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
(x = space)
x
x
If Not Charity
x
There should be more:
God, will you have
More?
There is great need
Awful, tearing need
As if a maw
Like all the mouths we fear
Should swallow us
God,
Will you meet us there?
Charity begins
Where charity begins
We don’t interpret well
Who cares
Take up the toys
Gather in the food
Say something special
Better to be doing it
And saying it
What is giving
Don’t wait for philosophy
If you have a dollar
Or a handkerchief
You might be rich
You might be on the sidewalk
Where I called you
Says the Lord
Our God
Who is our God
And preaches mysteries
Though love is clear enough
Share it
Keep it well
Pearls planted well inside
The ocean of our need
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Gabrielle Mustapich on Unsplash
Emerald waves from above.
x
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
. . .
(from) Paul’s first letter to believers in Corinth
King James Version (and the tongues of people)
x
(x = space)
x
x
When Worlds No Longer Can Collide
x
This is not
What I want
I want the innocence
Without the naivete
x
I want
To like the colors
All of them
The rainbow
And the color wheel
x
I want
To enjoy
The softness of felt
From the playful
Learning boards
Of childhood
x
I want
To be both
Simple and profound
To have some shapes
Some textures
That have meaning
Day to day
x
That all of this
Is my philosophy
And if I wear a tie
Or shiny shoes,
No one should care
x
But me
And you
With whom I share
The pleasure in the day
In the life
And we have met
Should we meet
Choosing to sip coffee
At a café by the lake
In Switzerland
I have made up
x
(made up the café
and your company
not Switzerland that
has been around
for a while
and I’ve never been there)
x
I’d like anyone
To get this
For pursuits,
Philosophy
Share in it
In these
Make your own
To have
To offer
Where you imagine
We might meet next
x
C L Couch
x
x
When Worlds Collide is a novel by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie. There is a sequel titled After Worlds Collide. They are science fiction, and I recommend them.
x
Photo by Danny Lines on Unsplash
x
Want
I want a quiet gentle day
I will not have it
Neither will the soldier on the frontline
Nor the persons alleviating pain
While diagnosing
All our ills in hospitals and other,
Medical places
Nor those whose designs
For profit
That is profiteering as another verb
Distract away all better drives
And who know peace only
As a cardboard place
Propped up for a time through addictions of
One kind or another
Nor will the parents who have
Noisy houses,
Who wouldn’t have it any other way
(nor I)
Nor those for whom conflict
Tears apart the skin of life
With open wounds that may
Or may not heal
We won’t have a gentle day
Or peaceful
Maybe tomorrow
So much depending on
Convictions that we know
Close as intimacy,
Surprises that we don’t
With what it takes
In between and all together to
Cleanse and keep the wounds
That can get better
Though, mortally speaking,
Will not completely heal
We can have peace
The kind that rests
Just fine on scars
C L Couch
I think Want stands next to Ignorance in A Christmas Carol. Ignorance that is not intelligence, though some would say it must have intelligence, we must have, in order to be un-ignorant. I disagree. We see the world, we read a book, we listen to the conversation we are having. Then we learn. We grow. Our ignorance is challenged.
We are trained for a job. We save. We grow. And ignorance again is challenged. The world becomes more knowing, more prosperous, and peaceful.
Want is challenged this way, too.
Photo by Carl Cheng on Unsplash
My dad just finished his eye surgery.
Cosmology
(who we are, materially)
I look away
Not always with my eyes
And I think
I cannot see my thought
I cannot see yours
Though I might fancy
In the expression of your
Eyes, your face, your
Body lines
That I know something about
What’s going on inside
Of you
And if you want something
(Hopefully good) from
Me
And I can become
Frustrated knowing that the
Container of my thoughts
Is simply this body
Nothing more
How do we get together
How do I get myself
Over to you
Maybe I don’t
At least not for now
Somehow electric thought
Remains inside flesh
And form, which
Move if my synapses
Are moving
For the better day
When we can do better
Than this to have,
To hold each other
clcouch123 
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