quiet as a
I sit
on an old creaking
and solid bench
and could I be quiet
like that church mouse over there
I neither see
nor hear
but wears gray
with brown
and
needing to clean the dust of Earth
when drops of water I might
find
somewhere there
c l couch
photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, NYC, USA
the holey week
so this is
Holy Week
except for holes
we have
in planning
certain days
but come by the church
we will be open
all the time
you may kneel in darkness
or in daylight
whatever is the atmosphere
for God and you
to chat
for God will not mind
your mood
or what you have to say
if need be
God will listen
though profanity
though maybe
keep that
‘twixt yourselves
and God will answer in
a away
that most likely
will not satisfy
though there are
instant precedents
they are
in stories
mostly
though
we’ll leave
without resolve
unrecommended
maybe unbelieving
in the silence
that was shared
for God
works in God’s timing
and waiting much
is called for
or not
or something else
kairos
and a gift
we don’t know
how to ask for
and receive
in time
more than we could
ever ask
and ain’t that something
this translucent
faith business
that ain’t a business
but a gift store
without prices
where everything’s available
though we have to wait
to have it chosen
for us
what we need
in time
and we could call it
holy time
in a
holy week
c l couch
photo by Josh Eckstein on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Sanctuary Reasons
x
Through the Savior the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in the Savior you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
from Ephesians 2
[emphases mine]
x
A temple and a dwelling place
For caretakers, maybe
Sanctuary seekers
Refugees
x
Shall a holy place
Be a dwelling place as well?
Who’s to say?
We dedicate the space
In the name
And to the credit of the Lord
(perhaps for all we owe the Lord)
Like the Lord’s house
That might be waiting for us
In heaven
In all the mansions there
x
So if we say it is the Lord’s
And go to the Lord for learning,
What are the great commandments
And shall we apply them
In the holy place
And those who need a dwelling there
For needful reasons?
x
To go to with our need
On a weekly basis
And more often for
Needful reasons
Moment by moment,
Considering
Which is
The temple and the dwelling place
x
One
Two
Three
Many
All
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Joshua Eckstein on Unsplash
x
Sanctuary
Because one is still
Does not mean that one is safe—
Life in one cell is open to
Mutation, loss of parts, disease;
Life within a prison cell
Suffers from same dangers
In detention and in
Isolation
(Even with others in proximity),
Under death-order and maybe death-
Watch;
How,
Fixed under a demon’s yoke
Whose cause is politics,
Who for an idea
Has been taken out
Of actual existence?
Toward the Southern Pole
(Closer than most of us will
Get), there is a Russian Orthodox
Church—
Ten bodies with ten souls within
May worship;
The rest know that the church is
There:
Triptychs of spirit and of hope
Inside
At the end of the world,
Where there is likelihood
Of living through oppression
Wrought by nature or assignment.
What sanctuary in the prison cell,
Where trapped mind and abandoned
Spirit are closed maybe for a
Final time,
Where fear
The only inner company?
Andy awaits
Release of one kind or
Another.
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/23100
Kidnapped Briton spends 700th day in illegal detention
A British man who is held under sentence of death in Ethiopia has spent his 700th day in unlawful detention, after he was kidnapped and rendered to the country by Ethiopian forces in 2014.
Willow, on Three Legs
Willow, on three legs—
A wolf, one leg ruined
In a trap
Willow protected now
In sanctuary
We had a feline with
Three legs, one leg
Caught in a trap
She was purebred,
And the vet reasoned
That, once marred in
The trap, the cat
Could not be shown
For ribbons and so
Was discarded
My sister gave the
Siamese an exotic
Name, Scheherazade
(“Shahrazad,” the teller
Of one thousand plus
One tales, the tyrant’s
Wife who lives), and
For seventeen years
We lived with her
She was a gentle cat
Except for one trait:
She was the best
Birder in the cat pride
We kept then
Tragedy turned cat-
Happy life (well, not
So much for certain
Birds): Well done!
Well told,
Scheherazade
May Willow live as
Happily and as whole
(Willow introduced
To me, as with so
Many things, on PBS)
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