shall know all
Certainly beyond
The truth, beauty of Keats
We’ll know the beauty
In rushing fear
As well as the bridge
That rescues over
x
We’ll have something
Of the knowledge
You meant
To bend the tree
In its own time
And yours
And ours,
Once ready
We’ll have it right
And better yet
We’ll know the love
The makes it
And respects it
Living the lessons for us
x
After the nightmares
When dreams lead
To healing wakefulness
New plans for action
We may make
Together
All togetherness,
The good
The sanctioned
The unplanned
That makes a heaven and an
Earth
At first
At last
x
C L Couch
x
x
Yellow Leaf Mid-Air
Photo by Sandis Helvigs on Unsplash
x
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