Should the Shepherds Sing

 

I want to tell you, God,

That I love you and

Need you

But crazy isn’t good,

And I don’t want that

 

Crazy is good for David

Or Deborah or other prophets

Who come to you and

Are not burned by

The holy of holies

 

That is too much:

Too powerful,

Specific, and eccentric

Might we meet instead by

The shepherd’s brook,

 

I could save my fear

Inside the burbling

For anything you might

Say to me

And might I only listen

Thanks still to be living

 

Should all go well,

We might rest a while

Should the shepherds sing for us

New litanies

At night inside the hills

 

I might be asking for

A small trail under trees

Back into heaven

Cold and clear

As we had drunk

And washed

In this encounter

 

With only country rudeness

(thank goodness)

For an ornament

A style

Show the way

 

Way too easy

And romantic

I might have to endure

Some craziness

Call the party

Homecoming

Like the ark from Shiloh

Danced into the bright city

 

Yet I might listen from an

Outskirt,

Feel the air from

Underneath an arch that shows

The desert

No longer inimical

But part of home

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Makenna Entrikin on Unsplash

Sahara Desert

The dreamy walkway leading up to our campsite in the Sahara Desert.