there will be
there will be
no sorrowing there
Jesus
himself has gone before
to take a cross
to set it down
maybe horizontally to make
a bridge
between
God and us again
as
at Eden
he
for he and she
went through the valley
first
and shall come back
maybe
by angel agents representing
either way
we shall go through
and at the start
or
in the middle
or at the dale’s ending
we shall be told
we may
set our crosses down
no longer needed
since
there will be no longer
any
sorrowing there
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photograph by The Walters Art Museum of the ink-and-color work of Ishiwata Koitsu “Twilight at Imamiya Street, Choshi 1932” via Unsplash
terminus
it is finished
and
it wasn’t
but
to Jesus in that
time
it was
in that moment of unliving
it was done
and to be
plain
there was no more
and
who knows of surprise
from God in
having
or unhaving this
the finality
of death
not
to feel the body released
from iron and wood
to be
taken down and carried
who knows where
at first
though finally to stone
small space rolled shut as all of
space rolled
shut
in all systems everywhere
it might seem to
us
and to angels likely
and who knows
but
to God as well
even some knowing
might not
shut out the pain and then the nothingness
to have
in all the heavens
as with us on
Earth
we had our prophecies but forgot
or forgetting to believe
and
did it happen right away
the resolution
and
the glory
and was hell harrowed
right away
or did the sleep without sensation
go a while
so
it was death
complete
even more so than our own
though the moment did arrive
when
the stone and
the space inside the stone
were
not enough and there might have been fire
in release
and
so to heaven
and on Earth
so much a timeline
we don’t
know
though we believe
and who knows how difficult for God
who gave up being God
to
live and
die mortally
totally
by our count for three days
and then
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photograph by Lucrezia De Agrò on Unsplash
church gone
as in I went
to church today
was
driving
and
drove in because I know
the church is pretty
and probably
for something
more
saw cars pull and people going
inside
so I went in
as well
hoping I could
I don’t know
make my way by gestures
forgotten
words
half-remembered
but
worship
anyway
the church was lit as much by
morning light
I think
a stark shadow rendering
in silhouette
the gigantic cross of
Jesus
I listened to the homily
about the special
day
today
of guardian angels
of angels
everywhere
I’m sure
we gently waved to each other
maybe
a legacy of the pandemic
and we smiled
I did not take part in
the Eucharist feast
since
it was twenty years or more since
confession
(I
don’t
think I would have been caught
out)
we left
I left
got in the car
resuming my drive
more
or less
to nowhere
into a world that matters
where
and when
(yesterday)
my
niece is
sick with cancer
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photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
peregrine
another poem about breathing
breathe on me
breath
of God
that would be nice
I think Aslan breathed on people
and they were affirmed
to
exist and even have a calling
though maybe
existence
was enough
to know that God love me
for me
but
no
I should
do something
too
as I’ve wondered
and I’ve wandered
like the song
and like the song I wonder
while
wandering
why Jesus had to die
and
did he wonder
too
while he was wandering
well
we’re here
Jesus
Spirit and God
and me
without standing or power
a world to cheat
as well as to say hello
hello
maybe the start of cheating
and
what is my place
when it seems I have no place
I am God’s
I’m sure
though God be angry with
my performance so far
and
yet is love
Jesus and Spirit
too
to help
I want
to trust
I hope
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“Breathe on Me, Breath of God” and “I Wonder as I Wander” are hymns
photo by Brooke Balentine on Unsplash
church going in again
(with reference to “Church Going” by Philip Larkin)
oh
Jesus
keep me alive
‘til I can find a church
and
have the morning energy
to show up
church
returning
(Mister Larkin and will you excuse
me)
in the mean time please with grace and
miracle
won’t you
please
and thank you
and
this is how I talk
to a God
Jesus my pal
(as in the movie)
buddy
friend to meet at diners
and
well
maybe so
maybe Jesus is a companion
in
familiar ways
and
might not mind our forward comments
or to go so easy
with doctrine though I’m not so sure
about
commandment
I say in
need
of grace and miracle
again
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photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
(the movie is Dogma)
homely liturgy
Jesus
at the shore
Jesus on the mountainside
Jesus in the temple
on the portico
through the city streets
to the cross
and so
after death and resurrection
Jesus in the sky
all
directions
Jesus
in my heart
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photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash
Golan Heights in Israel
rest with
rest with
I think of thick
cloth
maybe with a scent of earth
and what is
the scent of resurrection
I don’t know
the face
for fear
for shame of looking
but I can’t help
but rest
against the folds
and a little ways
inside
I rest
and I don’t know the surface
of the ground
beneath
it could be firm
it could be clouds
if could
be fire
but for the company
I’ll keep resting
maybe fall
asleep
daring and remarkable
in the Earth-turning
and somehow homely presence
of the Lord
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for Easter Monday
photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash
Hearing a New Commandment
Bread and wine
For body
Wind for spirit
Earth
For creation
These show the nature of
The Lord
In closest metaphors
Like mustard seeds
For faith
And there are other metaphors
For appreciation
And
For learning
But these are things we have
And may know
Easily
Even rather thoroughly
That any might believe in
What they represent
And so
Have faith
In the intimate way
The better things are and have
Been made
Bread
Wine
Wind
Earth
Learn
Believe
Love
Live
C L Couch
for Maundy Thursday
John 13:34-35 (and in Matthew 22)
Matthew 11:15, 13:9
Photo by Assad Tanoli on Unsplash
house of affliction
it’s a hard story
and an odd
one
about Lazarus
who died
and Jesus delayed in coming
to the family
while Lazarus was ill
so Jesus was not there in
time
to Bethany
maybe
to heal Lazarus
while alive
and
didn’t we know by now that Jesus could
do this
though now he couldn’t fix
even with mud
or adjuration
because
Lazarus was beyond
even extraordinary healing
but his
spirit gone
the body wrapped and thus entombed
and when
Jesus got there
did he not receive some scolding
for his
lateness
though such comments borne in love no
doubt
and Jesus moved now
toward
the tomb of Lazarus
regardless
and
even though he was warned
away out of
practical considerations of
how might be the body after time
had
passed
but Jesus
as if all could know
was
sad
as if stricken for the life of Lazarus now
gone from Earth
and
we know
Jesus
wept
and then turned from crying
toward
commanding as
he might rebuke the storm at sea
or take on the Pharisees
of the day
ordering the gravestone to be pushed or pulled
away
and then
more stentorian
I think to call
to
shout
that Lazarus should
come out
and
still wrapped
in
shroud cloth
did
Lazarus
appear
and there should be fear
with reason
and then after the certainty of life
the certainty of
joy
and
for those who think
only a God
if God
can return to life
even on
Earth
well
here’s our story
of a human only human who
got to do that
not
to show us how but
to return
and then to show us how
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John 11
image provided by Europeana at Unsplash
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