Timing Isn’t Everything
When we pray
There is listening
Because God is infinite,
Which means
There’s plenty of time
C L Couch
Prayers for Buddy-Boo
I know there are things
happening. Wars both
declared and un- or not
so much. Freedoms
challenged by despotism.
I probably don’t need
to mention disease.
But there’s a little—I mean,
little—dog who always
treats me with meaningful
indifference, and now
he’s sick. He could use
help through prayer and-or
some good and hopeful
thinking. You know I mean
the actual kind. Saint
Francis would approve and so
would mom. He’s in the
hospital, and the photo
somehow looks both
cute and solemn. His name
is Buddy, which is his role
to my friend who is
distraught. She isn’t asking
for your help. I thought I
would. And offer thanks
in agency for everyone.
C L Couch
Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash
(detail)
Petition
There’s pain everywhere,
And I don’t think I’m
Doing
Much about it
Issues in the neighborhood
Still stand
In the house are
Grievances unspoken, which go
Better than confrontations
Bearing fruit in violence,
If only verbal
And so with all
The awfulness that’s
Really going on—sickness,
Death,
Wanting to rush around
The scientific process
For fear of more
That’s terrible—I ask
Maybe we ask
For something better than we
Tend to be
A cure
At least a treatment for more
Than symptoms (though
grateful for that),
Frankly, a beatific day
Not until tomorrow
C L Couch
Image by Adina Voicu from Pixabay
Favored
(a prayer)
So God
What will you have
My heart
It’s yours
My head
I’m not sure what all is in there
(or the heart)
But sure it’s yours
My muscles
All the nerves
The organs as they are
Some with extra parts
Some not working much at all
You want them
Sure
Okay
My spirit must be in there
Somewhere
Somewhere my soul
You want my soul
Dear Lord
All right
I don’t know how to turn it over
So you’ll have to teach me
Maybe it starts with this
Create in me a clean heart
O God
And renew a right spirit
Within me
I don’t how that happens either
Maybe I could learn this
From an angel
Or another agent
Of yours in the world
Help my unbelief
For the world that you allow
Is filled with snares
And I am good at getting caught
Unwrap the rope
From my heel
The chain around my chest
The mask that has no eyes
Over my spirit
Free me as you will
As you conspire
Maybe I could add to the favor
For another
Thank you for will
Though sometimes I think
I’d do better without it
Though to think about again
I’d hate the puppet string
(claustrophobic
or whatever is
the fear of being captured)
If my will is something else you’d like
All right
Gentle as a dove
Wise as a serpent
It’s all yours
C L Couch
Psalm 51:10
Mark 9:24b
(Matthew 10:16b)
Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, United States
Love Story
I should be writing about
Love, as
I was challenged years ago
By someone who no longer stays in touch
(no response, and that was that
a mystery)
To consider love in all I do
I fail, naturally enough
But the challenge is still good,
Still salient, still on
How may I love you today?
I’ll share a few words and offer a prayer
When you’re not looking
And if all this sounds way too platitudinous,
Well, remember the word
Silver has an origin in there
Something precious without money
Without recompense
Except its own
Is this family?
I don’t know, how is your family?
But, yes, I think so as the family goes beyond
Blood and legal bond
And even then
And we are the bond of Earth
With other obligations,
Though starting with a love of planet
Ain’t so bad
I love you
And the you is you
And all the yous
C L Couch
Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash
Manhattan, New York, United States
#LoveWall in Manhattan, NY
Praying from Democracyland
Okay, God
You and me
Don’t you have
The poor end of the stick
I can rely on the other end
That’s you
I treat you as a friend
Sometimes as a phantom
Sometimes wish you down
Upon my enemies
With fire and menace
But then consider
Those for me
And cease
I have to
That is doctrine
Sigh (a real, stage, and
spiritual direction)
You are the source of power
Start of majesty,
I know
I treat you like a pal
I shouldn’t do that
But you are the source of love, more so
And I don’t know how to deal
In that,
Snubbing all formality
In wanting easy terms
For us
As a suggestion, let’s read your gospel
Much of that has clarity, I know
And honestly the fuzzy parts
Are interesting but not compelling
Either way
So I’ll rely on truth as
I can get it from
A reading and a prayer
You’ll be there,
I know
As in everything you started
The skies
The world
And me
Anyone who listens
Or does not listen
Who hears but does not hear
Sometimes like me,
Though now
This is about you
C L Couch
Photo by Cole Keister on Unsplash
Condensation and fresh raindrops against the window of our car during a trip to get donuts in Portland, Oregon.
Prayer of the Lame
Dear Lord
I hope I can do this right
What I have left
To live, to give, to try
I doubt I understand humility
But being filled with nothing but myself
Is no fun, either
How many times have saints
Asked to be emptied of themselves
So that they might be filled
With sanctity, with piety
To serve
I’m sure I can’t go that far
Too many times I’ve lost myself
In other ways
And fear to come near the edge
Of that again
I don’t want to make divinity of will
And, you know, I don’t love myself so much
But there is something
(your fault)
In genesis
In being made and trying to figure out
The puzzle, after
The pieces that we have
Without the border, without corners
Believing, though, there is some shape
Some definition
Of both kinds, shape and meaning
Dear Lord
Please let me have this day
And promise of another
I might work nothing out
But maybe heart
And mind and body, as is (as are)
Have meaning in existing
The energy in pushing blood
In cracking synapse in the brain
In what is known
And unknown
Done and not done
Sin and virtue
Understood, worked out
Correctly, with discretion
For a change
Dear Lord
Help us, not
Know it all
Or even much
But to find the joy and peace
That might
You know
Indeed, pass all our understanding
And come back to live with us
Prodigal salvation
Broken heart
Faith in fractures
As I am
As we are
Old song, missing notes
Still sings
C L Couch
Photo by Alev Takil on Unsplash
Naphtali
(Genesis 49:21)
We say grace
As an association with blessing
Bless our food, bless us
As we eat it
And as we use the nourishment
Singly and together
I was asked (selected) to
Share grace at family camp
Deer Valley, Pennsylvania
I wanted to say something grown-up
Over the microphone
But was told to say the childish
One we learned to say at dinner time
I was a child
So it was okay
Now I can’t recall which prayer
It was
Wait, here it is
Thank you for the world so sweet
Thank you for the food we eat
Thank you for the birds that sing
Thank you, God, for everything!
(a sibling can correct me)
What is the source for a proper
Citation?
I don’t know; I don’t think I want to know
The source is childhood
And grace in remembering
C L Couch
Photo by Yangfan Gan on Unsplash
Pity the Party
Wow, pain is such a disconnect
Like depression
That I also take a pill for
What is there to care for?
What do I care about?
Who cares for me?
I have accoutrements
A blanket ‘round my shoulders
While I’m cold
Toast (the start of a loaf)
Some grapes (the last of them)
I gave up coffee and caffeine
As if it were my own form of Lent
Though I can’t recall
A decision for
The sake of my soul
Pills have side effects
These press down, too
I am surrounded
The best thing that I have
Are movies
But I’d rather be the artisan
Than the spectator
So sit up to write
A little more
I’d rather make
Than borrow off
Another’s making
I mean, there’s allusion
Citation when it’s proper
Or otherwise might render
A source beyond reach
If not belief
Or to leave it all, hoping for
Belief in the beholder
Well, some system
Is protesting
The strain of illness
Or the medication
Most of this I doubt I’ll leave
Though there might be something
I can’t see or hear
That someone else
Much better at beholding will
Do I pray?
I do and hope for more
But I haven’t a perspective
The thermostat is broken
Someone else must regulate
What happens next,
Which is what I think
The praying’s for
C L Couch
Image by ImageParty from Pixabay
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