I’m Sure You Have Such Days
God is great
And on this day
I don’t feel
Great
And so much would
Rather
Rest
In God’s greatness
Honestly
And honestly
To breathe
Not through the air of
My own
Righteousness
Rather
In the justice
Come from Micah
Come from John
The prophets and the angels
Confidently
Uttering
And
For our reliance on
The voice of God
Of justice
Yes
And frankly
Closer to the core of need
Especially today
The voice
Of love
C L Couch
Photo by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash
(x = space)
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take away the confessional and informative emendations and there’s one poem here with endings like certain music selections
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Processionals
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I think
Often of David
Of a picture
I have seen
Or made up
It’s when the ark
Is brought into
Jerusalem
And it’s a triumph
A kind of victory
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And I think of David
Young
(and was he young)
Dancing
Before the ark
Not wearing much
But he’s king
And he arranged all this
And so
The instruments
Let play
And maybe favorites
Follow suit
x
I see light colors
As if this were a desert scene
Done as a picture
With pastels
You know
I think I figure the hair
On David
From the statue by
Michelangelo
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Processions are important
He and they
Had to have one
Because the ark
Would have a home
Forever
Well
At least for generations
(I should
look this up
it might be before
Absalom)
But what do we know
Today is forever
And the
Ark is here
x
And Jesus came
Into Jerusalem
And a procession
Was needed
And so it was
Arranged
In humility
And somehow awesome
Awful majesty
x
C L Couch
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I worked on this scene before as a draft; I have in mind I didn’t finish it, and this time I did; but if the other work appeared and I forgot, then I apologize for the repetition—CLC
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and a bit more (for free)
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a coda
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David was a shepherd
He was a king
He was loved by God
As either
So are you
Loved by God
For either
Any
Way
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Photo by Alberico Bartoccini on Unsplash
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(and here’s the lesson should you need one
coda 2
that was D. S.
this is D. C.)
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Jesus came
Into Jerusalem
Like the ark
Meaning a triumph
Victory
For a home people
Battling
To keep a promise
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And like the ark
Is lost
Defeat
And sacrifice
Through lack of faith
(bad kings—you may
look it up)
And so sacrilege
And a new needed
Promise
Follows
(read the prophets)
For restoration
Of the people
x
Turns out
It’s Israel
And all of us
Redeemed
Through this
Second coming
Triumph
Then sacrifice
This time as well
And
Cosmically speaking
Greater
All the world
And how far out
On the edge
x
With destruction
Turned to joy
With all our flaws intact
Until a final resurrection
That will keep
Us and the world
Intact
And better
And forever
x
Stone not only
Rolled away
But smashed
Here endeth
And look
And listen
Smell
And taste
And touch
This is the start
And we might think we do
But we don’t know
What’s next
x
(x = space)
x
x
Speak for a Nation
x
Receiving a message from the Lord
was rare in those days; revelatory
visions were infrequent.
(1 Samuel 3:1b)
x
Prophets have jobs
Usually doing something else
Until the words are called for,
Until the wind
Blows through
Every atom
We think of them as crazy,
But they’re not
There is relentless urgency
Is all
Repent, while you’re alive
Don’t wait for judgment
And the fire
Leaders, most of all
You are double-cursed
If you do it wrong
Return to the temple
Pray in litany
And all humility
For a change and
For a change,
Recovering the modesty
In service that dressed you
Before fame
x
We think they’re crazy, sometimes
Maybe they are
From time to time
But there is authenticity
And love of service,
Such as those in stadiums
At podiums
Behind the microphones
Must have
x
C L Couch
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Photo by Pavel Brodsky on Unsplash
A slow shutter-speed rendition of a BBQ fire.
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(New English Translation
verse indentations by me)
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Make Like Knights, Just
Dames or sirs
Let’s all be one or the other name
Or come up with a new one
For those whose errantry
Takes on charges toward an
Earth of fairness,
and all her people one
I’m not saying blood or rank
Far from it
Though blood might be the cost,
Which is instantly ennobled
On contact with an air, foul or fair
Split from flesh while questing after
Nothing more than
Quotidian liberty,
The balance that we’ve
Sometimes heard
Our prophets talk about
C L Couch
(image)
Rosa Parks with King, 1955
National Archives and Records Administration Records of the U.S. Information Agency Record Group
(cited)
“Turn Back, O Man, Forswear Thy Foolish Ways,” a hymn by Clifford Bax (1886 – 1962)
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