It's Not That Bad......

It’s not so bad
This getting old
If you don’t mind being
Too hot or too cold
If you don’t mind keeping
Your teeth in a cup
And if you fall down
Just hope you can get up
And it really is
Completely okay
If you can’t remember
Yesterday
And if you don’t mind
Your evolving physique
Or forget what you’re thinking
Before you speak
Getting old really isn’t
All that bad
If you enjoy your back-ache
With a heating-pad
Aches and pains
Make great discussion
While snoring offers
Background percussion
Then there’s the daily
Exciting intrusion
Of sorting out
Misunderstood confusion
The shuffle has become
The favorite dance
Secure in dependable
Underpants
So cheer up Mom
Don’t be sad
Getting old really isn’t
All that bad

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

The girls reminded me tonight
About what ‘day’ is a week from today….
Then they proceeded to comfort me a little……
With these thoughts!!!!!

Incapable....

I am capable of seeing the flaming maple tree
Or the brilliant sun-rise or clear blue skies
Without being taunted by your memory
Your laughter in my ‘here ever-after’

I am capable of smelling a dew-laden rose
Or hearing the refrain of a summer rain
Without feeling the soft midnight mist enclose
The tender hour where love was a budding flower

I can walk through a carpet of leaves, wind-blown
Where each step we took is now a closed book
And I am capable of breathing on my own
But I know it’s true; I’m incapable of forgetting you

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Perhaps....

Perhaps as I looked for a diversion
An excuse to ignore the truth
Or searched for the right combination
Of words to stir echoes of youth
Perhaps in the apparent absence
And lack of the perfect word
Truth made an appearance
As its painful voice was stirred
Perhaps as I searched for an answer
Within its somber eyes
I saw the ruthless dancer
No mask and no disguise……..
For Truth is never altered
In time it becomes much clearer
I saw it staring at me
As I looked into the mirror
And I stood face to face
With stark reality
Perhaps I can run from anyone
But I can never run from me

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Poem From the Sky

Moonlight shining down through the willow
Painting paisley patterns on the lawn
Heaven’s hand designing nature’s pillow
Tranquil prelude to a glorious dawn
Blanket of stars, a dazzling cover
Breezes softly croon a lullaby
Trembling cadence through the clover
Flowing like a poem from the sky

Oh, what a foretaste of perfection
Summer night beneath a silver sea
Feasting on the calm and clear reflection
Where wind and willow, sky and water meet
Wrapped in the tender arms of moonlight
Drinking its essence like fine wine
Deep into my soul pours the midnight
Like love wrought by a wondrous hand divine

Thank-you Jesus for this glimpse of glory
Waiting far above this misty veil
When I see the ending of Your story
Will it be upon a moonlit hill?
I know they say there is no night in Heaven
But here and there I think perhaps there’ll be
A midnight field in a perfected version
With silver moonlight shining through a willow-tree

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

a summer night......
in the moonlight.....
the epitome.......
of tranquility!!!!

I know, it's a night poem again
but these past few nights have been
GORGEOUS!!!!! SO INSPIRING!!!!

WHAT AN AWESOME CREATOR!!!!

Wait a Minute...

Wait a minute, what’s your hurry
Tomorrows still a night away
In the morning all the glory
Of the moonlight turns to gray
Dance with me for just two hours
‘Neath a sea of silver-blue
In a land of slumbering flowers
On a moon-lit avenue

Wait a minute, do you hear it
The slow murmur in the air
Like a warm, enchanted spirit
Hovering softly everywhere
Mingling with the half-breathed sighing
Of two hearts beating as one
In the midnight slowly dying
Or the hours before dawn

Wait a minute, before daylight
Steals away this rapturous bliss
I prefer the moody midnight
To the sunshine’s noonday kiss
Wait a minute, wait an hour
Wait a lifetime here with me
While we dance among the flowers
‘Neath a rippling moon-lit sea

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

He Married His Sweetheart....

He married his sweet-heart today
Promised to love her forever and aye
For better or worse until death doth part
Joined from above with a mystical cord
Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring
But from this day forward they are one ‘with this ring’

Together through good times and bad
Someday to recall what a sweet life they had
To cherish, to love and honor always
And only God knows the number of days
Or how long their vow of forever will be
Before one must cross the last dark sea

He married his sweetheart today
Father in heaven I pray
Keep Your hand on them wherever they go
For mountains are high and the valleys are low
Father, be with them always
He married his sweetheart today

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

On a Night Like Tonight.......

Sometimes
On a night
Like tonight
I listen to ‘our song’
And as the
Sonnet soothes
Delights
I’m right where I belong
It stirs
With passion
In my heart
Yet calms my weary mind
Nothing
Like our song
Imparts
The gentle peace I find
For in its
Low and
Somber tones
I feel a sweet, sweet bliss
Only you
And I
Alone
Know where the magic is
And in the muted
Silence
I have found
A true companion
I sense the
Honest empathy
In moon-light undemanding
Our song
Unaltered from
Its first whispered debut
Our song
Forever sung
By only me and you



All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

May

Happy the hour
And gladsome the day
When youth was a flower
In the noontide of May
Green were the meadows
And azure the sky
Dreaming in shadows
Of willow and pine

Sweet was the morning
Forever the day
Heedless of warning
That youth slips away
Fairer its blush
Than the grapes on the vine
Purer the flush
Than the yellow sunshine

Happy the hour
But happier they
Who still have the power
When youth slips away
To live in September
Or November gray
With the joy they remember
In the noontide of May

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Constantine

Where have you been, my Constantine?
Its 1a.m. the night is lean
And I have worn my heart to shreds
I could not sleep in any beds
For you are only seventeen
Where have you been, my Constantine?

Oh mother dear, you need not fear
Have you forgotten thus the year?
When you were but a maiden fair
In love with life and the night air
Do you remember seventeen?
As you ask, where have you been?

The mother smiled at her dear child
Darling tis but a short wee while
Since I was a young girl like you
Inclined to do the things you do
And that is why, dear Constantine
I fret and sigh, where have you been?

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Blue-bells

The memory of that fair day
Unfolds like a blue bud
As I see in fond reverie
The hill whereon we stood
And in this quiet solitude
I pause within a trance
For I can hear the gentle tune
Of blue-bells as we danced

The wild rose weeps her petals fair
For many a spring has slept
And many a soul has wandered where
This tender bud is kept
But in the quiet half-moon sky
It soundlessly unfolds
As I remember you and I
In a hundred dreams untold

The night is heavy with the scent
Of blue-bells in the spring
But I am happy and content
When I can hear them ring
For in the softness of the air
Beneath a half-moon sky
I still see us dancing where
The blue-bells never die




All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

It is a perfect half-moon sky tonight:)

Prelude

It’s a panoramic landscape as I view its lows and highs
It’s a kaleidoscope of heart-ache and of smiles and butterflies
But now its seems the radiant hues are dull in somber grey
And all the colors I would choose have somehow slipped away
For suddenly within the hush a tear-drop dims my eye
I see upon the painters brush a prelude to good-bye

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Best Day of my Life

Hold on rushing minute
You fly way to fast
What I’m putting in it
Will quickly be past
So what of pleasure
Or toil and strife
I’m holding the best day
Of my life

Yesterday is over
I cannot retrieve
One moment of it
To somehow re-live
Its triumphs and failures
Its measure of strife
But today is the best day
Of my life

Tomorrow is a vision
With no guarantee
I have no promise
That it ever will be
The one thing of value
I see in this strife
Is simply today, the best day
Of my life

In it lies each moment
Waiting to be filled
With the fruit of my choices
Before its minutes are stilled
So what of pleasure
Or toil and strife
I’m living the best day
Of my life

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Content

When the shadow deepens beneath your eyes
And many a season has swept the skies
Will we still have a reason, you and me?
To desire each others company

When you sit by the fire with a book in your lap
And it slips to the floor as you nod and nap
When the sorrows of life etch their kiss on your brow
Will you still love your wife as you love me now?

Will we sit in the sunset’s tranquility?
You with your pipe and me with my tea
Viewing sweet hours from a glowing past
As the evening’s soft, coral bowers are cast

Will you still let me softly trace
The tender love-lines on your face
Here on the porch will you sit with me
Content in each others company

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

The Hardest Part

The hardest part of loving you
Are the moments in-between
When you fade from my view
And every place we’ve been
And the hardest part of the morning
Is knowing the night with you
Is simply a prelude to the dawning
When you fade into the blue…….
For the hardest part of our laughter
Is the silence in between
And wondering for-ever after
Oh, what might have been
And the hardest part of loving you
Is simply letting go
Knowing there’s nothing we can do
To pause time’s ebb and flow
As the minutes melt into hours…..
The hours that stretch between
You and I in the hardest part
Of wondering what could have been

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

My Favorite Kind of Poetry

It has suddenly come to me
Loving you is poetry
Like a sonnet, sweet and low
Your tender words softly bestow
And wrap around my longing heart
The poetry that you impart
In every whisper, every sigh
Every flicker in your eye
In each heart-wrung melody
I hear perfect poetry
Darling, sit here next to me
As the moon-beams kiss the sea
Listen as I read to thee
My favorite kind of poetry

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Love Song #2

It rolls across the gleaming hills
Of midnights silent rue
I now can hear its haunting trills
Like heavy-laden dew
Across each ramparts vain defense
In effervescent sighs
And in the moonlight I can sense
It flaming in your eyes

I once had known a tortured bliss
And in this solemn lay
I recall its searing kiss
Upon my memory splay
But now I turn to hear its chords
Redeem my agony
No finer gift could kings and lords
Ever bestow to me

Than this one gift that drifts upon
The moaning midnight breeze
As it softly sifts beyond
The swaying raven trees
This song in its grandest debut
Fit for royalty
As I turned to look at you
Your eyes sang it to me

All rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Please.....

Keep me somewhere, please
Don’t give all of me away
Let just a little piece
Of me haunt your eyes of grey
As you begin to slowly tear
Each fragment from your heart
Oh please could you spare
One tiny little part
Where just a little piece of me
Could quietly reside
Put me where nothing else would be
Way down deep inside
For somewhere further on perhaps
So very suddenly
You might be drawn into a lapse
Of pining memory
For days where once we danced a bit
And shared the briefest mile
Please won’t you save a piece of it?
And wear it in your smile
You don’t need to keep all of me
Yes, I understand
That many others soon will be
The ones to hold your hand
But if you have a little plot
Where nothing else would be
Please,could you save a little spot
To keep a piece of me?

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

White Lies

I tell myself it doesn’t matter
There is nothing you could say
Even when the dust is settled
That could change things anyway
And so I simply keep repeating
In the end it’s for the best
I just wish I could believe it
As it robs me of my rest

It doesn’t matter if you’d rather
Never meet me on the street
Or if there should be another
Whispering words endearing, sweet
It doesn’t matter if you’re smiling
With her lips upon your ear
And the secret she is telling
Really doesn’t matter, dear

I tell myself it doesn’t matter
You were never quite my style
As I tear each of your letters
Up into a tear-stained pile
No, it really doesn’t matter
I am better without you
Actually I can’t remember…….
Ah, yes……they were blue

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Anything.........

I would give anything to be with you
Right now
Seems as the daylight deepens its hue
Somehow
My mind returns to that silent hour
Where memory yearns for the faded flower
But nobody anywhere has the power
To bring me back to you

I would give anything to have you here
With me
And while I shed a longing tear
Reality
Is a cruel reminder of things I thought
I had left behind me, long forgot
But tonight I realize I have not
For I still miss you, my dear

I would give anything for another chance
With you
Yes I would give anything for one more dance……
…..or two
But that is not the way life is
We cannot retrieve yesterdays kiss
Or the moments that we so dearly miss
That once we gave no second glance

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

No John Wayne

You know we both hate all the fighting
Cruel words and slamming doors
The grievances we keep inciting
Never seems to even scores
But more than words angry or hateful
Or the bitter scars we store
I find something far more dreadful
Oh, I hate the silence more

Where do you go when we’re together?
You’re a million miles away
Gripping an invisible tether
Riding ‘cross hills cold and gray
But there’s no John Wayne come a-riding
To rescue this dame in distress
Only a long and doleful chiming
To break midnight’s quietness

We both hate the walls we're building
Yet seem unsure what to do
Before you ride into the sunset
Won’t you just try breaking through?
I strain to hear the pounding hoof-beats
Ringing out across the plain
But all I'm hearing is your heart-beat
In a silent movie with no John Wayne

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

okay, okay, I confess.....
I did write this so I could use
one of my REALLY COOL John Wayne pictures:)

But Not All......

I’ve known a lot of people in my time
Faces fading in and out like some strange nursery rhyme
Many a flicker, a moment or two before they pass over the hill
But then here and there I’ve known a few that never will

Echoing memories fill the garden I walk through
Blooming with faces that have long since disappeared from view
But then something stirs within me and I vaguely recall
A dance or two long forgotten, but not all……

Some days I am brave enough to venture again
Through the places where I’ve tasted the greatest pleasure and pain
And I see their faces decorate this hallowed hall
Where most have sadly faded….but not all

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

In My Heart

Beyond the blue
The seemingly endless blue of your gaze
Somehow I knew
Beyond your lips or the rugged contour of your face
I have held
And thus revealed an inconsolable part
As I beheld
The many ever-splendored folds of your heart
Invisible rivers
Flowing with a-thousand unshed tears
Midnight quivers
With the reality of the rippling years
Softly shedding
A misty haze across the garden wall
Yes, forgetting
Surely is the hardest part of all
As I cling
To the whispering ivy entwined in the deepest part
Of everything
I remember about us hidden in my heart

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Mini-van Mama

I’m the daughter of a hard-workin’ farmer
Been married twenty years to a sweet truck-driver
I’m a middle-age, middle-class mini-van mama
Queen of the hair-pullin’, seat-kickin’ drama
Got me a house but no white-house ‘Bama
But I am proud to say…….

I’ve mopped eighty miles of hard-wood high-way
If you’re livin’ here you’re gonna do things my way
I’m a cloth-wringin’, broom-slingin’, mop-flingin’ mama
Runnin’ a tight-ship, pick up your pajamas
It’s an ‘if you dropped it pick it up’ drama
And please, just PUT IT AWAY!!!!!!.......

…….I saw her on her cell-phone on the side-walk
Leather coat, stilettos, man could she talk
Six feet tall with a red Lamborghini
Her dilemma where to buy a new bikini
But I don’t feel a tinge of envy
Oh, I’m so proud to say…

I’m a middle-age, middle-class, mini-van mama
Queen of the Sunday morning late-to-church drama
All because of the ‘nothing-to-wear’ trauma
But I’m just takin’ a break
From the broom-slingin’, cloth-wringin’, mop-flingin’ mayhem
Sittin’ for an hour singin’ glory, hallelujah, amen
Soon it’s back to the same old thing again
But I just say, hey, hey,….

I’m a middle-age, middle-class mini-van mama
Lovin’ every minute of this crazy drama
You’ve earned your Mercedes or Cadillac, Grandma
But I’m still on my way
In the seat’kickin’, insult flingin’, late again heaven
Man it’s a great day to be livin’
The best of days, queen of the mini-van
I’m so proud to say…….
Hey, hey, hey
Goin’ my way?
Shove over gang
‘cause one sure thing
There’s always room for
Just one more
With a middle-class, middle-age mini-van mama
Don’t you wish you were part of the drama?
God bless the middle-age mini-van mama!!!!!
HEY!!!!YEAH!!!!




All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

The style of this poem was adapted
from Craig Morgan's song, 'International Harvester'.

Dedicated to all the moms who said
they would NEVER drive a mini-van:):):)!!!!

New Love

He cradles her softly in the palm of his hand
And gazes into her face
Quick and willing to heed her demand
He keeps her in his ready embrace
Softly, so softly she sings in his ear
Ready is his reply
Oh how I love you my darling my dear
The apple of my eye
Proudly he shows her to all of his friends
In envy they gaze at her form
A true thing of wonder, she’s a mysterious blend
Of talent and beauty and charm
He brushes his lips against her voice
And smiles at her various tones
He’ll never trade her if given a choice
Without her he is truly alone
Like a friend in his pocket or a sigh in his ear
He cherishes this love so new
Oh how I love you, my darling my dear
Blackberry!!! HOW I LOVE YOU!!!!!

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Touching a Memory

To touch you in a memory
Is like trying to touch a shadow
I reach for you as you slip from me
Into a reminiscent meadow
For as I reach to try and brush
The tear-drop from your eye
You fade into the evening hush
Like a phantom butter-fly
And all I can see is the grass and the trees
When I try to touch you in my memories

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

I'm Watching You

I see the way you look at Dad
And how he looks at you
I know when you’re feeling sad
And when you’re happy too
I notice if a sigh should slip
At the end of a busy day
Or when a smile teases your lips
And I know that you are okay
Cause mom I’m watching you and mom I see
It’s mostly what you do that is teaching me

I know there are things you need to tell
Before I am all grown
But I don’t always remember so well
And we don’t learn by words alone
Although I appreciate it mom
The wisdom you pass to me
I know in the end I will become
What you do and what I see
For I hear so much more than the words you say
I hear what you do, how you live day by day

I listen a little, or at least I try
‘Cause that’s what good children should do
But I hear much more by the light in your eye
Or the tone that is shining through
I hear what you do with the words you say
For action speaks louder than voice
I hear the way you live every day
Mom, I really have no choice
And perhaps I’m telling you something you knew
But I want you to know I’m watching you

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

hi moms.....you know those beautiful home-made cards
your children give you.....filled with precious and
priceless words.....do you find they can be quite sobering too?

Don't Move....

Don’t move, no, don’t even smile
I want to look at you like this for a while
Let me trace the edge of this moment
With trembling finger-tips
And imprint it on my heart-beat
Before this memory slips

Blue is more than a color on you
It’s the envelope of intangible hue
Wrapping this night in my heart of hearts
Before it melts away
And life’s cruel reality tears us apart
At the break of day

So don’t move, oh, don’t break the spell
Ask no questions, you know me too well
And I just don’t want this moment to fade
Into vague obscurity
So don’t move until I’ve made
A picture of this memory

All rights Reserved
Janet Martin

I Miss You More......

Some nights I miss you when you’re not here with me
And somebody else sits where you should be
No newspapers scattered all around your chair
I don’t need to tidy your hats and footwear
I miss the way I hear you slam the door
But on a night when it rains I miss you more

I miss the chat over a hot cup of coffee
Or simply listening to the rain on the street
I hear the water spray as the traffic goes by
There’s nothing to say when there’s no you and I
I know that I have missed you before
But on a night like tonight I miss you more

If you were here there would be a good chance
That the rain was the music to which we would dance
There’s something ‘bout rain that stirs my heart
But I like it better when we’re not apart
And I miss the way you close the door
‘Cause on a night like tonight I miss you more

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

I Could Get UsedTo This.....

I could get used to pouring your coffee
Especially on a rainy day
I could get used to drawing the curtains
To keep the morning away
Or in the evening when everyone’s sleeping
And the moon is a pale-silver-blue
I could get used to silently sneaking
Into the foot-hills with you

I could get used to hearing your whispers
Even when you’re far from me
Knowing that anything that really matters
Will return eventually
I could get used to watching the sunset
In your arms at the close of the day
I could get used to this, darling why is it
That somehow life gets in the way?

All Rights reserved
Janet Martin

You Really Never Left Me

I could not hold you
You slipped away
The blue-capped moment
Of yesterday
Shimmers in
The morning mist
Upon the field
Where I was kissed
As our faded
Shadows lie
Silent, jaded
‘neath the sky

But you’re still near
I’m never alone
It’s your voice I hear
In the telephone
It’s your lips I see
In every smile
Your memory
Paints every mile
Summer, winter
Spring or fall
You really never
Left at all

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Truth

Like petals that drift from the apple-tree
Your words return on the wind
Beautiful sentiments spoken to me
Syllables noble and kind

Tell me again the words you said
They are so lovely to hear
Echoing now within my head
Laughing in my ear

“You are so beautiful, the one I adore
Please, lay your head on my chest
I’ve never loved anyone like this before
Darling, you are the best

Words like precious and perfect and fine
I taste them in tiny sips
I long to drink the sweet red wine
Flowing from your lips

But now I reflect on your many words
Alone, when the night wind is still
For darling, your eyes tell me so much more
Than the words from your lips ever will

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Power

You make us do and say
Things….
To the right or left
The pendulum
Swings
Good and evil both
Have no limits
You are the beginning
Of what we do
With it….
We nurture either one
Or the other
One we indulge
While the other
We smother
Thought
You wield a mighty
Sword
We see its yield
In our deeds
And word

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Cold

The hour creeps
Like ivy o’er the garden wall
The flower sleeps
I leave the light on in the hall
For pitch black
Amplifies the tick of the clock
And I lack
The resistance to turn the lock
To keep
The cold from creeping in
It seeps
Beneath my summer skin
To remind me
A lock can never bar
The door
To where a thousand memories are
And more
As they drift like phantom mist
Across my sea
With sweet and tortured kiss
They cover me

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Close to Me....

We count in miles
The distance that separates
But I’ve discovered something new
Those miles are really
Quite meaning less
I’m never that far from you
Because if I were
I would not feel you
Like an invisible
Sheet
Wrapped around my shoulders
In the house or on the
Street
I hear your tender laughter
Melt across my silent
Hour
Like a soft and secret love song
Or a perfect purple
Flower
So in spite of asphalt highway
That is measured by a mile
I prefer to miss you my way
In the shadow of your smile
As I reach out to touch you
In a quiet
Memory
I realize that you
Are never
Very far from
Me



All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

For Loving You.....

I hate it when I miss you by a minute or a mile
When I just want to kiss you or at least to see your smile
When all I really need is just your whisper in my ear
Your crazy little nothings or your sentiments so dear…..
I hate it when the missing you takes over every part
And I just want to be with you against your beating heart
When midnight is the morning or the noon or end of day
Because when we’re together somehow time just slips away
Oh, I hate it but I love it and there’s nothing I can do
It simply is the consequence my dear, for loving you

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Childless....

Her girl-hood dreams
Dance in her eyes
Someday she will sing
Sweet lullabies
To her own dear babies
Her kisses will smother
Their soft little cheeks
When she is a mother…..

She smiles as she hears
Their innocent chatter
Or wipes imaginary tears
As she asks ‘what’s the matter’
For this is her dream
Like no other
Someday she hopes
To be a mother….

….The light in her eye
Has faded a bit
For the dream has died
That kept the flame lit
I hear a tear
Behind her smile
‘My sister’s children
Are at my house for awhile….’

And she pours out her love
To the girl and the lad
That she would have given
To the children she had
While she held a dream
God planned another
And she never became
Anyone’s mother

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

One of Those Days This Morning....

It was one of those days this morning
Just wasn’t ready to face the dawning
As much as I wanted to stay up last night
I want to sleep in past morning-light
I wanted to crush that dang alarm clock
And I surely would have if I had a rock….
Yes it was one of those days just to stay in bed
Pull the covers back up over my head
As the thoughts of all my worries and trouble
Settled over me like a smothering bubble
I closed my eyes, but sleep had fled
Duty commanded me to rise instead
And I begged God for His tender mercy
To give me the desire to persevere
For the mountain looks tall in the morning light
And I seem too small and feeble to fight
But He urged me forward, urged me to climb
Not the whole mountain, just one step at a time
Yes it was one of those days this morning
But I feel the hope of God adorning
The hour that seemed so dark with dread
God, I’m glad you pulled me out of bed

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

This is the passage I read this morning...
Yes!! Sometimes God simply needs to pull us by our hands
while we argue....He is merciful!!!

Genesis 19:12-16
19:12 Then the two visitors said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? Get them out of this place 19:13 because we are about to destroy it. The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord that he has sent us to destroy it.”

19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.

19:15 At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” 19:16 When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city.

So Long....

You said that you’d be back soon
I’d hardly notice you were gone
When you said it I believed you
So why does it seem so long
The grass and lilies turn their smiles
To tired, weary frowns
And all the sun-tanned cottagers
Have moved back into town
The garden-gate is swinging
On its rusty broken hinge
A melody in minor key
I hover on its fringe
For I’m still waiting for you
Oh you were so wrong
If you said you’d be back soon
Why does it seem so long?

The ribbon of sweet September
Is drooping in the snow
And I cannot remember
What we said so long ago
Except that you once told me
You would be back soon
It's haunting echo holds me
Beneath the April moon
While spring melts into summer
On a misty midnight sea
And in a sad strange way
I feel you here with me
When I’m awake I hear you
A low and mournful song
If you said you’d be back soon
Why does it seem so long?

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

If This Isn't Heaven.....

Tonight you held me in the crook of your arm
Swallowed in a sea of moonlight so warm
Purple umbrella with a star-studded crown
Covered the earth in a shimmering gown
As we gazed at its vast infinity…..
If this isn’t Heaven how grand it must be

The turquoise breeze softly ruffled the grass
Dancing on seas of emerald glass
Whilst you and I on its dew-laden pillow
Eaves-dropped on whispers of birch and willow
Softly you turned to look at me…….
If this isn’t Heaven how grand it must be

Nothing but midnight stirred the air
We felt the Presence of Him everywhere
And I thought surely this is enough for me
If this isn’t Heaven how grand it must be
But I’m feeling emptier than I was before
Tonight simply left me longing for more………

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Tonight is really hard to stay inside....
it is one of 'those nights'

When It Rains.....

The night turns warmer
Troubles wash away
Heaven’s tear-drops
Weeping silver-grey
God, I love it
I’m made new again
I feel like dancing
When it rains
Sweet is the tempo
Dripping from the cloud
Soothing its rhythm
Cleansing its shroud
Splashes of laughter
On my window pane
Manna from heaven
When it rains
Trickles of mercy
Showers of grace
God, you renew me
As I lift my face
To taste your goodness
In a glorious refrain
Celestial kisses
When it rains

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

I LOVE warm rainy nights....
last night was such a night!

Different Glasses

Because of the roads they have traveled
On entirely different grasses
Two can behold the very same thing
Yet see through different glasses
One sees a plane and stands amazed
At the power which gives its wings
The other sees the dove which halts the plane
And the devastation that it brings
One sees the smile of an innocent child
The other sees it too
But observes the secrets a smile can hide
Behind those eyes of blue
One sees the rose in perfect form
And stands in breathless awe
The other sees crimson and cruel thorn
From wounds, gaping and raw
One may rise to greet the dawn
With great anticipation
The other also sees the sun
But hears only condemnation
For the road that each has traveled
As its destinies unfurled
Have seemed to form the glasses
Through which they view the world......

....yet in all of life's injustices
and roads beyond our control
there's a Father who loves every one of us
and died to save each soul

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

My 'Druthers'

I’druther you were painfully honest with me
And my feelings would sting for a while
Than to walk with you down a fern-lined street
As you lie to me through your smile
I’druther be a little homely
Than a cheap and painted fraud
Who wears a mask to fool people
Forgetting I can never fool God
I’ruther be poor and happy
Learning to be content
Than rich with a pocket of fool’s gold
That brings no joy when it’s spent
I’druther have one friend who is honest
Than a hundred which seem to lack
The ability to be faithful
As they stab me in the back
I’druther have a house full of laughter
With furniture battered and scarred
Than live in a palace that’s silent
With every façade unmarred
I’druther have my arms full of children
Than trophies and accolades
And I like a ten-minute vacation
Beneath the willow’s shade
I’druther drive my ugly mini-van
With a happy family
Than be alone with a perfect tan
In a red Lamborghini
I’druther have a little trouble
Here on my acre of sod
Than live in a perfect bubble
Where I would never need God

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin