the familiar way we used to speak
God
you’re here
but there is such a dullness
between you and me
could be an unmoving field
I put there myself
even
unknowing
then to wake to it
and wonder how the barrier
got there
maybe it’s mortality
maybe it’s greed
I’m not sure I know
maybe it’s difference
as in
I’ll come over to you when it’s easy
when the way is lit
thy word
is a lamp
I’ve heard
and are the thees and thous allowed
the ironic use of you
we have let go
the intimate
the way one would say
and has
said
how do I love thee
thou dost prepare
and I should let thee
love
allowing that thou
loves
for creation’s thine
and love's
and so is
mine
c l couch
it used to be that thee was the close way to say you, which is why thee was used in making the Authorized Version and in language overall; ironically, we think of thee and thou and thine as a formal way if at all, and we really don’t, to write and talk and such
references to the Old Testament, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shakespeare allusion in the photo
photo by Landon Parenteau on Unsplash
Aspen Trees Growing in Saskatchewan Summer [given title]
In the House
I hate the tension in
The house
Do you ever feel it
Does it matter to you
And
Because we never speak of it
I or we
Shall never know
C L Couch
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
Maybe at Mizpah
In other
Words
Why don’t we favorably dine over unity
Uniqueness
Feast
The sameness and the differences
If
For interest
Curiosity alone
While we are together
And with
A Mizpah kind of pledge
On parting
If we
Could
To regard each other well
And
Not steal
Or
Swindle
Or politick against each other while apart
Join
Know
Negotiate
Celebrate
Who we
Are
Who we’re
Not
With each other
Risky
Business
Maybe
But the only business really
Whose profit comes in lives and which might
Have
God approving
Waiting
C L Couch
Photo by Paul Blenkhorn on Unsplash
permission to pray on our own
I might not have said of
God
directly
how many pages should be read
and then
recited
for the people
what colors robes
to match the season
or may I say somewhere
dear God
say what is real to me
and
then
amen
however I should say that
given language
dialect
or situation
and between these
will you hear my love
of others
and
respond
accordingly with my knowing or
unknowing
what
or how
c l couch
photo by Roman Melnychuk on Unsplash
Dragobrat, Драгобрат, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine
we love like winter
days that underneath the cold
are warm with home
c l couch
photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash
altar call
we can’t approach
without
some sibling feeling worked out
so
we’re told
like Erev
before perhaps
the
Yom Kippur
and yet how empty be the churches if
chancels must wait
for
close conflict
or
the like
must be worked out first
before we resuming
carrying
a church-gift
say
our tithe
though many of us
chance
and
to confess
to keep the gift and moving
toward
the worship center
where
the convicting love of God
does not dwell more
but
knowing our score feels
more
c l couch
Mattew 5:23-24 (or consider other prodigal narratives)
Photo by Martijn Veldhuizen on Unsplash
in the big inning
in Jewish and in Christian
lores
there are creation stories told
more than once
and in parts
many times
even Jesus
said to be there
calling the beginning of the essences
become
reality
and there are stories of us
and how we came to be
and way
made one perhaps
made two
without doubt
a sin of consumption
followed by
what might be more a problem of
division
then to rationalize mistakes and so
prescribe the direction
they must follow
all three
all four
for God had made that rock
that God could not
move
because like biased gravity
God’s will
must be mediated
by God’s will
that is leant by God’s
love
in love
and in joy’s promise
all was made by God and to the host
and to the cosmos
and to us
and after all the dreadful plan must work
there is like
Pandora
one thing left
the second thing of tripartite
things
being faith
and love
and to fix the world
is hope
say
faith the reason
love the means
hope
the vision
as in why bother in the first place
and this is lore
and this is
myth
and we interpret as we guess
from our experience
and there are many stories
we should read and respect them all
to know
beginnings
explain the present
situations
and
(via
hope)
respect the promise of the future
that
tells us how to believe
and think
and act
respecting all traditions
in their dovetailing
and as they work out
to reveal in time
(both
ways)
the first and final reasons
revelations
n.b.
and
yes
I know that you might want
to say that God’s not part of this
no more
and we are on our own
and maybe always
eschewing partnership
as if Michelangelo should have no faith
and the lone
wolf
an honest perception
though it’s not
wolves living together
monogamous
in families
that
despite the isolation earnestly
perspective
there is more joining than a separation
more
that are joined
than all the pages of betrayal attempt
to testify
and
the main message that
we’re on our own
we’re not
c l couch
photo by Shishir Iyer on Unsplash
evening in February winter
dark gray with even darker gray
above
black branches
Hallowe’en
scene
to look out on this hour
winter gloom
I guess
which is allowed by nature
then
with a sigh
perhaps
acceptable to us
changing seasons
substances
and
shapes
one
big reason that we stay here or move
or then return
some prefer the icy
while the rest
shall
be waiting for the green
c l couch
photo by Michaela Murphy on Unsplash
Week
God
We would love you
But it’s Monday
And it’s
Hard
Enough to wake and then
Wake others
Wash
Dress
And breakfast
Leave for work or school
And then do well enough to
Have earned enough
For food
And
Bills and such
Plus maybe earned
A sense of
(enough)
Satisfaction from
The day
And there’s God
Well
Maybe
On Tuesday
C L Couch
Photo by Lerone Pieters on Unsplash
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