Encore, Please

Your voice flows through me like the blue of your eyes
I’m caught in a trance, not unlike paradise
The timbre of passion and longing and hope
Drifts over hillside and valley and slope

Seduction in whispers of purple and gold
Emerald and scarlet pour from your hold
As I hear time's agony bleed from your voice
You want to stay with me, but you have no choice

Sweet are the sonnets played on the soft wind
Of sunshine and laughter when living is kind
But purer by far, the haunting melody
Born in the heartache of love’s misery

Over the pattern of wheat field and brush
An ocean of music falls into the hush
Trembling, I spread its yearning 'cross my brow
As hunger and dread spawn the breezes that blow

Tomorrow your music will be dormant and still
I will reach for you to retrieve your thrill
But you will be gone to return nevermore
As dead as the wave that reaches the shore

Today I will let your voice soothe and torment
Perfect communion of love and lament
I plead for an encore as you drift to the sky
And August extinguishes the song of July

Janet~

Carefully

Very carefully and gently
On those nights, heavy with dew
And the air of late summer
And thoughts of you…

Very carefully and tenderly
When I miss you so much
And there’s not enough of you
Left for me to touch…

Very thankfully and carefully
I unwrap with quiet pleasure
The one thing that you left me
To torment me and to treasure…

Very slowly and so carefully
Without any regret
I unwrap within each heartbeat
All your words I can’t forget…

J~

Photograph...

Once upon another day
I held you close, so close to me
And looked into your eyes of baby blue
Those days are long-gone,yes, I know
But sometimes I miss them so
Oh, it’s crazy what a photograph can do

I trace every line and curve
Oh, and you still touch a nerve
Like no one in this world will ever do
Once you held me center stage
Now I pause, and turn the page
Oh, it’s crazy what a photograph can do

Just a little photograph
But I can hear you talk and laugh
Though your paper lips don’t whisper, move or smile
Your skin is soft and warm
I can feel it ‘gainst my arm
Think I’ll just sit here and hold you for a while…

Once upon another day
You were not so far away
But I know now those things I never knew
Time is a silent thief
Love is perfect grief
Oh, it's crazy what a photograph can do…

J~

Silence

Silence is a house once filled with laughter
Silence is you... not next to me
Silence is the lifetime after
Living; because, you see
Silence is everywhere, darling
That we used to be

Silence is the middle of the kitchen
In the middle of a memory
When suddenly without warning
You're right in the middle of me
Silence is a summer morning
Where we used to be

Silence is an echo calling
Out of the clear, blue skies
Silence is the teardrop falling
Silence is a broken heart's cries
Silence is everywhere, darling
When love dies...

J~

See the Sun...

See the sun
And how it bleeds
Its passion ‘cross the sky
See the land
And how it heeds
The whispers from on high
See the night
And how the light
Must solemnly surrender
See the field
Its harvest yield
In autumn’s fervent splendor

See the girl
With pretty curl
Grow up to be a woman
See the lad
Become a dad
A wise and caring human
See the brow
All weathered now
By life and what it’s given
See us climb
The hills of time
One road leads to Heaven

See the seasons
How they fold
Into the other’s bearing
See the youth
Once brash and bold
Grow kind beneath life’s caring
See how years
Of love and tears
Turn knowledge into wisdom
See this life
Of joy and strife
Lead to another Kingdom

Janet~

Last night while I was out for my run
The thoughts of the brevity of seasons…
and life struck me profoundly!
Already the ditches are full of chirping crickets and August.
Then….I met a young family out together
For an evening walk…
Part of me smiled inside from ear to ear…
The other part of me wanted to sit in the middle of the road and CRY!!!
M-O-O-O-O-O-OM-M-M-M-Y-Y-Y-!!!!
No, even Mommy can’t stop time…
I wanted to tell the family to cherish these short, golden years…
They would smile politely of course, and say, yes…
Just like I used to.

Anything at All...

You could never
Disappoint me
Or hurt me
Or grieve me
You could not touch me
With mere spoken word
You could not
Thrill me
Or tease me
Or move me
And when you leave, dear
It would not hurt
You could not
Insult me
Or fulfill
Or affect me
By anything at all
That you could do
I would not remember
Or care or feel
Anything at all
If I did not love you

J~

Heaven...

In a perfect world
We would always say
The things that we should say…

In a perfect world
Loved ones would not hurt us
Or ever go away

In a perfect world
It would rain…
But just enough

And in a perfect world
We would never
Yearn for love

In a perfect world
I would know
What you are feeling

And in a perfect world
Words would never
Leave us reeling

In a perfect world
We would not need
To be forgiven

…but this world is not perfect
If it were…
…it would be Heaven

Janet~

Late July

The sky drips a sultry haze
Of dusty blues and purple-grays
The land succumbs to its caress
With pregnant field and willow-tress

The garden spills forth rampant bloom
A tangled, blissful living room
A haven to which I can flee
When little conflicts torment me

Hands touch the soil and pluck the weed
Fingers brush the fruited seed
Lips part wide to taste its fare
The wealth of earth, so pure and rare

I will not heed the scolding tune
To guilt me of one afternoon
Beneath the sweltering, sensuous sky
And the murmur of July

August hovers in the swell
Of tasseled corn and muffled knell
Where tumbled summer days collide
On a hazy, crazy ride

A blanket folds across the sky
To pull a lid over July
Shafts of dusk and muted day
Brush the swaths of fresh-mown hay

The silver trilling of the eve
Stirs my soul, willing to grieve
The dissonance of summer’s sigh
In the fading of July

Janet~

Charade...

Someday…
I will shake your hand
And introduce myself

I will let you see
A little of
The other side of me

And hope you understand
When I invite you to meet
My family

And I will tell you just a bit
Of what I love
And where I’m from

I may even ask your name
And 'have you
Lived here long?'

I’ll pretend that I don’t know
The sorrows of your life
…or your desire

And you will be
So kindly polite
As you inquire

About my life
And you’ll pretend
You never knew...

...then I’ll reply
Playing the part of
‘Stranger’ too



J~

Ten

There you were…
All arms and legs and giggles
And fanciful

There you were…
Looking at the world
Through the eyes of beautiful

There you were…
Weaving a trail
Of sunshine on this rainy day

There you were…
Bare-feet… and pony-tail
In wild disarray

There you were…
Sweeter than the top
Of a blueberry muffin

There you were…
Sun-dress, flip-flops
Aren’t you somethin’?

There you were…
The most precious creature
In the whole, wild world

You are ten
And you’re so beautiful
…little girl

Janet!

Victoria had a friend sleep over last night…
They just padded through the kitchen…
…two leggy little squirts
of sunshine, giggles…and just awake hair:)

Thank-you, God.

When I See You #2

When I see you
Walking toward me
With your familiar stride

When I see the life-lines
On your face
Reality jolts inside

When I see the pensive gaze
Stare beyond me
To relinquished dreams

When I see your fingers
Softly graze
Time’s unrelenting streams

When I see you ponder
Your life
And the course thereof

…I can’t help but wonder
Are you happy?
And in love…


J~

Thoughts...

The spirit wilts beneath criticism…
Like flowers in the blazing sun

Love cannot thrive under cynicism
Words are not quickly undone...

Silence is stunning grief
…after the onslaught of wrath

…yet often there is no relief
In its sorrowful after-math

There are only two kinds of tears...
Yours and mine

Though the song of summer and years
Sounds like crying sometimes...

We return…each to our own gardens
Like the bird to its nest

It is not hard to imagine
You…with your head on my chest

Like a raindrop creasing a puddle
A splash; it disappears

…so it is with moments
And laughter…and years

J~

No Return...

They come…they pass
To deck the grass
Where once fore-fathers bled
A breath, a sigh
A tear-dimmed eye
A bowing of the head

A little toil
Handful of spoil
A little joy and strife
Before we face
The God of grace
And the measure of our life

No return
We cannot burn
A moment or a day
But we can cope
With one true Hope
That never fades away

How swift they pass
Our days as grass…
Soon lie in fields to burn
The path we tread
Leads not to the dead
But to a place of no return…

Janet~

When I See You

When I see You push the tresses
Of the deepened night awry
When the timid light caresses
The low border of the sky
When the sea of dazzling starlight
Fades into the azure blue
Oh, my Lord, I am reminded
There is none like You

When I see the gleaming wheat fields
Where the dormant sod had been
And I see the fruit that earth yields
From the orchard, bent and green
When I see the bud awaken
By the nudging of the sun
My faith in You remains unshaken
Oh Lord,like You there's none

Season folding over season
Tears and laughter deck this sod
And I cannot find one reason
To deserve the love of God
Though life’s disappointment tests me
Though the drought may parch the land
Still I see You, God of mercy
When I cannot understand

When I see the earth surrender
To the seasons You ordain
When I see Your love so tender
Wash away sin’s wretched stain
When I gaze up to the heavens
To its vault of ethereal blue
Then remember…I’m forgiven
I cry, Lord, there’s none like You

Janet~

Night Song...

Late night stillness, sing to me
Notes of dew upon thy sigh
Sweep life’s cares out to the sea
In your turquoise lullaby

In the fading of this day
Fold upon thy ruddy breast
Dappled shadows, clouds of gray
Ere we hasten to our rest

Let the fern beside the brook
And the green leaf on the tree
Shade the deep and darkened nook
While we pause and list to thee

Bold, bright flowers bow their heads
Timid blossoms shut their eyes
While the night its glory sheds
In softened, moon-dimmed lullabies

Late night quiet, quell the throes
Of forbidden dreams profound
As the tear of midnight flows
Mingling with the dew-kissed ground

Late night stillness, sing to me
A melody, of star-lit spire
Longing, love and poetry
Throbbing in thy midnight choir

Soothe the weary, aching limb
Kiss the sad and downcast eye
For thine is such a tender hymn
Falling softly from the sky

Late night stillness, sing to me
Songs no words or tongue can form
A drowsy, haunting melody
Angling through a silent storm…

J~

Complexities

It is one thing…
It is a million things…
It is the breaking of a heart
…and its healing
It is ecstasy…
…and agony
It is life's heaviest burden
…and its greatest blessing
It is desire…
…and fulfillment
We live for it…
…and for it we die
To receive it…
…we must give it
It may fill us…
…yet, we can never get enough
So complex...
...yet, astoundingly simple
…we call it…
Love

Janet~

A Prayer...

Thoughts of you, my love, link together
Until they become
An eternal, drawn-out sigh…

Thoughts of you, my love, help me to weather
Life’s smaller storms
Gathering as a tempest in my eye…

Thoughts of you, my love, collect
To sear a gaping hole
Across my heart…

Yet, thoughts of you, my love, form an ocean
In my soul
Drawing us together when we are apart

Thoughts of you, on some days, my love
Are too heavy
For one person to bear…

…so I gather them tenderly, my love
And lift them up
In a prayer…
…a prayer…
A prayer…

J~

Far, Far Away...

I love those I hold, in the comfort of arms
Touch is a priceless grace
I love to feel you against me, kind and warm
As I brush my lips ‘gainst your face
But oh, I have loved you, my darling today…
Powerful, painful and far, far away

I love the love of you next to me
As I touch you with my eyes
And trace every curve of you softly, slowly
But suddenly I realize
I’ve loved you keenly in thought, quiet; gray
When you are not near me but far, far away

…as I out-line your voice and the warmth of your smile
In thought, I caress you there
And I hold you closer for a little while
In the arms of a tear and a prayer
I love to love with the pleasure of touch
But far, far away, oh, I love you so much…

J~

Opportunity

Yesterday’s passion recedes into the mist
Tomorrow’s temptation is not hard to resist
Its failure or fortune lies far, far away
All that we hold in our hands is…today

Why do we fret or dare even to borrow
The care not yet seen in some phantom tomorrow
Why do we pine for past’s down-trodden fray?
While here in our palm lies the gift of today

Opportunity waits, not in vaults of the past
Nor in a day that has not yet been cast
Yet, we need not wait for it to begin…
Opportunity lives in the moment we’re in



Janet~

The Woman

At night
Lying in bed
Cradled in the womb of darkness
She tells herself
‘I am a woman’...
But if someone told her
‘No, you are a girl’
She would believe it…
For a moment
Before her senses
Honed by womanhood
Keenly remind her
In flesh and blood
Of the aching inside
And the relentless tide
Where time’s river flows
Through her heart
Tearing apart
The girl from the woman
And the light of a dream
From her eye…

J~

Never Alone...

Alone
In the still of the morning air
The thought of you
Brushes my heart
In the cadence of a prayer

Alone
But for a lingering thought or two
Touching my soul
Like sun etching a leaf
I out-line the memory of you

Alone
Oh bliss that will never be
It seems the thought
Of you remains
To keep me company…

J~

Straggler...

I left you standing at the end of the street
Told you why you could not come
But in every room it is you that I meet
Somehow you followed me home

I didn’t know I would see you again
Why is it wherever I roam
I seem to hear you laugh in the rain
Oh, somehow you followed me home

…with my morning coffee, when I go to sleep
Tell me where do you come from?
I feel the warmth of your skin on my cheek
Oh, somehow you followed me home

…somehow my heart was not in our good-bye
Somehow you don’t leave me alone
I cannot tell you the when or the why
But somehow you followed me home

J~

Now I Lay Me...

Now I lay me down in the arms of a prayer
Touching a compassionate hand
I place my sorrows into His care
With the things I do not understand

Now I lay me down in the light of His love
No matter where life’s path may go
He never leaves His throne up above
Or loses sight of me here below

Now I lay me down, on a mountain of dirt
And the anguish that living may bring
He whispers softly, oh be not afraid…
…as I sleep in the arms of a King

J~

Misguided...

She wasn't looking for greatness
Greatness is pointless and vain
She was simply looking to recover
Misguided steps in the rain...

She wasn't looking for anything
That she regarded as loss
In the end she realized she was looking
For a bridge she could never cross...

J~

Slow Dance in the Rain

The rain plays its own rhythm of music tonight
Teasing the darkness with fingers of light
Here ‘neath the canopy of teardrops and sighs
I see the simple truth caught in your eyes
Heartache is tearing a sea from the skies

I slip my fingers through the blue of the air
Midnight and memories are a ruthless pair
The kiss of you lingers in its darkened refrain
A sonnet of longing in every strain
Heartache is dancing alone in the rain

Rain-thickened heartbeat and tear-stricken sigh
Loneliness bleeding from heaven’s dark eye
Holding me closer in a dear memory
Of laughter and whispers and you here with me
Heartache is the music of what used to be

J~

In Common...

I’ve noticed we have something in common
I’ve noticed the language of missing you…
…and heart-break is universal
Spoken in one dialect…
Tears.

Deep breath,
Long sigh
The cradling of a thought
The sound of good-by
Are all expressed
By the tear in our eye…

J~

Interminable...

There’s an ache I cannot touch…
Profound, breath-taking
And its nature is such
That I can find no end…
…or beginning

It fills me, surrounds me
In bitter-sweet pleasure
It torments, confounds me
With its interminable measure

It’s an intangible longing
A silent lament
Indistinguishable groaning
A sad discontent

I would feel empty and dead
If it should disappear
Its rush and its dread
Are my comrades, I fear…

A keen sense of loss,
Acceptance, despair
Of what is and what was
Wrapped into a prayer

There’s an ache I cannot touch
Or find the source thereof
Its interminable essence is such
That I think it must be…
Love

J~

Gifts...

You gave to me a tiny fragment
Of your heart and soul
But the pieces that you gave me
Were enough to make me whole

You gave to me the shadow
Of your whisper and your sigh
In it I hear the echo
And the prelude to good-bye

You gave to me the timbre
And the aching of your voice
I try not to remember
But it seems I have no choice

You gave me just enough love
The darkened cloud to lift
How was I to know the truth?
They were your parting gift…

J~

Heart-beats...

There are no insignificant moments…
Each one melding to the next
As drops of vapor forming a sea
…and eternity

There are no insignificant moments
The smile, the sigh, joy and strife
Are the ticks of time
Which form a life

J~

Calm...

Calm, the waking of the day
And the mist below the hill
As the darkness seeps away
Disrobing shadows, dark and still

Calm, the streams of perfumed bloom
Hailing silently the morn
Calm, the pale fluorescent moon
And the field of verdant corn

Calm, the breeze stirring the air
And the limb of frothy green
Calm, the empty footprint where
Yesterday our tear had been

Calm, the light which strode before
The call of duty’s gentle toll
Calm the eye which sees the Lord
And all that yields to His control

Janet~

Calm...that was the word which seemed to best fit the dawn today...

What Would Jesus Do?

Your dark eyes
Took me by surprise
I thought I didn’t have the time
To stop till I heard
You utter the words
Ma’am, could you spare a dime?

The slump of your shoulder
Made you look older
Than, possibly sixteen years
I looked at your face…
I could see the trace
Of forgotten tears

You didn’t ask for much
Not a hug, no touch
Just a second of my time…
A hungry girl
Alone in the world
And all you asked for was a dime…

Janet~

Forgetting...

I keep losing track of the time...
In between moments
Without you...

Why is it that I can remember
Everything...
...you didn't say?

J~

Enough...

What is poetry?
It is the utterance of thoughts
We would never otherwise speak…
It is the whisper of a pen,
A tear on a sheet
It is longing and desire
Folded into word
It is sorrow and fire
A memory stirred
It is ‘I love you’
‘I forgive you’
‘I need you’…
And more…

...It is the waves
Pounding eternally
On a distant shore…
It is the sound
Of a closing door
And foot-steps dying away
In mid-July
Beneath a tearless summer sky
When one more afternoon
Of laughter and love
Would have been
One day closer to…
Almost enough

J~

End of the Pier...

We walked to the end of the pier
Each waiting for the other to speak...

...not even the wind shed a tear
the waves sprawled...listless and weak

We walked to the end of the pier
The silence continues to fall...

...and in the end,oh my dear
the silence has said it all

J~

Successes...

Somehow, oh my darling, at this time of day
You don’t seem to be quite so far away

Dusk throws its shadow across lawn and street
Slowing the scamper of running, bare feet

This is the sultry song of the sky
Wrapping my soul in the blue of July

The wind in the tree-top croons its melody
A rendition of tormented waves on a sea...

You toss your whispers into the still air
I feel your finger-tip almost brush my hair

Your sigh is tender; I seize its caress
Heart-break has rendered a breath-taking success

J~

Another Song...

….but then another song
Rolls in torrents 'cross my mind
As I feel your words surround me
In the moaning of the wind
And I hear your trembling murmur
'What must be will surely be'...
As a song besides the summer
Tears your whisper far from me...



J~

A Ballad of You

The music of life is a wonderful song
Sung by the moments that ease us along
I caught an eighth-note when you looked at me
With eyes as blue as the deep rolling sea
And the lilt in your voice and the warmth in your smile
Is a beautiful ballad in life’s lonesome mile

Sweep me into your arms, oh my dear
There’s a song in the stars, and the morning is near
Here in the timbre of midnight’s dark sky
Trembles a love song as soft as your sigh
Warm as the summer, yet wild as the breeze
Strumming the grasses and tossing the trees

The music of life is a rare melody
Oh, how I love when you sing it with me
A ballad of whispers and wild winds and lips
As fleeting as the moment on our fingertips
Written in sonnets of laughter and tears
A love song of wishes and memories and years

Come, oh my darling, may I have this dance?
I love how you hold me in your dulcet glance
As we move to the music of love’s symphony
The night falls around us in rich harmony
Come oh my darling, what more can I say
It takes more than hurt’s ocean to keep you away

Janet~

All is Well

He wraps me in translucent arms
When life is cruel and crass
And vices of a thousand charms
Have shed their tears of brass

The emerald of a summer hill
The sweep of azure sky
The moon at night when all is still
His tender lullaby

I touch with pure abandon
The blooms along the lane
A perfect hapless garden
Of wild-flowers in the rain

And should the far horizon
Grow dim beneath life’s hurt
I’ll walk earth’s summer garden
And bathe within its dirt

The blur of life's unkinder truths
Fade just a little then
We all must tread upon this earth
The numbered days of men

He wraps me in the tender charms
Of summer’s verdant dell
And cradles me within His arms…
He whispers, all is well

Janet~

Wherever I May Go...

I have a sacred charge to keep
Within this world below
To take the name of Christ my Lord
Wherever I may go

He does not ask for me to prove
My love by some grand show
But just to take the name of God
Wherever I may go

No matter how life’s road may twist
Or where time’s streams may flow
His name is hope and righteousness
Wherever I may go

There is no one who will escape
The One who loves us so
Oh my God, anoint my lips
Wherever I may go

We pass across a temporal stage
With feeble wants and woe
He sustains us every day
Wherever we may go

I have a sacred charge to keep
But oh, what peace to know
That God above is watching me
Wherever I may go...

Janet~

A Greater Hope

This earth in all its wantonness
Its sorrow and decay
And all its weeping brokenness
So soon will pass away

The hope I glean from joyless fields
I find when I look up
And to its Keeper I appeal
To fill my empty cup

The merits gained by this world’s laud
Are trite and quickly fade
Eternal are the Words of God
And His foundation laid

This earth with all its boast and claim
Is but a fickle shell
We hope…but in a higher Name
The God of Heaven…and Hell

Janet

Psalm 16


You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Ps. 16:11

Paradox

There is nothing as weightless as a heart in love
soaring through the air; free as a dove

...and yet I have staggered to carry each part…
there is nothing as heavy as a broken heart

J~

The Unraveling...

The unraveling of him
Will take years...
From her.
A labor of
Love, tears
Sorrow…
The undoing of who she was
To become who she will be…
His memory.
How does one tear threads
from a heart?
Or unravel a sigh…
woven through her inner-most part
Can one unravel the sky
or oceans traversed?
Is healing a rehearsed
Pretending
Or a forced ending?
Can one unravel the color blue…
…or a lifetime of yesterdays
…and you…?
Too many moments…
Too many tears
Too many memories...
It will take years…
…from her…

J~

Inspired by The Sea Captain’s Wife…(Beth Powning)...

I Remember...

The night dips low in a forlorn tune
Her robe is heavy, dimming the moon
Her sigh so faint it is barely heard
Inaudible sonnet; unwritten word…
But I remember…

The darkened hue of her sultry eye
Deepens the blue of the brook moving by
Gone is the frolicking laughter of May
Smooth and silent, it slips away…
And I remember…

The air is heavy with rose and musk
Pushing awry the dew-laden dusk
The hush of midnight sprawls on the air
A hymn of longing, love and despair
Because I remember…

J~

The Power of Love

It is impossible to...

Love through revenge,

Let go through bitterness,

Forgive through hatred


Love teaches us how to live!

Love brings peace.

It teaches us how to let go...

...and helps us forgive.

J~

Limits

There are things I would beg for unashamedly...
food,
forgiveness,
understanding,
even for 'stuff',
I suppose...
...but never love

J~

The Best for Me

Sometimes the very best for me
Feels more like it’s the worst
Yet, if life’s blessing I would see
I must bear its hurt

Sometimes the very best for me
Is hard to understand
And only God above can see
The blessing He has planned

Sometimes the very best for me
Will make me groan and ache
Because the very best for me
Was taught through my mistake

Most times the very best for me
I will never see
Because I really cannot know
What is the best for me

Janet~

Answers

I prayed for understanding,
For patience in life’s care
Sometimes it takes a little while
To see an answered prayer

His answer comes in moments
I don’t always recognize
In tender little blessings
And answers in disguise

Janet~

About a Mother

She harbors the ache, the joy, the pride
That only a mother can know
She weeps her tears, mostly on the inside
As she watches her children grow

Briefly she holds them before they are born
Briefly she rocks them to sleep
Briefly, so briefly each little one
Is rendered to her keep

Oh, what a tender garden
Is the heart of a little child
Knowing and unknowingly she plants countless seeds
Within its eager soil

She wonders if there is any way
To show the depth of her care
As she stops to put their things away
Or touch their sun-kissed hair

She loves them like no other
Yet, there is no trial run
When it comes to being a mother
And to learn how it should be done

Life is a very wise teacher
As mother and children learn
And God is a patient Father
Offering His love in return

She harbors the crux of longing and love
Deep within her breast
As she thanks her Father up above
For giving her life’s best

Janet~

Lies

I cannot choose truth
or invent my own 'brand'
Truth is unalterable
And plain to understand...

If we invent our own version
It is to our demise
Truth's aversion
Is nothing but lies...

Janet~

Emotions

Life is a journey
Its emotions are real
And it is not wrong
For us to feel
…high or low,
Happy, sad
Triumph, failure
Good or bad
Laughter, tears
Pleasure, pain
Peace or fear
Sun or rain
Joy or sorrow
Hope, despair
But it is wrong
If we choose to bear
All of these
Without God
…or prayer

Janet~

Lost....

Somewhere, in the quest of finding

Herself

she lost who she was

and does not recognize who she has become...

Performance

So…
You prefer the stilted lines of perfection then?
Let’s remove the truth and just pretend…
We’ll sip our tea, discuss trivialities…and men
Another afternoon with a fair-weather friend

J~

Farewell Dance

One more time
Across the floor
And I won’t ask
You anymore

I won’t beg you
To hold me close
Or ask you what
You’ll miss the most

And I won’t hold
You far too long
Please, don’t go
This is our song

One more time
Nice and slow
Rhythm and rhyme
Oh, here we go

And I won’t think of
Yesterday
Or the dance
We threw away

One more time
Across the floor
Then maybe I
Won’t hurt anymore…

J~

Mentally Prepared

Why do you come to me only to leave?
You flash your blue eyes; I fall at your feet
You offer your hand and I say lead me on
Why do you come to me just to be gone?

Why do you tease me with breath soft and warm?
Why do you whisper as I lean on your arm?
You know I am weak and I cannot resist
The bronze on your cheek as I yield to your kiss

Why do you torment me for one afternoon?
Why do you wait so long then leave far too soon?
In spite of my efforts I cannot dissuade
The course of your travels and the plans you have made

Why do I fall in love with you every year?
Why, as you’re turning, must I shed a tear?
Almost you make me forget why I grieve…
…Summer, you come to me only to leave

Janet~

No Weeds

Some folk seem to segregate
By color, race and creed
And if we were flowers in a garden
They would dare to call them weeds
Because they do not fit the scope
Their narrow eye beholds
Never mind that God’s true hope
Is for the young and old…
…the rich and poor
The black and white
And all shades in between
We are precious in His sight
And no one is a weed
Some folk seem to think that status
Makes one more or less
And maybe even paves the way
To things like happiness
Some folk seem to think perhaps
They are above another
And would not dream to call everyone
Their sister or their brother
But God’s earth is over-flowing
With hope and love and need
And in His precious garden
Nobody is a weed…

Janet~

Emily picked these 'weeds' on her walk last night.

My Advice to You

Wishing and wanting
Won’t change anything
So open your heart
Pick a song and sing

Deception and lies
Hold a deadly sting
Forgive, close your eyes
Pick a song and sing

Longing and love
Paint ‘most everything
Hope whispers above
Pick a song and sing

The beat of life’s drum
Keeps us marching
Better days will come
Pick a song and sing

Music is ointment
Soothing life’s sting
So take a moment
Pick a song…AND SING!

Janet~

New Day Now

It’s a new day now
Darkness is pushed from the edge of the sky
Rivers flow
Tinted from above with dawn’s bright eye
And hope
Fields, dark by night now stretch beyond
My gaze,in a sweeping golden pond
A haze, of mid-July thickens the air
I brush you from my eye, breathe a prayer
It’s a new day now…

It’s a new day now
The moon, a translucent wafer on a bed
Of softer blue
Recedes into vastness of infinity
With you
As duty raises her faithful head
She spreads her palm; lest I forget
And forge calm, greener paths somewhere
I cover you, sweet mine, with a prayer
It’s a new day now

It’s a new day now
Its splendor rivals for the beauty of night
In dawn sublime
But day is a constant reminder of life
And the march of time
Though I do not hold it against her much
There is something about night, day will never touch
For light dissolves the moody spell
Of night and you; all is well
It’s a new day now

Janet~

God is Love

God is Love

To love is to touch God…

One cannot love

And say, there is no God

For God is love

Without Him, there could be no love

His love formed the earth,

It holds stars in place

And directs the universe

Love puts smiles on our faces

His love comes in babies

Wisdom and forgiveness

God is love

All good things are from Him

Evil is the result of sin

The Fall of man in Eden

But we will be made perfect again

Someday, in Heaven

And only then, to those who believe in Him

Will the true glory of His love

Be revealed

God is love

To love is to touch Him

The power of love is undeniable proof

Of God

Janet~

Lovely Blue

There’s nothing quite as lovely as the midnight coming down
In a flow of silver moon-light and the sigh of trees, wind-blown
The hush of broadened shadows blows life’s sorrows far away
And I am all alone with you; six hours before day

There’s nothing quite as silent as the night at one a.m.
The breeze has died; the moon has paled in heaven’s diadem
I can feel the warmth of you, the roughness of your cheek
When I am all alone with you we do not need to speak

There’s nothing quite as beautiful as the rare shade of blue
Encompassing a muted earth of dark and dust and dew
Five hours until daylight; what is a girl to do?
Five hours until morning and a lifetime without you…

J~

I finished this one first saying
*‘five hours until morning and a lifetime loving you…’
But it really needed the ‘ouch’ factor…
Those who prefer no ‘ouch’ may use *

Nothing

It is nothing now...
Emptiness fills the space
once full of you
and there is nothing left to touch...
Funny…
I didn't know nothing
could hurt so much.....

J~

Mistaken Again

Did you presume my solemn gaze
To be a sign of sadness?
And did you then presume my days
Were long and void of gladness?
And did you see my tear-dimmed eye?
And did you call it sorrow?
Or did you hear my drawn-out sigh
And pity me tomorrow
Or did my trembling lips appear
To be caused by my grieving
Because you thought you saw a tear
And seeing is believing
I hate to seem too calloused then
Or sound cold and unshaken
But I suggest you look again
For I say you're mistaken

J~

Thief of Hearts

I cannot draw you closer
Through the longing in my sighs
I cannot see you better
Though the tears have washed my eyes
I reach with aching fingertips
But cannot touch your cheek
Or feel the whisper of your lips
Against me as you speak

Missing you must be, I fear
The very heart of me
In everything you gave, my dear
You took much more, you see
As you gave me your smiles and sighs
My heart became undone
You stole,I did not realize
The pieces one by one

You stole, as I gave willingly
Each piece for you to break
Until the very heart of me
Had nothing left to take
I want me back so I can feel
Life's bitter-sweetest pain
And darling, I would let you steal
Me, piece by piece again...

J~

Don't worry L~.
You wondered if I am enjoying
this full moon night...???

Very much!
So much in fact, that I simply HAD to write...
...anything disgustingly sad!
I am okay, really:)

Pondering Oceans

Did it move you? Did you feel like flying?
High as the clouds in an ocean of blue
Did it hurt? Did you feel like dying?
Yes, I know, I feel that way too
Love is a tangle of me and you…

Did it ache? The quiet needing
Deep as the night and wide as the sea
Did it stop? The silent bleeding
Of broken remnants of what used to be?
Love is an ocean around you and me

J~

Surprises

I thought I knew you
Oh, but then
You find a new way
To touch me again

I thought I knew you
…could predict your next move
But you never can tell
With heartache or love

I thought I knew you
I hear a star fall
Turns out I never
Knew you at all…

J~

Glimpses...

I caught a glimpse of her today
A ten-year-old bundle of laughter and play
Across the grass with a flying leap
Resting a moment where the willows weep
Blonde hair streaming and blue eyes gleaming
Inhaling the freedom of summer and dreaming
I gazed….perhaps wistfully with a hint of a smile
For I saw her today for a little while

I saw her today, timid, sixteen
Her eyes far away in the midst of a dream
So lovely and tender, unmarred by life’s churning
Her heart awakening to a girl’s deeper yearning
Tomorrow’s woman waits on the brink
As I beheld her I paused to think
And I reached out to touch her but she moved away
Yes, I caught a glimpse of her today

She passed by but life was calling
No time to sigh with idle recalling
A flick of her hand as she went out the door
Nineteen, is not a child anymore
I followed and longed to draw her back
Yet in the same moment I knew I would lack
What she now needs, so I let her go
But I saw her today for a moment or so

I saw her today for a little while
I don’t know whether to weep or to smile
It’s a mixture of sorrow and happiness
So I’ll do a little of both, I guess
For every so often, every now and then
I catch a glimpse of her again
The girl of yester-years, -no other
But I fight back the tears for I am….their Mother

Janet~

Reasons #2

I love you
But not with words
I love you
In the tender thought that is stirred
By what we share
I love you
In a quiet prayer
Or the song drifting on
The cool night air
I love you
With every beat of my heart
When our eyes cannot touch
Because we are too
Far apart
And I love you
With the little sigh
The trembling memory
The tear in my eye
I love you
I'm not sure why...
Maybe
Because we will never
Say good-bye….
J~

Release

I would have kept your words
But they were not mine to keep
Yet, I cannot tear them from my heart
Or silence them with sleep

Words leave no marks upon the air
Invisible, they seem
But words can pour in torrents where
The silence of thought streams

I would have kept your words
Yet, I cannot set them free
Life is formed by what is heard
As much as by what we see….

J~

Remembering...

There is so much of you I wish you’d show me
But you prefer to do things your own way
And oh, I wish that you would choose to tell me
The words that I cannot force you to say

I remember when you had no secrets from me
And I could almost know just what you’d say
But time is taking you a little farther
Down a road that’s paved with yesterdays

And I won’t hold you back, dear daughter
I remember walking down the self-same road
And never thinking that perhaps a mother
Stood somewhere with tears and watched me go

Janet~