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sing them over

sing them over

repetition
and to teach us how to take us into heaven
by
the words of life

and the one word most of all who made
and who saves
for the good reason
given
in the gospel

and sung from time to time
which might be the way
the word
commanded
into
nothingness
become creation

c l couch

Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life;
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty, teach me faith and duty.
Philip R. Bliss, 1874

photo by Johnny Thorpe on Unsplash

2

the process of the psalm

the process of the psalm

how did the psalmist write
I wonder
how was the work composed
what
was the process
if
in paper and with pen
or quill or frayed papyrus

were there amanuenses
who
waited for each word
or
was the draft done mentally
and with the harp
at hand to test the measures and then
to set down
and
then all gone over many times
before the purpose
of subtitles
realized

by singers in or near the temple or at
the shrine before there was
a temple
serving
as the composition served
and
served through generations of us
in this age

and
we have the paper
anyway and some give music for an art
for
what’s on there for conveyance

and
we can replicate the act
when all
the people gathere or
for one
depending on the intimacy referenced
and yet it’s all
there
for use
I suppose
if sometimes there is an I or a you or a we implied
and underlying

sometimes to say
the Earth itself should sing
to praise
provision and the might
that is
implied
or saved until a parting of the sea of
food fall from heaven
should
be needed

and did we think of these or simply fear
our need
and then the exigence addressed
though miracle
of
power

and
yes
we could say of timing
that we need what we need
when
needed
though we don’t command the schedule anymore
than the agenda
of what
God can do
or
when

so sing to the Lord or
read it off the page
our
expressions and intentions
as we might own
what
is given there and over centuries
and to you
to me
to us
and now

c l couch


Psalm 96
1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise . . .
[NIV]

photo by Joël Vogt on Unsplash

1

libretto


libretto

God is a funny old thing
which I suppose
has not been said so often
and
maybe should not be said again

old
though
well
because you know

and funny because
there’s the ostrich
and the platypus
and auk

and us

and we’re funny when we’re not
tragic
such goodness and also
such corruption
and what to do with funny
old
us
not so ole
though we have tried the Earth
over ages

as an image

and are there parts of
the model we’re forgetting
the eccentric
parts
the kind
the giving when the bottom line says no

a resistance to build monuments
and let art live in
other places
other ways
that let stone breathe
and
even plastic we might build with

even to take the things with
which we poison
Earth
flora and fauna and let them speak
creative

while we go creative
first and also practical
because all
our strengths
are
strong out of
belief in ourselves
and
that’s the model
too

for God is all that’s good and also
useful
also beautiful
in all the ways we have been made and not
to judge so much as
dance

remembering the first inspirator
in
our notes
and in our steps

c l couch


photograph by Hans at Unsplash

1

dire psalm


dire psalm

off the edge
I get
too close
even though the fog of consequence
is in there
over the last safe line

no
not that way
this way
where we were
all the steps
before

and if the land were not so hale
at least we knew
some
of the demons wandering
sometimes by
name and if we could not contend
could be
content enough to breathe
here
and stay that way
(breathing)

in the fog
I doubt there is evangelism
though
I’ve heard of
the harrowing of hell

and
I guess we must remain alive
to share words on
this
side
or hear the ones we need to hear

dissemble
for hypocrisy
we’re simply scared
before
and contemplating after
the billows of unknown
the formless clouds
which is
their form

so caught between the sure thing
the condemns
and what we’ve heard of darkness
and
temptation to go there

so where is the safe place
where
might we live
in confidence despite moral contraries in
the ways of the world

is there balm
and where is Gilead
for
that
or what is the prescription
more so the order to have medicine
brought
local
say
to the heart and mind
even as we are
or
where we are

well
you are in both places
I believe
and we believe and maybe there is
confidence
in faith
or maybe not but you are with us
in the doubt
the cloud of our own making
and unmaking in
the shapeless and yet fearful places
of
the soul

the needs to go somewhere
and
wherever
might we go with you

and to that we might
if like temerity
enough even boldly to affirm with
if not selah
then
an amen

c l couch


photo by Kristaps Ungurs on Unsplash

0

camp song


camp song

peace
give I to you

not as the world gives

give I to you

well
that’s how I learned it

I recall the high tones of campers
singing
behind the fire
while I and mine were
on the other side

and it was night
and so
we sang across the flames
while
dark
received peripherally
an antiphon

c l couch


(I couldn’t find the song as I searched on line, though I imagine somewhere in cyberspace the song is cited, if not sung)

photo by Josh Campbell on Unsplash

1

the better college time


the better college time

Sunday afternoon
was
followed by the evening
in the chapel
and
we would in the choir sing and then
haul ourselves down
front
for the sermon
and
then would sing again

everyone
we all
took part

and there was a song
we sung
while the church organ vibed beneath
and the song
was
telling us
that some things like this day were
done

and out into the air
back to
our dorms
as
quickly to forget
and worry like wool being
our worries

we tried nonetheless to work for
Monday
if
unprepared
and should come regardless

yet the better words
than
stress alone

now
the day is over
night is drawing
nigh
shadows of the evening steal
across the sky

I’m sorry you can’t hear the tune
until you can
but
there are words
and grammared nicely
if
and as reordered
above
and
(yet)
reading these even just now
might
take you into night
its and our assurance
of
the night

c l couch


photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash

1

forward one red leaf


forward one red leaf
before a crimson chorus
conducting fall's song

c l couch


today in my friend’s yard a big red leaf hanging lonely, behind which smaller red leaves formed a line, nature auguring fall, I suppose

photo by Stephen Mabbs on Unsplash

1

over somewhere


over somewhere

I wake up alone
and sad
maybe not for loneliness
but in what happens
when
it’s applied

I’m thinking of
Judy Garland’s character in The Wizard
of Oz
singing about the rainbow
really how to go beyond

and more on what left’s behind
not so much on what
she’ll find
since
after all
she doesn’t know

except that
troubles there somehow should melt
foreshadowing
what should happen to a magic foe
in water

leaving the word monotoned
to find the color
that
the screen provides
Oz

the paradise
the peril

and it seems tornadoes must decide
the timing and the means
as if
disaster act like prophecy
shortly after singing
all the wishes

which we might forget about as well
on the other side
in
say
living color
there

like my family room back then
watching with
well
you know

c l couch


photo by Aleksandar Pavlovic on Unsplash

0

the old anthem I can’t find


the old anthem I can’t find
(but used to sing)

an old anthem
leads from Ecclesiastes
into James

a strange splicing
though it indicates progression

beginning with a celebration
and a caution
for youth to find joy
in being
youth
and also concern
since
one day there is judgment

James
then goes further
asking youth or anyone
really
to consider
the wrong aspects of desire

when we ask
we ask awry and even
kill
thinking to satisfy our wants

yet
there is the claim of the perfect law of liberty
that
whoever lives into this law
shall be blessed

and this law
what shall we say
what it
might be
if more context is required

the commandments
then

those
that Jesus cites
above all
and so a good place to begin
not only a life of faith
but that is satisfied
for through
these we know how to ask
aright and even get what we really
want

since
wanting is fine and it’s the twisting of want
that ruins it and
everything around it

I wish I could find that song

I used to sing it when a youth
and
as an anthem
it was loud
harmonious
and
true

c l couch


Ecclesiastes 11:9
James 1:25
James 2:4
(KJV)

Matthew 22:36-40

photo by Md Mahdi on Unsplash

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