endurance

the wanderer


the wanderer

(after losing everything)



winter arrives



there might be a storm

of ice and snow

in days



I’m not ready

but I’m never ready

not when I have so little

with which

to endure



I’d sell my soul

for food

and warmth

but God won’t let me



there is still the notion

of my soul

that is

assayed as worthless here

but might

be worth something

set on a scale

for heaven



so I shall

persist

until my spirit

has run dry

of blood

and will

and pray to God

that I’ll be taken easily

once warmed before I die



and only so much

before

having arrived

I’m washed in comfort

and apology

in paradise



c l couch





inspired by “The Wanderer,” a poem from a millennium ago at least, and by pressing issues now



photo by Noah Silliman on Unsplash

January 2, 2024 0

(x = space)

Consider It All Joy

Let the outside

Be awful

If it must

For princes of the world

Might have their own way

There

(not letting

princesses rise

by the way)

If only

There

Be good on the inside

Your own realm

Where you have willed

Let in

Avowed

God to rule

While you serve God

Servant

Steward before monarch

Even when pressed

Persecuted

Outside

Sigh

Sometimes devilishly

On the inside, too

Consider it all joy

The paradox of life and death

And resurrection

Final joy

Complete

And unrelenting

Even

In new tasks

Assignments from

A celestial magisterium

Or shall we say

The will beneath the crown

Of the Lord

Doing what God says

Because

The glass is clear and

We can hear

Consider it all joy when we must have trials, knowing that this testing of our faith makes endurance. And let endurance be complete even by trials so that we are whole, lacking nothing that we really need especially inside.

James 1:2-4 (paraphrased a little)

Photo by Sam Mgrdichian on Unsplash