abduction
(a draft about salvation)
we were taken away
from Eden
with Edenic living
whose fault
we don’t know
maybe everyone’s
maybe not ours
so much
because we were not there
except in some spirit
time and space
possibility
now we are held captive
and there should be
a ransom
since kidnapping goes that way
some amount
some prize
according to abductors
who have caged us in deceit
to call it living
so who must pay
to whom
and how much
the price might be forever
be everything
anyone could have
and pay the price
the price paid
which was a final deception
a trip
in which the rescuer
now gone would leave the rescued
untenable
not fit for anything but fire
the infernal fire
which is to say fire upon fire to
the glee
of the one who thought
who planned
who entwined
and who
in fact
led the absconding or ourselves
and now in victory
having arranged the killing
of the only one to save
until
this moment
this moment when it
turned out
there was a reason for the death
and it was
to guarantee a life
one life
all
lives
together have the chance
now
to be saved
and what weeps and what
gnashes its teeth but a
planner
the abductor
who thought that killing it should mean the end
and it should now
but doesn’t
in that we may choose
faith in our own supernal return
the one returned
who offers the returning
to anyone
and as plus with anyone
becomes
an all
a following
angels and us
perhaps
in faith then
by grace
we return and then
even better yet move forward
to the gates of Eden now
angel-unassigned
shall become a new Eden and how about
gateway to new Earth
by new heaven
c l couch
photo by Peter Thomas on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
changelinged
x
1
I was invited once
to touch a snake
I like to think
it was a changing experience
not for the snake
x
the snake was enormous
I should say
wider to reach over
than with my hand
serpent exotic
in a safe place
for our human sakes
I’m sure
x
while I stroked
the smooth and awesome scales
looked up close
at God-given color patterns
the muscles moved
they rippled
in a kind of normal splendor
to our given
giving
Lord
x
what new thing did it know
it had to move that way
and by the way
representing all
the better sides of Eden
in its normal work
glory
and play
x
2
the poor snake
gets short shrift
as an inhabitant in paradise
and then cast out
x
same thing
you know
happened with us
x
and we can say
who changed
but everyone
and who shall be redeemed
and maybe
all creation
if it was everything
that fell with us
our choice
remember
and we can remember
x
maybe the serpent shall be changed
if the satan in
the twenty-plus chapters be
dispossessed
of nefarious
possession
x
now to wander
and climb freely over
all of our
new Earth
x
c l couch
x
x
I’m pretty sure this was part of a program sponsored by ZooAmerica at Hersheypark
x
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
They Seek Him There
x
O God, our help
In ages past
Our hope for years to come
x
And what do we need today
But to know you are near
Some miracles would not go
Amiss, I must confess
(unless they do)
For a week of flood and fire
End or start to war
A sickness that has taken many lives
Corruption from the fruit of Eden
For the way we ate
For the way we live
For the way we want to live
On this side or that
x
C L Couch
x
x
title borrowed respectfully from The Scarlet Pimpernel
x
by Lawn Weeds – Scarlet Pimpernel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85377914
Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) is a summer annual plant and a member of the primrose family. As its name suggest[s,] it has bright red/orange flowers, which only open when the sun shines.
x
(x = space)
x
x
Through and Through
x
Francis would say
I think
That God is in the split
Between the seasons
x
That God knows
When it happens
And is there
To bless
The ending,
The beginning
x
The solstice has passed:
God bless the solstice
x
God bless new time
As gift
And chance
To get it right,
To let the garden
Sleep where
In Eden
Seeds of love were sown
x
We rest over this
And what may grow,
Some of which
Say half,
Say maybe more,
Is our side of the promise
With the gardeners
x
Keepers
Turned farmers outside
And warriors
And slaves
And liberators
x
Inventors,
Criminals,
And movement-starters
x
So much has happened
In the seasons;
Here’s a season now
x
Decide,
Go to it
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by John Hult on Unsplash
x
Lent 29
In the stillness
In the wilderness
In the pagan place we go
To live in wildness for a time
Away from city shapes
Away from the shadows of
Everything right-angled
At night, we might see stars
We might hear the planet
Touch a texture we have never touched
For all the times we’ve tried
Taste something in a cup
We’ve brought along
Taste and see
Taste and be aware
Taste and delight
Taste and share the joy
That had it gone differently
We might have tried in Eden
C L Couch
the Expulsion illustration in the English Caedmon manuscript, c. 1000 CE
Air and Space Museum
Light and space
It’s physics,
And it’s Arabic
It’s need
A vision helping me get by
In a crowded world
That doesn’t breathe enough
Plants to air
Us to carbon dioxide
Back to plants
It goes ‘round, and when
Done right, it’s good
I want to be at the Alhambra
Or the Alcázar
Without the Christian overparts
Not to abandon faith but
To find it in the beauty
Of healthy building
I don’t know how to reconcile
The tyranny that built it
Somehow-dimensions cast to God’s own
As if the architect had been
In Eden when
First designed
All was lush
With light and air
Imagine a veil
Blown under the arch
Of all creation, which was
The promise of
How close we might get
Toward living with life’s own
The movement
Without angels yet
To keep us out
All is green behind
After we rest, breathed upon by God
We get to go inside
C L Couch
File:Alcázar de Segovia-9.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
Amihan
(in Philippine, northeast wind)
Where I live,
When the weather
Comes from the east,
An unusual day
Arrives with it
Different time is allowed,
No value yet, not
Good or bad
Will the air be dense
With drenched nuclei,
Will the sky be sliced:
Will weighted water
Pummel us from above
Then, once cleansed—no,
Purged—and dried
Will we breathe
An ameliorating atmosphere
As a gift from no one
We know how to thank
Valued thus rendered
In innocence
With feet wet
From Eden’s tears,
We tread home
To do our best
To make
A heaven here
Word-High July: Welcome!
Maria of Doodles and Scribbles and I [that’s Rosema at rosemawrites] are more than excited to read your takes on the 30 Beautiful Filipino Words.
- Write or create a post inspired or about the Filipino word prompts.
- A post can be anything. A poem, a fiction, a six-word tale, or even a photo. It’s all up to you.
- Linkback/create a pingback to this post: Word-High July 30 Beautiful Filipino Words. Here is a quick tutorial on how to do a pingback.
- Tag your post with WordHighJuly, so your co-bloggers will be able to read/see your take on the prompt. Here’s how you create tags.
- Most important of all, read and comment to your blogger friends (old and new found, we’ll never know).
HOP ON and let’s all GET WORD-HIGH this JULY!
Promise to Tame and Wild
The manatee, the tapir,
And the platypus are
Abducted
The black-and-white
Ursus of China cannot
Find bamboo to eat
And the smaller one
Inhabiting wild Australia
Needs eucalyptus more
And more from us
What are we doing?
We make captive that
Which impulsively is
Unaware of borders
Save maybe the divine
We slew the passenger
Birds that only send
Messages now as
Phantoms (I’ve seen
The statue)
We tame, we kill—a
Time for everything
The brave dog who
Saved the children of
Nome (I’ve seen that
Statue, too)
How about time for
Leaving what’s created
Not by us in better
Care, surrendering
Our Eden-promise, if
Need be,
Rather to leave alone
What we cannot care
For with respect for
Great and small
clcouch123 
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