Prayers for Alan Alexander

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Prayers for Alan Alexander

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Yesterday was A. A. Milne’s birthday

I didn’t know

And didn’t learn

Before posting time

(which sounds like horses

on the track

sorry, horses)

Anyway and, oh, bother

For not knowing

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Nothing new to pray for

Regarding supplication,

I suppose,

Except that A. A. be welcomed

Into heaven

And his boy who died some years

After and for us

Some years

Ago

And that both and all

Go on to play in

The Hundred Acre Wood

Until it’s time for honey

Then rest upon the bridge,

Followed by

Trudging up the stairs

To bed

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C L Couch

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Sunset in the forest.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

Poland

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Wolf Moon

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Wolf Moon

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The wolf cries

For food, for family

For companionship

The monogamous wolf

Who knows companionship

Who knows a mate

And family

And food

And wonders why the Earth

Is barren

Crying for itself

And for its mate and family

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Crying for its mate and family

And for the barren Earth

That the community

Knows and tells,

It wasn’t always this way

There was plenty

And a law

For every living thing

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Some nights

What might the Earth and wolf do

But cry

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C L Couch

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I thank Judith Nilan (https://stonefireblog.com/) for the inspiration.

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Photo by Marek Szturc on Unsplash

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The Way Love Is

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The Way Love Is

(Martin Luther King, Junior)

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Today is the Monday

We set aside

To honor

Martin Luther King, Junior

Whose birthday

Is close by

He is not honored for

Perfection

But for testimony

In words and action

To the truth

That we are equal

And together we can change

The world

For the better

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He was a minister

Though anyone

Who acts to change

The world

For the better

Is a

Symbol of God

His name was not

At first

Martin Luther

(talk with his father),

But anyone

Who speaks

To truth in love

Is truly on the roll

Of heaven

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We need truth-talking

And truth-acting

We need to be

Encouraged

We need to act

Together

The children of

Earth for the

Now, the next

Children of

The Earth

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C L Couch

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Landscape

Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

Oostvaardersplassen, Lelystad, Netherlands

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Will What You Will

(x = space)

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Will What You Will

(2022)

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It is the last day

Of the Christmas season

Marred last year

By crimes

Twelve drummers drumming

In a drumhead court

For some

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The rest of us take down

Our trees and lights

Burn the skeletons of trees

In the town square

At least that happened

In my town

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We sang the last of carols

For a while

The nation need remember

That some gatherings are good

Some spectacles

Modest with intent

And execution

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Grant us wisdom, Lord,

The meaning of the season

As is said

Not so much sectarian

As loving in and from

The hearts and minds

We have

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C L Couch

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Photo by Michael Descharles on Unsplash

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Public Bear

(x = space)

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Public Bear

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Pooh

Has entered

The public domain

Welcome, Pooh

And Piglet

Tigger

Rabbit

Kanga and Roo

Owl

And the blond boy

With buckles on his shoes

Who made a world

So that our world

Might be

Prettier

And kinder

And we can hope

A little wiser

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C L Couch

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(Public Domain)

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Majesty

(x = space)

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Majesty

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Born a king

Because he was male

Had he been a girl

Born a queen

Like Esther

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A monarch for salvation

Of the world,

Which grinds against our notions

Of democracy

How can we kneel to a ruler—the

Words don’t really mean that,

Do they?

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And they do

Words surrounding words

Of majesty

Omnipotence

And glory

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Such that we’d be glad

To bow before the one,

To lie on the floor

If that were called for

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A birth into the ages

Love coursing through

The blood, the

Organs,

And first breaths

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Born into prophecy

Surrounding prophecy

With grace for that

And will

To make mountain

And the sky above

And stars so far

Beyond our reach,

Though we reach for them

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How will it be

To meet the creator

And the sovereign of the

Earth and skies?

Wake up each day,

Face the sun

And do not stare

Meeting God

Is like that

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C L Couch

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for the birth of God, the next day, and for our days

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A corona mass ejection erupts from our sun on August 31, 2012.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

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The Drive to Church on Christmas Eve

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The Drive to Church on Christmas Eve

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What shall we say

On this night

There might be stars

There might be clouds

There might be snow

(depending upon

temperature,

elevation, and

the axis tilt)

I know there were

Christmas Eves

When it rained

They come to mind

Evoked by

Memory

Bright lights in dots

Upon the windshield

I am on the way

To church,

A child myself

On the way

To meet another

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C L Couch

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Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash

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Lean-To

(x = space)

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Lean-To

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Earth tilts

Unlike pinball

The other way

Then tilts

The other way

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We light fires

To appease

So that the axis

Listens

Turns us back

To growing seasons

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We’ll have winter

Now

While they have

Summer

The world is made

Of complements

As well as

Paradox

Winter summer,

Equator and the poles

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A world on which

All things hold

That must hold

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Our home

Embraces opposites

In seasons

In tilting one way

Then the other

In value for us all

And each one

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C L Couch

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Sunrise in Iceland 11:19 this morning.

Hafsteinn Robertsson from Hafnarfjordur, Iceland – Winter Solstice, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73751614

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Trying Time

(x = space)

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Trying Time

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Christmastime is here

Guaraldi plays to this

We shop

We pray

We put up stock

In pantries

To last throughout assembly

And the lie-in, after

After

All the franticness is done

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Christmastime is here

Days on

To get ready

Hours, minutes

Winding down

Christmas will happen, anyway,

You know

A festive day

Followed by more days

Maybe eleven

The partridge sings the day

All we have to do is sing

Along

Or, if we’re tired,

Only listen

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C L Couch

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Photo by Jad Limcaco on Unsplash

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