matters for prayer
(I should know there are always these to express)
sigh
so what do I have to say
if anything
right now
or in the hours to come
I give myself the day off as an
option
that some readers might not mind
the break to take
from
the entwinements
I could speak of God
for us
and I do pray for you
for us
although
I have no added insight at the moment
to the prayer
there is a wildfire
nearby
I mean
in my county
so I know the location
the forest I have driven through
and hiked in
and stayed
the place
of a human tragedy of note
(meaning it’s
marked)
from some decades ago
and while containment has been accomplished
the burning still goes there
and for
some days now
so that’s the occasion
looking for an occasion
and here’s
the spiritual part
a prayer
as
dear God
cover the firefighters and
other fighters and supporters
with care
to keep them
cool
(if possible)
and safe
(that by you is)
encourage those who had to leave
as they return
to face the changes
in damage
or simply facing the new way
things must be considered
now
not that we shouldn’t always be aware
of fragilities
and dangers
but
well
who does that all the time
no matter how exigent the living
cool
(if possible)
and safe
(that is)
please
and thank you
amen
so I said this and if you’d like to join
that would be gracious
and so
a prayer for you
and us
in that
dear God
please hear us when we speak to you
and you do
of course
but it is human to speak to you
the way we do
even the way we’re taught
grant calmness of night
and if that can’t be
so
then allow some source of calm within
that we might access
if only can a little
help us to be together
in the new day
together as in self-knit and then
joined with each other
the togetherness
in which
there’s greater hope that the day not only be
endurable
but also good to think about
to feel
and mostly to live through
peace
and union
and
our differences
amen
yes
I prayed this for you
for us
as with the other
c l couch
photo by Harrison Steen on Unsplash
2 poems about the new season (more or less)
Bouncy
God
It’s yellow Friday
With blue and brown
On deck
It’s
Spring and time
Not for the metaphor this
Time but
To really
Play some ball
Training
Then the opening
We each can do this
Batter
You know
Up
And I’ve switched audience
Though aren’t you
Always there
(for
an excuse)
Forgive me
And allow me to say
Maybe
To everyone
About
Gospel of play
And did you plays as you ringed
And then rounded
Creation
Maybe
Keep us
Safe
In this new season
Knowing that our choices
Make the difference
Even if
And when
We could turn our will
Toward yours
A wheel
And a wheel within a wheel
But I was thinking baseball
Pitches
Running
And then
The coming home
Green
Workaday
And extraordinary-day
New
Season to you
And to you
Amen
Freedom Ring
The Liberty Bell is cracked
And there were more
Bells
At the time
Ringing freedom
While now we have
The broken bell
For show
And there is wisdom
In admiring the broken
Toward
Kintsugi perhaps
Or to leave in
Pieces
Sometimes for further lack of use
Except in small beholding
Or
When a sizable
Cast bell
To dream on ringing
To dream really large
Sometimes
C L Couch
Photo by Joe Richmond on Unsplash
Prayer in Search of a Liturgist
And if we pray
Should we find a service
Or something
A box
As it were
In which to keep it
Give it
A liturgical home
A formal place
To live
Like a tabernacle or
A reliquary
Or may our prayer
Rise to the trees
And that’s
Enough
Not even to find a nest
But leave the tree’s tendrils
To aim
Even for soaring
Blue then white
Then to the black of space
Or
Un-Claudius like
Might it be helpful
For a prayer
To descend
Into the ground
To talk with
Seeds
Or to the ocean floor
For octopi-like things or
Expulsive vents
Or to go down
To a kind of nothingness
That you are Lord of
Too
Directionful
Directionless
Might prayer go where it needs to be
Where it un-needs to be
For your approval
And
Somehow
For application
Even without much more
Than itself
By itself
To consider
By us
By tree
By space
By Earth
By depth
By you
C L Couch
Photo by Bogomil Mihaylov on Unsplash
(Claudius in Hamlet declares “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below;/Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”)
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
a poem for a prayer, a poem of a real story with (by me) a made-up lyric
first light
God
I ask again
for steps out of the pit
for evil to be vanquished
(the
antique word)
if only enough for
daylight enough when a
last step is taken
and
even gray daylight
for a shadowed kind of existence
might
be reached
good
enough
evil down enough
to raise me up
with all good comrades
here
(good perhaps another antique
word)
enough
if once street-level
we might
if
we may
talk with you some
more
the time when Seamus Heaney had to write something
(based on a story he told us)
she said
on arriving at the party
to find that
everyone had brought a gift
to the poet
well
go upstairs and write something
and then
I suppose he read
to us
what we had written
for the family
and in particular the baby
as in
you are born
and now you are named
you have been christened and so
liturgically
official
and we glad to know
what
to call you
for first your parents have decided
though
the law of nicknames might
apply
welcome
baby
from the mind of God
into the world
earthly and when things are allied
celestial
(Heaney visited the school, not yet a Nobel laureate)
c l couch
photo by Tony Litvyak on Unsplash
As Honestly as Able
(praying)
God
As honestly as I am able
I do pray
For people
As in
As for
The thumping child upstairs
With the thumping
Mother
Keep them
And I’ll try to mean not as the Czar
So far
Away
(the rabbi’s prayer from the musical)
And
Yeah
I’ll pray for politicians
Too
And try to think of something loving to ask
For them
If not
Of them
And
Yes
The secret world
Behind the visible where people
Meet and think
To plan
To execute
The running of the rest
The visible
Unhiding world
God
Be with all or us and we should say
According to you will
And
Of course we should
I’m sorry
That’s confession that I think
So hard of things sometimes or wish to
Re-create if
Never
In my image
Yours being
Glorious enough
I hear
Because how glorious is
Perfection
Friends
Families
My own adversaries
Keep
Them all wherever
However you
Deem
Because you’re deeming’s good
Being
In fact
The best
Amen
C L Couch
Photo by Javier Ortiz on Unsplash
No Amens Required
(prayers, devotions for occasions)
reach
thank you
God
for today
as it is
in these smooth hours
even before
everything gets difficult
again
Say
God
What shall we say that you
Provide
And is the cost
Belief
Or does
Grace mean
That everything is
Free
And
Do you love us
Anyway
And
Do you love the ones we know
Are evil
Or merely corrupted
Even in their prosperity
Good
And
Evil
We may not think on these
We might
Instead
By getting by
Or
Trying to
And could we
Ask
We’d only ask for this
And leave the larger matters
Maybe
Well
Maybe
Up to you
Sorry a Tired Prayer
(if not fed-up)
Lord
You made me this say
And the world
And my own
Mistakes
I guess
And I don’t know
Not that I wouldn’t own
But what should I
Own
And what is the fault of
Something else
And
I don’t know
Except
I’m tired of the way things are
Thinking
Peace
Would be preferred
Even over love
For an ambition
Even
A dream from which a plan
To get me
There
A confession
Maybe
An asking
Without doubt
Because
I hope
At least
You’ll do it
Grant me what I need
I don’t mean to ask it
As a wish
Before a genie
Having
Shined a
Lamp
You are not Loki or the
Raven
And yet
Christ might inherit all the qualities
Of
Fools
Which might mean tricksters
And
Who knows
Maybe the world is a trick
From which we wake
Or which is
Ours
To change
And yet
Sigh
Maybe I have some peace
Maybe too old
In age of spirit
Too
Exhausted to
Ask for
More
And yet I’ll pledge
To take
My part in it somehow
shall I say to you
(even daring to assure)
what shall I say to you today
dear
reader
responder
to hang on
or to glory in prosperity
(the second maybe
I don’t need
to
emphasize)
but God smile on you
anew
if it seems not ongoing
be with you
and love you through everything
the easy
and the strong
that seems against
you
the stable
if it’s good
or that which shatters
we must believe
because
it must
God be with you through it all
and God is
C L Couch
Photo by Dmytro Bayer on Unsplash
First and Last Resort
I pray
And maybe I don’t know how
There is the famous prayer
To pray
And I pray that
Though am prone to leave it
To formality
In
The attending crowd
But how about from
Me
To you
I can pray anything
I know
I can say anything
You hear
You love
Even forbear
And shall be disappointed
Even angry
Maybe even punishing
On this
Side
(like the claws on her back
in
The Horse and His Boy)
I now it’s not a trick
A puzzle
To get right
One
Way with all the right pieces won
As at a contest
Or a fair
Hit with the hammer to show
Enough strength
Water
The clown
‘Til the balloon above should
Pop
Not a
Competition
Not at all
Like
These
May I say
I love you
And I need you
Don’t know
How
But anyway
And will you help
Even teach
To love and need
The
Others’
And my own
And is it bifurcated
The other’s wish
And
Mine
Fate even
Direction
What is shared
And what must be
My own
Though God
I have been on my own
Enough
(and
maybe the other
has
or hasn’t)
How shall I pray for these
Except
To keep it simple
Even humble as in
Without the dross of vanity
For
Distraction
From what’s true
Like the
Unencumbered arrow
And the target
Might be
Resolution
Shot with grace
The arc toward the center
Near
Enough
Perhaps
Being a newbie always
So it seems
Even practiced
For I pray so much to you
And
Still it seems
I only start
And if we mean it
Should be good
Amen
C L Couch
Photo by Isabella Fischer on Unsplash
Promised Responding
And what
Shall
Happen
When we hear
Like Horton
(only
louder)*
We are here
Meaning
The host of heaven
Small and gargantuan
Depending on
Dimension
And
Dimension’s need
Ready
When we beckon
Or soaring ready
In flight mode
Or on the ground in
Angel
Ranks
Maybe loving us
On fine days
Merely
Or to have to march
(or land)
Upon
Megiddo
To realize apocalypse
And fight for us on
Our side
Meaning the side of all
The believers
Not through possession of
The pride
Of
Victory
So much as that love
By appreciation on
That fine day
C L Couch
(Horton Hears a Who is cited)
Photo by Katarina Dodig on Unsplash
“My favourite street corner in Dubrovnik” (photographer’s caption).
*(still, still small voice)
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