a life only for Teresa
miracle
like so many products
and
mystery
like so many books
and plays
becoming movies
miracle
and mystery
foundations for
an extraordinary life
of
visions
mountaintop
and valley encounters in
the world
but more so of
the Spirit that both inhabits and
visits
the attending and inquiring
soul
and
do we elevate in ecstasy
and what of those who
don’t go anywhere
but stay
below to pray and hope for on-the-ground
situations and
experience
those of us who do not move
who cannot leave
not
to paradise
or the next
town
who are tied where we are tied
and shall go to nowhere
save
to struggle like the caged
or otherwise enclosed
or simply call it
where we are
and where we work
for now
not
to leave with any notion of abandon
not
to go wild
but
to stay put until Parousia come for all
and so
free or encumbered
we might hope to know God
yet
must live where we are
between the peak
and the vale
hoping for
interior conviction for
a life of faith and
love
a life somehow material
and holy
c l couch
Saint Teresa de Ávila wrote The Interior Castle
photo by Florian Haun on Unsplash—I was out working for our local newspaper [photographer’s story]. The weather was clear in the beginning but changed quickly. I turned round and saw the hut called “Zimmereben” in the region of Mayrhofen/Zillertal/Tyrol. The black and white gives that photo a touch of mystery to.
interior-castling
sigh
I want the love of God
pervade my life
Teresa had it
when she sought sacred ecstasy
as if to rise
with God
wings lent from angels
in
the revelation moments
and
then to come down to mortal living
for the nonce
yet with holy meaning
in the hours
and could I live with God
that way
if less
if domestically
to have earned presence somehow
through apartment living in
small towns
in such
plain hours
and a less-than-regular
me
hoping for more
c l couch
photo by Marek Piwnicki 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
New Pages in a Book of Hours
The liturgy
As clouds for notes
Against the sky
An antiphon of leaves
As wind
Blows through them
As candlelight
Reflections
Off of water
And should anything
Feathered
Or mammalian
Be chirping
Chittering
We’ll take that as
Responding to
The sun as celebrant
C L Couch
Photo by Ginabell Andujar on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
As It Is on Earth
x
I don’t know what I have
If I have
Anything
For me
And then for you
x
You might be first
But something about me must
Be satisfied
Or nothing travels
x
Something that could sound
Like a song
But must have sound
Regardless
In a shape that serves
And something of the world
Inside
The world and the inside
Where we live
x
Forgive me
Then
The lateness in the hour
Or anything that’s late
In getting to you
Though we have no schedule
I know
We know
And do our best
To post in blogs
Like bags of mail for ponies
Or task the runner
As at Marathon
x
We send
Receive
Respond
Then send again
It’s all a process
It’s a circle
Sacred
Called by some
And why not
Our gods as known
Believed
Walking like the
Lord
Or maybe
Gasp
Tash
Arrived
x
And in the interaction
All of us
In equal space
If not location
And for accountability
Well
Something holy happens
That is human
Set aside
As well as visitors
To take part
And approve
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Willian Justen de Vasconcellos on Unsplash
x
The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis is referenced.
x
(x = space)
x
x
True Worship
x
How does one really
Worship God
The glove compartment
Old gift boxes
Or stuffed
Desk or counter
Drawers
x
These are not
Nor do they contain
Anything like holies
Of holies
x
Nor do our lives
Say
We walk
We talk
In worship of the Lord
x
We go to church
Or temple
There are shiny things
There
Are they worship
What are the right
Accoutrements
x
We go away
Vacay
Even a retreat
Is God just off the shore
Or in the park
Or in a city
We have not
Traversed before
x
Or
Yes
Keep it official
Bring on the pipes
The choirs
The big noises
Organized
Maybe with fluid motion
On occasion
Of the litany
x
Are we now qualified
For worship
x
Some say
It must be corporate
There must be at least
The two or three
Though as many as
May muster
Is preferred
x
Can I worship on my own
May I
Or at the table
Meetings
Meals
Could anything
Like worship
Happen
x
Yes
No
My sources say
Hazy
Ask later
Though we suppose
It isn’t happenstance
And can we plan
The Holy Spirit
Let alone
The glory of the Lord
x
God is great
Remember the Sabbath
There are injunctions
On the worldly
And maybe there are those
Who believe
We find worship in
Mediation
Sitting still
Knowing in the easy
The presence of the Lord
x
How about
Where there is joy
For loving
And together
x
C L Couch
x
x
John 4:23-24
Romans 12:1
x
Photo by Ilse Driessen on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Remember the Sabbath
x
To keep it holy,
That is,
Set aside
For a spiritual purpose
Take ordinary things
Like the materials
For temple and for church
x
Like rest and relaxation
Contemplation
Talking about easy things
As well
Easy play
The pleasure of your company
Ordinary things
Set aside in honor of creation
And creator
That’s all we need to do
One commandment kept
x
We may interpret;
We’ve denied it
And the consequences
Having been directed
Over ages
x
Ordinary set aside
It should be a good day
On another day, when scheduling
Demands
I’ve said before, but I didn’t
Make these things
That go on being made:
A new set of six days follows
Then a seventh
A new chance
Almost absurdity
Of reason
ETs will ask,
And you didn’t take the free
Day that your God directed you
To take?
We’ll be leaving now
x
Have the sabbath day
It’s good, clean fun
Let’s hope we could manage that
Against ongoing, human depravity
The other days
It is the easiest of hopes
And means
A sabbath
For salvation
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
holy and holy
x
one priest one day a year
I wonder if it were cleaned
maybe by the priest
how dusty would it get
without a cleaning
over time
would the priest walk through dust
to find the glorious container
in which was God
maybe a walk through dust
reminded the priest
of mortality
on the way to what is glory
and shall never change
such a day it might be
when splendid robes
are marred
walking through the dust
accumulated
by passing time
by mortality
by forbidding rules
with eternity beyond
how tempting it might be
to stay
not have to walk back
through the particles
of death
reminding everything unclean
but the assignment ends
other rules pull
back through earth
back to earth
changed
moving faith
for another year
x
c l couch
x
x
Photo by Andy Køgl on Unsplash
x
Keep It Holy
A life set aside
For a spiritual purpose
Wow, that’s enticing
A ritual for morning
For brushing teeth
(I already have one—ritual,
that is)
For going out into the world
Or staying in
Ever mindful of
The senses, the oxygen
It takes to have them remade
By a Spirit
Not unlike the kind invoked
When first people gather
Smoke, bread, shadow
Gray colors, brown
Small brilliances in flowers
All reminders, lessons
Items on a clipboard
Of discipline
A life by candlelight
By words, by work,
By what we do to have enough
For sustenance and charity
But everything
Every breath is holy
Set aside like taxes
Only next to nothing must be
Rendered to Caesar
Life in a cave above the ground
We could have hours of quiet
We could listen
For and as another way
The ordinary molecules
Upended
Changes we can’t see, though
Sometimes there is a bell
There are other signals, too
That this is a new dedication
Joy and energy
Sister, brother
Mother, father
And all sorts of strangers
This kind of world has a chance
Without a way to count
Expanding or diminishing returns
Wealth of a new kind
Everything is new
For being ancient
Every second, every nanosecond
Not measured
But go as a new kind of priceless
An order an accountant shouldn’t know
Unless she join the order, too
God speaking, whispering, crying
We have attuned our molecules
To hear
Our books are turned into
Absorption unrelenting
To catch
As if it’s tossed to catch
The borning cry, the adolescent rage
And grown-up sorrows (any age)
Newly tuned like any instrument
Invested
We’ll live in an endless sabbath
Abbey, monastery
But really I mean a life
We could really try
(chronos left for kairos)
In which there is no little thing
That goes unnoticed
Every mote transformed
Newly and forever sensed
For the effort and results
This takes
Is why
Prayer has led to bleeding
The world conquered by rebuttal
Because the spiritual life so contrary
A crazy rendering of nuclei
That sometimes
Only makers and comakers
Approve
C L Couch
Photo by Evi Radauscher on Unsplash
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