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
Reach
I’ve been drafting
I’ll try one more time to get it right
It’s not that I’m miffed
Far from it
(and how much would that matter)
I simply want to pierce a little
Just a little
A slice of shard
Of the dark glass
I don’t have a method, really
An art or a science
Theory of a skill
But I have a desire
Not to prove a staff can be a snake
A stone turned into bread
Angels dancing on a pin
(it’s not merely an exercise)
It’s not merely an exercise
I want enough
To tell another
That faith might be unseen
Unheard, untouched, and so on
But that it’s evidence enough
Understood, felt, guessed-at
So that we might
Talk about it
Or simply live
In having it
But here’s a thing:
The process is at best
A matter of unseeing
Untouching, untasting
That if, really, our senses
Could be quieted enough
(just some—I’m not recommending
deprivation tanks)
We might know
Through the intimacy of knowing
That our senses have
An ally
That we have an ally
It might be an angel or
A second guess
It might be real enough
For jazz or maybe
A hit toward the backfield wall
It isn’t only us
Not one by one
There’s something to cooperate
In us
That can reach out
And understand the other
Not so alien
I evangelize, excuse me
Take me or leave me
And I’ll understand
(either way)
You are beyond me
Yet there is something
Here
Call is a bond or simply
The pleasure of acquaintance
But if there is ineffability
To touch
(without hands)
Then there might be something
More
That’s all I’m saying
Now, I’ll listen
C L Couch
Image by Vytalis Arnoldus from Pixabay
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