the drama
we are born of the Earth
breathed through
with
divine exhalation
we rise
one and then the other
we are introduced and given tasks
care for the
garden
name things or else we did that
on our own
but meet with God
all the time
and live the spirit in the mean time
and somehow Satan or
the devil
or whatever you might call it
was
allowed in and allowed a role
maybe for the first
time
this was the start of the revellion
the devil trusted
as archangel
only for
a little while
longer and what damage it could
do before caught out
and such ruination happened
it seems we blamed each other more
than the writhing thing
though
the demon part in our exitence
should carry on and taken
through to the midst of Armageddon
when
as prophecy decided
and yet played out
there is a final battle between
Michael and
itself
when it is thrown for good
out of sight
only to dwell in God’s mind over lost
creation
and lost love
while our redemption is at hand
to do our part
believe
accept the grace of mercy
as
a fitness for heaven
and
the Earth renewed
who knows
maybe for us
to have the home we’ve had as
the home that was made
except
for evil’s and
for will’s intrusion following
the evil
as well as inventing our own
now
the Earth anew
as on another world the ideal might be
ancient
but now for us and for all the days
succeeding
move forward with everything that’s good we have
and
love our lives in every way
each other and by mercy
means of grace
return to the communion that was the way
even the style
of Eden
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justified
well
it’s the way I feel
reminders of
what’s
wrong with me
and
by what I’ve done
in the world that doesn’t help
at all
save by distraction
rather than by what we want
justice to face
it
and with mercy to re-shape the wrong
into what’s bearable
with
some good feeling after
and to have the day and hope for the day
following
then is
disclosure proper or what’s called for
anyway
to say
and then to hear
as if
well
a dare at openness
the truth-or-dare at parties
on one’s own
on a Friday
how
to play
more so how to win
though sometimes
rather often
really
how to endure everything
as
Clint might way
the good
the bad
the bestial
the thing that gets inside
to goad what’s
there
to threaten to take over
in ugly context
should we
resist
and so hot on our own
we do the sin
all
thoughts of moralizing after
the
denial or
the judgment
to reveal while in the process all
deliverers shall hide
their
own
mercy all around
then
to wish and like a miracle
receive
call
it forgiveness
call it grace as means to save
to choose again believe
in the confusion of not knowing what
to face
by judgment now
deserved
with the challenge now of owning
undeclared
as in unformal righteousness
that
may endure and how to begin
if with a priest or other
confessor
maybe hope
to God
directly
then
a friend
and then on one’s own
like
after services
more so on this occasion
the most
of the time in which
to live
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love and power
Lord
who is love but you
and
who is true power
you are the source of
everything that’s
good
and the way through
anything that’s
bad
yet
love us
and lead us from inside
and over parts and all the world
from
each in a place
offering by love and power
mercy
as a measure
in justice
a way to
meet
and so live with
each other
amen
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“FOR ALL” (for translation)
Questions and Answers
(easier than we admit)
God
It’s your day
As if there were a day
That was not yours
You know
Having made all of it
To call it
Day
Though we added names in time
And all of these do not agree
But
Maker of them
Anyway
And we should owe you something
For that
And you do have directives
Even as
The prophet asks on
Our behalf
What you might require
Might
Though really tell us must
Like the commandments from
The mountain
And yet
We take as options
Like
Speed limits in my culture or
Widespread fidelity in marriage
Having made
Knowing vows
And
Maybe vows
At all
You tell us to walk humbly
Carry justice and
Mercy
With us
Not because they’re easy but because
They’re necessary for
The health
And even happiness of the world
Of us
And someday
Penultimately perhaps
We’ll get it
And in time to express
And to practice
For
Impending judgment
Yes
But also for the sake
Of its own value
And the preference this walking gives
Toward
Living well
And having a whole world
(before the
last)
Of us
Micah 6:8
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with or without a garden or an upper dining room
well
God
I’m here
and where are you
why
look
you’re here
you’ve always been
and it’s
so much
the patience to remain here
while I
prevaricate
to think a million
other things
as if
they matter more
and justify
the saddest
putting-off
for
my specific greetings
my confessions
petitions
for my needs
and needs
of others
more specific
and for the entire
world
and the whorls
of the cosmos
that need
you
out there
and I’m sure
more than
in here
in this hour
when I happen to awake
to find you here
or
in a
sleepy moment
to unlid
my eyes a little
see you
then and there
surprise
as well
always
a miracle
and I’m chagrined
to take up
your presence
and your time
the way
I do
not
to say I need a bell
or other
signal
from assemblies
(though
I like
bells
generally)
and shall you send
an angel
as an agent
for assistance
homely
and extraordinary
though it’s
especially
your Spirit
that is
needful
as a saving source
and guide
your word
you
as word
is needed
to get me there
and then
with you
and to remain
even
while here
for all my faults
and prevarications
but also
with broad hints
of there
(un-agnostically)
say
through the song says
after here
live
in your house
that follows
and is filled
with goodness and mercy
and is filled with
forever
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1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
John 14
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-14-2/
photo by Lucas Hoang on Unsplash
the right hand doesn’t know
(sometimes left people have it right)
God
I haven’t mentioned you
though I know
you’re there
we are in dialogue
it seems
I hope it is an angel
who negotiates
like the bush that burned
and spoke
and the angel who held
Abram’s hand
and changed him
in the harshest lesson of
obedience
and mercy
and not the voice of one
erstwhile
who cackles now
so subtly
so quiet-like
to say
do this
do that
my master calls
and through it
we will ruin everything
‘til everything become
inferno
and subservience
without the pleasure
from a lord
who gives none
which is a lot
to parse
while deciding
to go right
or to go left
listening to one
the angelic
and other one
the sinister
like the shoulders
in cartoons
only the stakes
though small
could become a trend
of listening
to one leaning
or the other
I might have let the demon in
so long ago
and while want the angel-voice
alone
have struggled ‘tween the two
two wills represented
and how long
‘til we know better
easily
domestically
or cosmically
while the stakes are only
turning right
or left
the angelic
or the sinister
which makes a left hand
of theology
and will
to work
and to believe
and within these
grace
to have it right
(or left)
and so be saved
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(x = space)
x
x
Teachers and Soliloquies
x
Something kinder today
There is kindness in the world
“A kinder, gentler nation”
Is derided as a message from
The Republican President
Of the USA
x
Prosaically,
I wonder if we couldn’t have
Kindness and gentleness
And the like
And use more today
Or ever, really
Looking back (supplementing history
and stories),
Having today,
Looking ahead
x
The reaction is to see these things
As weak,
Yet that love that lasts
And joy after sorrow
Are the strongest
And if we can care in a divisive,
Bitter world,
Then we are strong
x
Hate is easy
We yell or spit or hit or stab or shoot
Then avoid the consequences
All sounds pretty cowardly
To me
And if I do these
Then I am that coward
x
Mercy “is not strained” (neither forced
nor artificial)
it drops (behaves) like “gentle rain
from heaven”
Our heatwave is breaking
We could have more of that
The literal kind
x
As for the metaphor,
Mercy
(kindness, gentleness)
Is something that we all
Could try
To bring relief
Like rain on dry ground (metaphor)
To change the world (not a metaphor)
x
C L Couch
x
x
Mother’s Love
Photo by Sandy Kumar on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Erev Yom Kippur
x
Grant us mercy
When we cannot find it in ourselves
To give one another;
Show us kindness
When we’ve forgotten how to show it;
Forgive us
When we forget the value in forgiving
With the newness of life, after
x
CLC
x
for Christians, there is the sibling and the altar (Matthew 5:24)
and reconciliation in most other traditions, hopefully
x
x
F/GURA PROJECT #1
Photo by Norbert Kowalczyk on Unsplash
x
Earth-Talk
The sun is knocking,
Asking to come in
Can you imagine?
The sun, huge and glorious
And powerful, asking
To come in?
But on this pale-gray day, the Earth
Seems to be withholding
Tiny planet, fending off
The sun
What is just but to give
The smaller thing its due?
It’s here, too, after all
And what is mercy
But to wait upon
Its waiting?
C L Couch
Photo by Fabian Struwe on Unsplash
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