many and great
third light tonight
third candle lit
two days
ago
the parent and the child
traditions
illuminating
the brother of Isaac has
a place
as well
and will acknowledge the same father
when
it’s time
and then east of east
there
are traditions birthing meditation
and unity in
consciousness
while
west
of here
that admittedly was here
there is understanding of an Earth
that’s borderless
flown over by trickster
Raven
and higher
lower more
the Great Spirit
so
too
those with not tradition or
acknowledge none plus
the followings so many
more
on Earth
so many ways to count
measure
this day
not as the stars
though
as people here might be grouped
or
on one’s own develop
a philosophy
as well
ways to know the Earth and
Lord
of Earth
and
sky
and us for making
and for being there
c l couch
(writing from the eastern USA)
from the Dakota Hymn
Many and great, O God, are thy works,
Maker of earth and sky;
Thy hands have set the heavens with stars;
Thy fingers spread the mountains and plains.
(Joseph Renville)
photo by Roberto Shumski on Unsplash
(x = )
x
x
Good Earth
x
I don’t know the news now
I’m writing
x
I know what I knew
Last night
x
You know
Film at eleven
x
And reading much
Throughout the day
x
And having it
Affect me
x
I filter
And am changed
x
Maybe the filters change
Certainly
x
What settles on the other side
Has changed
x
The other side
Do you let the world
x
Affect you
This way
x
Everything impresses
As parents
x
Imprint
Upon the infants
x
We can only hope
They’re good
x
It’s all good
The process
x
And the people
On which rests
x
The fate of our
Good Earth
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jeniffer Araújo on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Poor Evangelist
x
I am a Christian
x
I hope anyone who
Needs to know
For good or ill
Knows that
x
The things is
I don’t mind if you are not
x
In fact, if you are from
Another faith
I’ll find that interesting
And want
To know
Something of your story
x
It’s bad evangelism
I know
And I’ll be glad
Typically
To tell you more about my faith
x
But I am entrenched
(without the trenches)
With respect
x
I want
To respect your tradition
Or your lack of one
Or somewhere in between
x
I think this is what we need
In the world just now
x
With respect,
We might withhold our fingers
From the buttons
x
We might shut up our cant
Or rant
Instead to listen
x
Stories are personal
And of a people
x
After and while happening,
Most stories deserve
To be heard
x
Shut down the hate
To hear
And have your circle of perspective
And acceptance widened
x
Hope to be treated
The same way
And that the Earth will hold
Together
From our destructive devices
Not only military
While we listen
And by impulse,
The way we are constructed,
Learn
x
To say
To welcome
And to hear
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
2 poems about ecumenicity
x
x
Many Things to Make
(nothing like a rant but a ramble)
x
And there are other great traditions, too,
About which I know next
To nothing
Remembering the Gulf War when
Some of us felt ecumenical
And took part in gatherings of Christians,
Jews, and Muslims
Where I got to hear the testimonies
Of the followers of each
And who they were as persons
And believers
x
There was a young woman
Of Islam
Who articulately smoothly,
Even beautifully
That who knew her better than her parents
With regard for her
And so who better to arrange
A marriage for her?
x
And I was convinced
And I disagree
And there was beauty in the
Disagreement, too
x
Doubting that we changed much
Of anything—there
Was still a war, and our young
People left to fight—but
In the moments
Of these hours
There were the points of light
The President then
Had been asking for
Inside the nation
x
There is so much more
To learn
About my neighbors
In the nation
And the world:
Who are the believers?
What do they believe?
What is the story of their faith?
Might they respect
The disagreements, too,
So that our world
Has a chance
To survive
To prosper
To believe
So that with integrity
We might reach for another world,
Too?
x
Pray the world lasts
Until we meet upon Megiddo
Not to fight
But have a meal,
Exchange apocalypse in faithful terms
And human
For a conclave
And a celebration
Of each other
x
x
Reasonably
x
Most of us believe
And there are those who don’t
Though binary’s not enough
There must be more
Than defining one thing
By its opposite
Humanists
Secularists
Unitarians
People of the Renaissance
Who gave science a category
Near faith
Without faith
x
Objectivists
Phenomenologists
People of reason
Rationality
Naturalism
Modernism
Fitter for post-modernism
Than the rest of us
x
Who could lead the way, in fact,
In appreciating
Difference
And diversity,
The creative celebration
Of the mind
And the experiment
x
Sorry I must
Define these as an
Other
But they must be
Welcome at the table
They could welcome us
We could invite each other
x
coda
x
Yes, which is not to say
Believers are irrational
Some are
Some want to be
And there are those who keep
Their faith as
Something in the wild
Those who lost at Whitby
But kept the Celtic
Style and ritual
Below
And now in daylight
Seek in celebration
Understanding for the rest of us
x
But faith has reason;
Might we say
That reason is creation
By creator?
Say no
Say yes
But allow for some very smart people
To believe
x
No one has to change
Except in violent intent
It should be an instinct to
Understand oneself
When understanding others
x
Keeping in mind
With hopefulness
That the one requested
Will in turn
Turn toward you to say
And what is your story?
Delightfully,
Be ready
x
C L Couch
x
x
I was writing before dawn and thinking about the seasons that are upon us now, wonderful times—and that in the spirit of this or that we might serve each other not only better but also for the first time, the stakes being, well, everything
now it’s dawn
x
by M. Garlick/University of Warwick/ESO – http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1627a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99645426
x
clcouch123 
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