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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Of the Wonder of Words





Words; such quaint and curious things
Like ink-shaped puppets on a string
They draw from us life’s darling sighs
Or fill the dark in curs-ed cries
Painting mind-pictures in the air
They form our worry and our prayer
The wander-lust of wonder stirred
And spilled in ink-jots shaping word

Word; the poet’s rebel-lure
The sermon wee lad must endure
The good, the bad, the bitter-sweet
In endless possibility
A palette of infinite vaunt
They hurt and heal, they soothe and taunt
The mien of thought spoken and heard
Empowered by this thing called word

Foolish and wise access alike
The freedom to this verbal might
And in the syllables we choose
We will reveal thought’s hidden hues
We ought to ponder carefully
Which ones to keep or to set free
For they fall fast and undeterred
In dynamite drops formed in words

Word; language of lip or pen
To inspire, teach or mislead men
Therefore we must give earnest heed
To what we read, think, write thence read
For in this little ink-swirl jot
Lies both the bud and bloom of thought
A seed of potent power incurred
In architecture of a word

© Janet Martin

 "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."
- Luke 6:45

 "I like good strong words that mean something."
- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

 "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."
- Thomas Jefferson

 Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your habits
Watch your habits, they become your character
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny."
- Anonymous

 "A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day."
- Emily Dickinson ("A Word is Dead")

 "Words may show a man's wit, but actions his meaning."
- Benjamin Franklin

Of Snowflakes and Grace





It is assuredly so
In shades of virgin snow
Our scarlet robes of sin are cleansed
In love’s redeeming flow

Ah grace, how can this be?
That One should so love me
The Son of God, by His own blood
Washes our sin-stains clean

It is most surely so
Thus, by His grace I go
Our ruddy guilt by Lamb’s blood spilt
Is washed as white as snow

© Janet Martin

The stark and pleading landscape is covered in a blanket of spotless snow...

That's what God's promise is for us... "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Snow-song





Rollicking, frolicking, feathery fray
Blanketing evergreen, umber and gray
Embellishing fences and skeletal limb
Swirling and whirling celestial hymn

Cotton-soft canticle, mute melody
Tumbling from chambers of infinity
Spiraling splendor decking land and lake
God’s wonder captured in every flake

Dizzying dazzling, soundless madrigal
Heaven’s extravagance sweeping hill and dell
Choir of cherubs tumbling to the earth
Calling to children in merry-white mirth

Dauntless, dancing choristers spilling their glee
Flinging their anthems, footloose, fancy-free
Rollicking, frolicking, feathery lay
This is the song of a winter snow-day

© Janet Martin

Yes, its a snow-day, no school.


From two days of almost non-stop rain melting any snow that had accumulated to
winter making up for lost time...




On Diligence




In this era of instant gratification
And presumed recompense
We seem to discredit
Humble diligence

Its pay-off is patient
Its battle is long
Yet, in its commitment
The weak become strong

We ought not to grow weary
In doing our best
For only the diligent
Truly pass life’s test

© Janet Martin

The lesson I taught to Grades 5&6 this past Sunday in Sunday School was on diligence. It spoke to me on so many levels.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Transient Lament





…then, let the dark fret in icy lament
And rage against the far side of the glass
These minstrels pelting frigid limb and grass
Are merely nature’s restless discontent
And like the wantonness of winter-thought
They too shall pass; a twinkle in the eye
Soon we will laugh beneath warm summer sky
Or bask in oceans of for-get-me-not

It is not far to winter’s other side
Moments melt heedless, one into the next
A year veiled in soft half-breath pretext
Slips easily into Time’s thrumming tide
And all the gleaming, potent fantasies
Of better days to come that we desire
While sitting snug beside the flickering fire
Will soon be wafting in the purple autumn breeze

Janet~



Flower-Power


 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Matthew 6:28-30





He who denies
God and His awesome power
Has never fully beheld
The heart of a flower

Pink, gold or purple
Magenta or white
All are precious
In His sight

He who desires
To see God's wondrous power
Needs simply to ponder
The art of a flower

Janet ~

Thank-you Megan, for bringing color into a very bleary, dreary gray day:)

Thank-you Nantucket Daffodil for a splash of spring-dreaming! Love that galvanized planter.

Thank-you Kateri, for sharing your beautiful blooms~























Word-flux



 

Sometimes
Words are enough
To convince
Me of
This wonder
Called
Love

Sometimes
Words slaughter
And steal
Love’s assurance
Where only words
Can
Heal 

Darling,
Let's paint a picture
Of oceans stirred
Where we capture
Perfection
Without a
Word

Janet~

Wonder-song





You fill the sea with its fortune
You interlace rock hills with gold
And into the arms of a woman-child
You placed your own Son to hold
You teach the sparrow and swallow
You nudge the bud on the limb
And You grace the harvested fallow
With whispers of day growing dim

God, you hold the stars in the heavens
Reaching fathoms beyond our scope
And you give us innocent children
To fill mundane moments with hope
You shape the fall of a raindrop
You paint the sky on the sea
But the most wonderful wonder of all, my God
Is the wonder that You love me

You point the sun through vast eons
You guide the bird to its nest
You pluck the storm from the ocean
And color the dusk in the west
You give us knowledge and wisdom
And the mortal freedom to choose
The immortal Key to your kingdom
Or the darkness of evil’s dues

God, You father nature’s deliverance
You fill the womb of the earth
God, in love’s tender benevolence
You offer redemption’s re-birth
You bind the chains of the Pleiades
You hear our most feeble call
And God, to know that You love us so
Is the most wonderful wonder of all

Father of Orion’s army
Father of each living thing
Surely Your goodness and mercy
Stirs our longing to sing
Father of boundless compassion
Father of infinity
The micro-drop of the ocean
Is but the beginning of Thee

God of eternal dominion
Perfect and righteous and just
Tipping the jars of the heavens
To nurture this vulnerable dust
Who God, but You can inspire
The bleak, barren furrow and field
Who God, but You can require
The first-fruits of Love’s gracious yield

Who God, but You, is eternal?
Who can boast anything now?
But only what we are able
Because of what You allow
Who can release trembling thunder?
Or explain Love’s mystery
And who can exceed this most wonderful wonder
That this God loves you and me?

© Janet Martin

This song was spawned by the plop of a rain-drop, and like its circle, spread...



Conception of Misconception...





Poetic Bloomings invites us to try the the memento form  today.

In lack of honest, uttered word
Or the ineptness of
Their mien
In truths too seldom breathed or heard
Lost somewhere in self-love
Between

…the moment when I should have said
Those words that I chose not
To say
Before assumptions in your head
Consume your misled thought
Today

© Janet Martin


Of Destinies in the Rain

Tucking Into Bed



The darkness is cloaked in a mantle of rain
Out on the streets in sluggish duress
Late night stragglers suffer its cheerless caress
Pushing through its staccato refrain
Just to make it home in time to peek
At babies snuggled warmly in their cots
And soon the rain begins to soothe their thoughts
Running teardrop kisses down their cheeks
Washing away the ragged robe of cares
For surely there can be no greater joy
Than to behold the soundly-slumbering girl or boy
And to enfold them in our goodnight prayers

© Janet Martin

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Meeting-place

 

He meets us
Not where we ought to be
Or in visions
Faint and far
But when we ask
Then God meets us
Exactly
Where
We
Are

He does not meet us
If and when
We earn
A silver star
But if we call
He meets us then
Exactly
As 
We 
Are
 

© Janet Martin

The Known in our Unknowns





Dear Father, I must place my hand in Thine
For oh, You know I do not know the way
A new day breathes on the horizon-line
And what a-waits, God, only You can say
The unknown like a mighty, rolling sea
On which the sailor and his ship must sail
Conceals within its depths life’s mystery
Our vessels without You, oh God are frail
But if You place Your hand beneath the tide

Dear Father, keep us in Your constant care
Mortality cannot dissuade the course
Within life’s storm; it’s cold and bitter force
Would surely toss us to merciless deeps
Where we would sink beneath fear’s murky wave
But with You, God, we trust the One who keeps
His uttered word; God, You alone can save
We press ahead into the misted tress

Dear Father, Captain of our battered bark
And shed Your Light across life’s little surge
The reward of love’s humble diligence
So Father, take our hands and lead us thence
Knowing in You our want is satisfied
And though the unknown trembles in the air

© Janet Martin

For J&R K. Please continue to pray for the family which I constantly plead prayer for...they have sent us a letter today confirming their deepest fears and need our prayers more than ever before as they face drastic and sudden unknowns. I do not have the permission or freedom, due to their safety to tell the details of their story, but they are packing as we speak and trusting God to lead.
Here are a few of their specific prayer requests;
You can be praying for:
- saying goodbyes, there are many dear ones whom we will terribly miss and we can only pray that God will meet them wherever they are in their journey with Him
- for the details of packing up 4 years of life here, what to keep, sell, give away etc.
- for our aching hearts, it is hard to say goodbye to a place that we have come to dearly love


And they close with this verse:
 

When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.
Proverbs 10:25





Monday, January 28, 2013

Intimacy of Ink



 

With you
The intimate
Possibility
And desire
Of what may transpire
Keeps me returning
Again,
Again
For the burning yearning
Of its hidden fire
Spawns intricate fantasy
An unrestrained intimacy
In obscure romances
And beautiful dances
Flowing enchantingly
A perpetual ecstasy
In the bittersweet
Melody
Of 
The Pen
and The Poetry

© Janet~

Winter Wandering of Feet and Mind





Across the frozen field of brittle plume
Raw, ragged mumbles grumble, tumble cold
They wander through earth’s barren living-room
Like wastrels searching for their squandered gold
Bronze shroud of milkweed shivers, robbed of silk
Flung fecklessly in autumn wantonness  
Now sunlight, pale as sallow honeyed milk
Spills impotently on winter’s duress
While we, trespassers on its powdered hush
Caught in the vortex of longing and love
Pause on the fringe of muted underbrush
To drink the echoes trickling from above
Of green leaf sigh and murmured melodies
Borne in the bantering of summer’s breeze

***

The fallow, in its brief sabbatical
Inspires farmers; his anxieties  
Don eager dreams; his passion virginal
Despite its annual perplexities
And as the wind sashays and pirouettes
Across the still and stricken country-side
Where furrows sleep beneath the silhouettes
Of evergreen against the eventide
And as the farmer nods beside the hearth
Of flick’ring flame while blizzards deck the fir
Somewhere within his chest as in the earth
The nucleus of spring begins to stir
Beneath life’s disappointment and its doubt
Tender belief and hope begins to sprout

***

The woodland does not cast judgment on us
Or render its assumptions as full proof
Of our ineptness; here kind moments pause
As we bow beneath limb and snow-scrim roof
To worship without barriers of time
Or the distraction of man’s shallow ploy
Woodlot cathedral, sacred and sublime
We praise its Maker with unguarded joy
The hour of strife’s turmoil will subside
We battle its forces beneath, above
Though gods of self are never satisfied
Our One True God simply desires our love
Here on the palm of argent hinterland
I hear Him whisper in the winter-land

© Janet Martin

Yesterday's wide open afternoon was the perfect canvas for thinking and skiing as far and fast or slow as the heart desired:) It seemed like even the wind was taking a sabbatical; all was calm and still...the calm before freezing-rain-storm.





Ice Tears





She weeps,
Weighting the plush hush of winter’s girth
In silvery grief against the earth
Ice tears from Mother Nature’s eye
Ellipses dripping from the sky
Where we would fling our poetry
But for the gray melancholy
As glassy shard emotion rends
A sea of white indifference

© Janet Martin

...a light freezing rain is coating everything in a brittle glaze. The field is full of ice-flowers.

 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Behold...





Behold, the orb of burnished gold
Heralding a new day
Behold, the earth bathed in pure garb
Of sin-stains washed away

Behold, the chains of night are gone
And He makes all things new
Behold the trembling of the dawn
Gilding earth’s avenue

Behold the glory of the Lord
Rending dark ether veil
For He has promised in His word
His mercy will not fail

Behold, His day of joy a-waits
Behold His patient love
Gleams from the the port of heaven’s gates
To man from God above

Behold the testament of hope
Streaming from unbarred lea
Behold, His grace bathing earth's slope
In virgin purity

Behold, behold, the glorious Light
Behold, behold the One
He draws the dawn across the night
Behold, behold the Son
© Janet Martin

  

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Country-girl Request




Thoughts while hiking through fields last week, where one can sing at the top of one's voice and only God, the wood-creatures and the wind can hear:) I drew on the memory of some summer-walks as well, for this poem

Oh, do not take me from this wonderland
Of azure dome and rippling stream of sedge
Of bloom and bee-song dripping from the hedge
Where God alone nurtures its unchained strand

Oh, do not take me from this throbbing stage
Where night-wind croons a winsome lullaby
Or murmurs a reverent soliloquy
As cricket-cadence ripples from brush-sage

Oh, let me dream on earth’s four-season swell
Dancing with zephyrs drifting from the south
Welcoming winter’s sunbeam in my mouth
Laughing in arms of hinterland and dell

Oh, let me worship the Creator God
Not from cold altars of concrete and steel
But here in humble gladness let me kneel
Upon a plot of wide open-space sod

© Janet Martin

Every so often Jim (hubby) says he would be ready to move into a nearby town. He knows that I am not! (and he's not really, he admits, but likes to see what kind of a reaction he might provoke.:)




When All is Said and Done



 

 When all is said and done...

When all is said an’ done, my luve
And we come near this journey’s end
When we have little left to prove
In clamoring for boasts of men
Will we, when all is said and tried
As twilight edges to the deep
Will we, my luve, be satisified
When we submit to that last sleep?

When all is said and done, my luve
And we are nothing but their tears
As petals whither on a grave
And bygones echo in their ears
Oh, will it be a kind caress
The cadence of that silent song
As tenderly they reminisce
My luve, when all is said an’ done?

When all is said and done, my luve
And swallows skim the vernal crest
Where thence we’ll rest; then tender youth
Will rise to greet life’s luring quest
Shod with the immortality
That slips away beneath the sun
As they advance toward the lea
My luve, when all is said and done

© Janet Martin

I am at a stage in life where my ears are filled with grand hopes and dreams of my own children and their friends as they ‘plan’. Yesterday I chuckled quietly as I listened to their well-laid ‘dreams’. Life, the great Teacher patiently and subtly plies her touch.

I felt like adding a teeny 'Burns' flavor to the poem this morning in memory of him. He was born on Jan. 25. 1759. In my mind there is no other poet quite like Robert Burns.



From my book- Songs from Robert Burns here is a fav...


Now Westlin Winds
(Robert Burns)

Now westlin winds, and slaught'ring guns
Bring August's pleasant weather;
The moorcock springs, on whirring wings,
Amang the blooming heather;
Now waving grain, wide o'er the plain,
Delights the weary Farmer;
The moon shines bright, as I rove at night,
To muse upon my Charmer.

The Pairtrick lo'es the fruitfu' fells;
The Plover lo'es the mountains;
The woodcock haunts the lanely dells;
The soaring Hern the fountains:
Thro' lofty groves, the Cushat roves,
The path o'man to shun it;
The hazel bush o'erhangs the Thrush,
The spreading thorn the Linnet.

Thus ev'ry kind their pleasure find,
The savage and the tender;
Some social join, and leagues combine;
Some solitary wander:
Avaunt, away! the cruel sway,
Tyrannic man's dominion;
The Sportsman's joy, the murd'ring cry,
The flutt'ring, gorg pinion!

But Peggy dear, the ev'ning's clear,
Thick flies the skimming Swallow;
The sky is blue, the fields in view,
All fading-green and yellow:
Come let us stray our gladsome way,
And view the charms o' Nature:
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn
And ilka happy creature.

We'll gently walk, and sweetly talk,
While the silent moon shines clearly;
I'll clasp thy waist, and fondly prest,
Swear how I lo'e thee dearly:
Not vernal show'rs to budding flow'rs,
Not Autumn to the Farmer,
So dear can be, as thou to me,
My fair, my lovely Charmer!
 
 
 
 

Friday, January 25, 2013

Moonlight Madness





…and sometimes when the night is still
When doubt has pushed against my will
Drenching my spirit with winds ill
Until I fain would curse the quill
I hear you whisper quietly
And somewhere deep inside of me
I’m bolstered by an aching need
For oh, a poet I must be

…and sometimes when the full-moon smiles
Expanding Time’s insistent miles
And when the vaunt of thought beguiles
Spawning keen creature wants awhile
I wrestle with conflicting bliss
The agony of almost kissed
Where perfect words slip to the mist
Invisible and taunting twist

…and sometimes when the night is still
I slip your whisper to my quill
Tracing your tear against my will
While the moon sinks beneath the hill
Before I lay me down to sleep
Or stars fade to the azure deep
I laugh, I pray, I moan, I weep
A poet has a charge to keep

© Janet~

Sonnet of Time's Surging Sea...



Borne from an ether realm, tumultuous tide
Rippling and raging, half-breath ecstasy
Rushing, receding, dark and light collide
Where heaven reaches to embrace the sea
Darling, youth’s kiss fades cold upon the cheek
And where we danced barefoot upon its shore
The breakers crash; cold, foaming crest is bleak
Where summer’s silver sparkle soothed its roar
Yet, as its heaving, shifting billows roll
Hope buoys love’s deep longing in the soul

Subtle, the potent power of this surge
Rankling within the vessel of the heart
My dear, within your arms I sense the urge
Of change tuning the ethereal rampart
And all the darling moments we caress
Like waves, spilling across the sun-warmed beach
Cannot be captured, soon the emptiness
Of echoes fills our frantic, futile reach
Yet, like a pearl within the oysters shell
Time will reveal its treasure; all is well

Impressionistic skylines taunt and lure
We cannot touch its elusive plateau
Nor can our straining, groping grasp secure
Life’s rising, falling arrant ebb and flow
Darling, we tremble in the moment-splurge
Of salty tear startling love’s ling’ring kiss
Upon Time’s lilting lay a mournful dirge
Hovers beyond Spring’s brief, burgeoning bliss
Yet in the subtle surge from mystic deep
We find in its debris, treasures to keep

© Janet Martin

The combination of old music, memories and photos filled me with the sense of standing on last summer’s beach, battered by the surge of invisible waves.

J~



Thursday, January 24, 2013

Life's Simple Things



I ask not for wealth
Or the riches of kings
But for a heart that treasures
Life’s simple things

I pray for contentment
In what each hour brings
And for the pure pleasure
Of life’s simple things

True happiness dwells
In bejeweled offerings
Of sweet moment-measure
In life’s simple things

© Janet Martin

Thursday Thoughts on the Transpiring and Expiring of Moments



 

To dredge the past in search of its measure
Is but to forfeit this moment-treasure

***
To pine for the wine in tomorrow’s vine
Is to waste the taste of this moment’s haste

***
Darling, the amazement and astonishment
Which grand architecture induces
Fills me with wild wonder and delight…
Yet, its wonderful wonderment
Pales in weak excuses
Against your heartbeat in the still of the night

***
Intangible trickle
Vast vaporous sea
Time is a twinkle
In eternity

***
Taste the moment on your lip
Oh, and do not let it slip
Into the blue, transpired in vain
For it will not return again

***

What is our calling
Brother to brother?
Why, it is but this
To love one another

***

Sometimes thought’s echo sparks within me
A longing for hours that used to be
But then I remember,
Today’s moment-splendor
Is shaping tomorrow’s memory

***

A sigh, a gasp
Is but the cast
Of moments melting
In the past
Take heed, my love
At what they teach
For soon they slip
Beyond our reach

***

Hold my hand, darling
Love is lonely alone
Each day is a pitfall
Or a stepping-stone

***
Life is a lover
The bliss of its kiss
Is rendered in caresses
Not of what was, but what is

***

Take a moment
To taste the moment
Dissolved
In a moment

***

When you hold me like this
Sweet moment-glance
I’m filled with the urge
To sing and dance
Because ours is such
A tempestuous romance
You offer, but once
Each moment-chance



© Janet Martin