Naming

What will we name her?

Kate, I like Kate.

Yes.

And what about your Granny?

Eva.

Yes, Eva.

They will not know how to say it.

How should they say it?

Ay-vah.

Spell it A-v-a.

Ava.

Ava Kate.

Yes.

Our love will be named

David, Kristen, and Ava Kate

II.

Love is measured

not in nearness

but in likeness.

We are the image

of God

So put down your

mirror.

I.

The god who made us

is God and we are the ones

He made.

We are born in skin

and spirit and die in skin

and spirit.

God is love and

we are love being freed

from death.

We will be the ones

who once died whom

God made.

We will know

we once died but

do not anymore.

Death requires

memory and love requires

life.

We will live

and we will remember:

The god who made us

is God and we are the ones

He made

Rings

Already tarnished, the rings -- our faces

distorted and fogged by scratches

when we look to see ourselves

the day we put them on. But we are there,

even so, and the promises:

When communion came

you stopped listening at "When the triune God..."

to hear only my face -- precocious

and anxious -- and you must have known

more of the mystery we ate and drank in:

that love distorts us beyond ourselves

and leaves the promise so obscured

that the other is all and enough to be faithful.

Sabbath

Our bodies ache

for sabbath

and move towards it

as rain moves

toward the earth

while people within

their coffee scented homes

watch steam rise

from the streets

and their cups

waiting for the day

peace, too, is perpetual.

A hill

A hill

thistled and dark

with rock and shadow

stands between us and voices

sung high, breaking over the top

like clouds upon mountains -

all we hear is condensation,

wafts of white music

moist as our sweat

but not doomed to fall.

And We, for songs

only faintly known, climb

and our once barren voices bear

hope as We hum along.