easy company
what shall I say
this
sabbath day
but believe in God
and so
be saved
while none get credit or commission
and can’t tabulate
but
that any should be saved
and so in absentia
hope
when all are there
to celebrate
c l couch
photograph by Liana S on Unsplash
abduction
(a draft about salvation)
we were taken away
from Eden
with Edenic living
whose fault
we don’t know
maybe everyone’s
maybe not ours
so much
because we were not there
except in some spirit
time and space
possibility
now we are held captive
and there should be
a ransom
since kidnapping goes that way
some amount
some prize
according to abductors
who have caged us in deceit
to call it living
so who must pay
to whom
and how much
the price might be forever
be everything
anyone could have
and pay the price
the price paid
which was a final deception
a trip
in which the rescuer
now gone would leave the rescued
untenable
not fit for anything but fire
the infernal fire
which is to say fire upon fire to
the glee
of the one who thought
who planned
who entwined
and who
in fact
led the absconding or ourselves
and now in victory
having arranged the killing
of the only one to save
until
this moment
this moment when it
turned out
there was a reason for the death
and it was
to guarantee a life
one life
all
lives
together have the chance
now
to be saved
and what weeps and what
gnashes its teeth but a
planner
the abductor
who thought that killing it should mean the end
and it should now
but doesn’t
in that we may choose
faith in our own supernal return
the one returned
who offers the returning
to anyone
and as plus with anyone
becomes
an all
a following
angels and us
perhaps
in faith then
by grace
we return and then
even better yet move forward
to the gates of Eden now
angel-unassigned
shall become a new Eden and how about
gateway to new Earth
by new heaven
c l couch
photo by Peter Thomas on Unsplash
snow and God—only one is white, the other all colors (2 poems)
the ends of Earth
in the north
though not quite there
we tend to think of
snow
this way
so we flock the marketplaces
with lists
for liturgies
and we might need these things
if
not for the not
we shall be
snowed in
hoping not for enough
but
honestly
for more than
with enough
perhaps
electric
and electrons
to share
folding chairs in parking
spaces
that should be public
though the chairs
are in an attitude of waiting
by
the doors
an encroachment on
an agenda to stay
clear
first inside the head
remembering
(or
maybe first)
the heart
the
spirit
to follow
then in the summer
those of us
not
south of south
shall fear the other
extreme
heat
with all the heat we might become
and that hear
on the inside
even
now
(based on being told the snow shall fall at midnight)
shall
and how shall God
love us when
we hate
whatever beside evil
with evil’s
agency
injustice
we may scorn these
and all the rest
be love
thoughts
emotions
plans
the new instinct once we
have faith
to love
when dangerous
or fragile
at the least
and God shall
love
yet somehow never
on condition
but
to love
which might make
salvation
a condition
as
decision
binding us both
with an amazing fear
not
comprehending though
we all somehow agreed to
live and
after
life
c l couch
photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash
Bread and Un-Circuses
(respecting actual circuses)
Please don’t let them
Tell you
They own these
Or manage them
As on
Great stools
In circuses
(for ticket prices)
Grace and miracle
In miracle
There’s grace
In grace
There’s miracle
And they are free
And should go
Wild-seeming
As they may
Go
Outside
Our doctrine
Though we try to capture them
Ring them
As it were
With naming
Precepting
And merchandising
These better
Things
They happen
In the timing of the Lord
Salvation being instant
And grace
Cooperatively
Then the rest
(of grace)
And miracle
As if wild
Breathing and galloping
Over a health of possibilities
Exigence outside
Called in
By kairotic
Signals
And ugently
Once given
Salvation
Grace
And miracle
Let go by God
And without cost
Or a doctrine of control
But
Freely through
The cost
Divinely paid
Against
The worst of human means
Free of us
They turn around
And turn us around
(they turned from assigned or
unassigned
location
while us turned
by repentance
that means
turn)
To come in from the wondrousness
Of wilderness
To ordered Earth
Breaking through the ordered
Or the chaosed
To save us
So then
These
Beyond subscription
So we might do no better
Than
Simply
Marvelly
Even irascibly
Turn from the other intrusions
Rather
To open
Ourselves
Freely
To accept
Freely
Twice as much
To receive
Then
Feely
Twice as much
To give
C L Couch
(the song with “freely, freely” as I’m recalling is a hymn of forgiveness and salvation, composed by Carol Sue Owens)
Photo by Dannie Jing on Unsplash
(x = where)
x
x
You and You Will Be There
x
I haven’t mentioned you
Today
Though you are intertwined
Threaded
Through everything
Like gold inside a tapestry
Running to be seen
Or rediscovered
Later
x
You were there
Of course
You were
Our time alone
Is really for companionship
And when things are like Fatima
Well
That’s obvious
But when the world is busy
With phenomena
Broadcasters don’t find you
To interview
Preferring mortal leaders
And settling
For pundits
x
Well
How may we ask questions
Of an invisible God
On the scene
Or even chez lui
In a church
Or temple
Or where you’re really home
x
I guess
We can’t take our wires
There
Until we can and may
Maybe at Megiddo
Maybe at the gates
Or just inside
For justice
x
Given a chance
To know the words
The one word over
Under
For salvation
Ticket
For a journey
To the other side
North
And south
And west and east
Of Eden
With new promises
Across the world we’ve known
Pushed
Riotously
Perhaps
With celebration
And good humor
Among angels and the saved
New grace
New creation
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Nicene Intention
(universal method)
x
God is God
And God becomes
Human
And as God and
Human
May serve as the
Mediator
Both in between
And on both sides
A sacrificing
(needn’t be done)
Remarkable
Negotiating strategy
To be in the middle
Also moving
Through each side
x
It’s real
It’s blood-won
It involves an intimate
Awareness of
Divinity and
The temporal through sin
And loving everyone
Inside everyone
Bring to bear
Reconciliation to the table
All parties
With a nod
That meant
I died for this
For you
For everyone
And everything
On sides
And at this table
One way or another
Now
x
Call it an altar
Or a cairn
A memorial
A space
That existed with all spaces
Before Sarah
Before Abraham
Before Buddha
Or Mohammed
(bless the name
and bless all names
approved)
And we have much to do
Then and now
Though now
For the mortal side
Is fair
x
Earth shall be fair
As a result of this
Mortal and divine
Working out
What is good
What is victory
What shall be the means
To believe in
And proceed from there
Toward Earth and us
In paradise
In time
Now
Then tomorrow
Breaking time
In fact
So that we have primal
And evermore
Perfection
With all wonders
Wonderful things to do
Each moment
That bears
And shall express
Forever
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Halfway Home
x
The sacrifice
Of your shed blood
He said
On our behalf
In prayer
His words the surrogates
A shadow
Of the death itself
x
Horribly
A bleeding body
Shed of its spirit
At the last
A life too pure
A sacrifice
For us
x
Yet there it was
In expiation
Half redemption
For our sins
x
The weight of everything
That hates
Crushing his body down
Pushing out his spirit
On to Hades
Or Valhalla
To Gehenna
Or to Sheol
As it’s understood
To name it
x
Half the promise
The brutal
Ugly
Barbarous part
Complete
And it is over
He said it was finished
Maybe it is
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Advocate
x
What shall we say
But that God loves us
Anyway
We will be judged
And all the rest
All we fear
x
But our doctrine
Represents reality
For there
Will be an advocate
Like a lawyer
Pro bono for love
To stand for us
With something better
Than our fear
Our guilt
Could understand
x
Something that works
To save us
Anyway
Through lack of evidence
Or character
Reports
But for love of us
That we reached out for
Just a smidgeon
x
Was enough
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Faith Alone
x
The Bible
Through a friend
Took us to Ephesians
Yesterday
Where we are saved
By grace through faith
One thing required
Of us,
To believe
x
Faith alone
Ignites the spark
As if the kindling
For the fire of grace
Were waiting
On the inside
All this time
x
Let salvation blaze
In heaven and
In testimony
While
Here we need to know
Whose means for fire
Rests
And waits
For the one thing
That matters
For a spark
A start
To save
x
Ephesians 2:8
(thank you, David)
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
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