Passover

bitter

the herbs of Passover

or what
sin-eaters eat
when it’s more than salt
with bread
though
salt is pretty bitter
on its own

and then there’s the attitude toward
life
after
disappointment
even within
unscaled perspective

we don’t get what we want
so life is
bad
it’s wrong
it’s bitter

although what we may want is exactly
what is needed

so maybe what we want’s
the issue

what
for whom
and how

nothing new in this
in that
life goes this way or that
becomes
quite trite
in fact

(and pardon rhymes at
times)

and still we want life
I want mine

you should want yours

so hang on through
the bitter
please
self-determined or pushed
maybe dropped
on
heavily
by the world

there’s more
and it could be challenging
maybe with
a way to see
to bear
the bitter
and-or
who knows

a time in life
(life time)
could turn sweet

if
and most likely not
forever
yet
which is why we have and own the term
for terms
the times

the joined word that is
the lively paradox
of
bittersweet

c l couch

photo by freestocks on Unsplash

The Passing Over

Passover
The saddest of all miracles
And by the evidence
The history
Something that was absolutely
Called for
By the Lord
Against
The forces of the world
Extant in Pharaoh

We think it
Antique now
Perhaps
Since Egyptian is a style
And a history
To follow
With romance in thought
And purchasing

But it happened
Slavery had happened
The people lived
But poorly
The struggle for identity
After basic needs
The worst of all

And one of Egypt
Then of Midian
Was called
And did not want to come
But with his brother
And his sister
Called to lead
At least to take
The people
Out of there

No longer straws for bricks
Requiring miracle
To build

A miracle
So many miracles
To have a leader
To being
A prophet
Holding and excoriating
The court of many kings who
Also thought
In the lack of perspective
Once it had grown
They might as well be gods
And rule
Like their
Personalities
With their
Agendas

So there plagues
And again
We style these
And our imagination
Counts them
And the reason for their order
Is guessed at
But Moses said
There is only one reason
One plan
At work
As we sing
Today
To let the people go

Brutality
Built on
Presumptions to power
As well as
Divinity
The plagues persisted
(COVID is like these)
Until one last
Wave of pestilence
Invited
Unless Pharoah
With a practical heart
Against the magic
As they called it should
Let the people
Go

And it did not
The power could not relinquish
All it meant
To lose these people
Scared of them
For all their number
And maybe
Of their God
Unless
Unbelieving
Simply considered all of them
Moses
Who had been one of theirs
Another slave
Who had tasted of the best parts
Of the fertile land
Appearing by the Nile

And now that
Was a miracle
The gods who favored us
Each year
And there was back when
We don’t remember
The one who was
One of them
Whom we brought
To our side
Having predicted famine
And their God
Become one
Among our gods
To save us

So who is this person
Now
Whom we receive
Who would break free
And leading
All the others
And their God
Break free as well
And so lessen
Our treasuries
And pantheons

I will not release
I am Pharaoh
I am god
It cannot happen

And so the Passover
The first
And awful Passover
The angel pestilence
Save for protecting blood
Above the door
While the blood ceased in the firstborn
In every other house
And in the court
‘Til Pharoah
In new and tragic
Loneliness
Relented

And there was release
For who knows how many
(yes
God knows)
And then
Commemoration
As we have
With an empty chair
Should another prophet come

C L Couch

Photo by Hasan Almasi on Unsplash

(x = space)

A Good Wednesday

(Passion, Passover, Ramadan)

It’s Wednesday

When Amanda would

Bound—how

Does one bound

If one is not

A deer?—but she

Would bound

Into class and

Announce, “It’s

Hump Day!”

Now it’s Holy Week

So this is Holy

Wednesday

For which there

Are liturgies

With special

Prayers

We imagine

What Jesus

Might be doing now

Because we are

Conditioned

By the narrative

For timing

Maybe he’s visiting

With friends;

Maybe he has actions

And words

For healing

And teaching,

Knowing what’s to

Come and having

These his

Final opportunities

For us

This year

There is a confluence

Of events,

Of seasons:

It’s Ramadan

And also Pesach

Or Passover

There are several days to each

That are the same

Three great truths

Come together,

Great faith

Celebrated

Bittersweet

Bitter

With fasting

And remembrance,

Sweet with

Fasting and remembrance

God is great

The angel passes over

Faithful homes,

Jesus saves,

And the prophet receives

Revelation—goodness,

Such good chances

That we have

To respect

And enter into

Many groups

The places where we worship

(observant)

Entering with curiosity

To know,

To have regard

For learning

And appreciation of

Our neighbors

Respect, appreciation—these

Are forms of love,

The kind of love

That comes from God

To feed our faith

In one another

As if God could say,

Come together

Right now

Over me

But don’t imagine

Not a heaven or a hell:

With appreciation

Of the music

We can have some

Heaven here

And have it there

C L Couch

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

(FOR ALL)

(x = space)

Escape Room

Once again

For Passover,

Too many now

Are refugees

Fleeing Pharaohnic tyranny

Fear from explosions

Falling walls

Broken bodies

Family annihilation

Other countries take them

Sacred and secular

The people

The new homes

More than Jews in Ukraine

More people leaving

Refugees from Syria

Those who are “repatriated”

(strategic term)

From island nations

To the south

Those who want to leave for life

From Mexico,

Parts of Central America

And when there’s disaster,

We flee from parts

Of our land as well

Passover

For so many, many now

Might the angel of death

Give leave

For space and means

For victims

For escape

Blood on the lintels

Before leaving

Death for the victimizers

As angels

As an agency of God

See fit

Passover

For Jews in Ukraine

Jews in Israel

And everywhere

Good people have to run

For life

C L Couch

For Jews fleeing Ukraine, Passover takes on new meaning

“Good morning! Happy morning!” Rabbi Avraham Wolff exclaimed, with a big smile, as he walked into the Chabad synagogue in Odesa on a recent morning. Russian missiles had just struck an oil refinery in . . .

Photo by Vitamina Poleznova on Unsplash