Kieran Levi

(x = space)

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Kieran Levi

(petition)

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He has been wonderfully named

Kieran for his Irish father

Levi for his Jewish mother

But he has gotten sick

With a respiratory disease we are told

Is severe and contagious

Over the weekend, his temperature dropped

From 102 to 99,

Which is something

My brother, his grandfather

Sent us a message with a photograph of

An infant surrounded by machines

If you have a moment and don’t mind,

Please pray for Kieran Levi

Birth might be traumatic

And three months is just a start

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C L Couch

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Photo by Yoksel 🌿 Zok on Unsplash

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A Child’s Precocious Prayer

(x = space)

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A Child’s Precocious Prayer

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Help me

To be good;

Help me to be good

Again,

When I am bad.

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Keep my family safe,

And show up

More

When we are not.

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Help your poor world

To be rich,

Because you give us everything,

And we should share.

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C L Couch

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The Moon and a Tree

Photo by Andy Henderson on Unsplash

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Contemplatives Are Due on Maple Street

(x = space)

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Contemplatives Are Due on Maple Street

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God speaks to me each day, though

I must admit

II don’t know what that means

I mean

Sometimes I hear the words

Sometimes it’s a nudge

I suppose a shove would be too much

I’d lose the love in that

And think it

Something else with chagrin

(and from the gravel)

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I’d like to be an everyday sort of mystic

The kind a hobbit might accept

Have food,

A glass of wine,

Smoke a pipe

Then listen for the words that the

Spirit dictates

And hope I’m not sent to Mordor

On assignment

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A contemplative with wide windows

Sunlight, nighttime

Time for clouds

All through which to contemplate

World enough and time

As the saying goes

From Andrew Marvell’s poem

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This would do for a style

It would keep me in the suburbs

Or small towns,

In cities or on farms or

Or in other places near

Or far away

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C L Couch

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Photo by Ali Inay on Unsplash

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There Could Be Light

(x = space)

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There Could Be Light

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Lord,

I have not listened

I have not loved with a loving heart

But with a larcenous heart

Love for sale

I kept it mercenary

And in other matters

I know I’m not rich

I’m not talking about money

But the other ways in which we thieve

Each other

When we’re tempted

When we’re frightened

When the need is so deep

Or so it seems

Could be illness

Could be we make it so

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I do not know the path

Before me

Even that there is one

For I have left the way

That had light for

The one walking

In anything like truth

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There is no light

I am lost

x

I have stopped

I cannot move

The lack of light feels like

A weight,

Though that might be delusion

For how can nothing weigh us down?

How did I feel substance

In the light,

Which did not weigh me down?

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Well, I’m speaking to you now

There was a spark

Left in my mind

I can’t talk of value with

The one who gave me life

But there is life

Maybe you’ll show me

Speak through one sense

Or all my senses

Correct my course

Give me one

Since I have no direction

And it seems no power

And I have a need

(real need)

To find my light

To find my way

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C L Couch

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Moody Forest

Photo by Branimir Balogović on Unsplash

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Pilotless Wheel

(x = space)

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Pilotless Wheel

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God is great

Traditions affirm

Many of them

Most of the living world

And the world before

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God is good

A source of mercy

Even for

Those who do not know

Those who deny

Given space and time

Mercy in these

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But, God, what kind of

Rotten world governed?

There is beauty

There are delightful moments

There is too much injustice

Too much lack of protection

Too much destruction

In the name

For the cause

Of politics and profit

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You are in charge

We are

It is a war itself

Of wills

We think that you arranged this

We believe

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In this alliance is

The cause of misery

Of evil

The stakes are high

They must be

This is real

Everything must matter

Assignments

Consequences

The religious call them covenants

And so they are

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Sometimes the wheel is left alone

Sometimes there’s a grab for it

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C L Couch

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Photo by Maximilian Weisbecker on Unsplash

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Something to Talk About

(x = space)

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Something to Talk About

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If I pray to you

and boldly ask for something,

what then?

Will I get it

or a consolation prize?

Will the words,

the urgency

even get acknowledged?

How would I know?

How do you?

I’m willing to take

spiritual direction:

is there something

in that? a way, a technique

for understanding,

for confidence,

for divine allowance for

our requests?

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Do I pray again?

Are repeats

allowed?

I hope so, ‘cause

The human predilection

is to keep going,

keep after

what we’re after

until there’s resolution,

either victory

or some other

satisfaction,

which doesn’t have to mean

we get our way.

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C L Couch

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Photo by Jeremy Hynes on Unsplash

White-Tailed Doe and Her Fawn

Please tag @hyneseyes on Instagram for credit, thank you 🙂

Published on July 31, 2022

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benedictus

(x = space)

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benedictus

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we could be pleased

with what we had

and sad for what is missed

we could love what there is

let go the hate for

what was taken

who took it

we could love with a love

not pure, because there’s always

imperfection

we could correct and sigh

sigh and correct over faults

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we could love

because alternatives shall drive us

into places where

no one really wants to go

or stay

more so, we could come home

to the dwelling of our hearts

and smarter thoughts

inside the land that God more fully made

that shall remain

when the rest

the doubt, the pain, even scorn

shall fall away

while love remain

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c l couch

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hoto by savvas kalimeris on unsplash

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Please Pass the Pray

(x = space)

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Please Pass the Pray

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Welcome home the victims

Heal the victims here

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Quick prayer for those who died

And those who are wounded

And still here

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Something in the house

Or in the car

Aloud or silently

It counts

The most basic ask of intercession

x

Like asking God

Be with whoever’s involved

In that emergency

Who are these people?

Someone knows

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What is needed by way of comfort

Or of sutures

Or of passage?

Someone knows

We don’t know

Maybe we don’t have to

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Prayer is involvement

Even anonymous

That works

We may not know the outcomes

That is faith

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C L Couch

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Photo by Mikhail Volkov on Unsplash

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Photo by YANGHONG YU on Unsplash

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Before We Leave

(x = space)

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Before We Leave

(or stay at home)

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Keep us

Safe at home

Safe far away

Safe in a crowd

Safe on our own

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Fed

Watered

Like valued plants

We also sometimes

Talk to

Sheltered from

All evils

All extremes

That cruelly stretch

Reason out shape

For decent use

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Help us to use

Our senses

As we have them

To expand

And justify

And celebrate

Your placing us

On Earth

Inside the cosmos

Our greater purpose

Serving you

Two great

Commandments

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C L Couch

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Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

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