By Carolyn Pinet
Has "common" changed meaning
over the centuries?
Years ago I paged through
The Book of Common Prayer
in my uncle's country church and
years ago
I invoked "the power and the glory -
they sounded poetic
without my thinking deeply about them.
"Pray the prayer you wish for and love,"
urges our pastor, and
she recommends a film, "What Do You Believe Now?"
She knows the King James version of "Our Father"
is poetic and she generously gives us space
for our own loved version of
what Truth might denote -
which changes any fixed sense of faith
trapped in a dogma of words.
So could "common" now denote "fluid" -
a river over stones
flowing in sunlight
and changing color
in iridescent waters?
Ah, despite all,
I still do love our lyrical King James,
the "common" poetry
of watery hymns of praise.
With thanks to Pastor Laura