This Is It

This is not it:

The grief and grit

And love and laughing

Rise and fall

Of hold-release

Of war and peace

Of time’s four-season

Madrigal

This is not it

This is not it;

This breathing bit

Of bumping-bruising

Bittersweet

Of bud to bloom

Before the plume

Spills in still slumber

At our feet

This is not it

This is not it:

The bleeding whit

Of 'why'; this rising-

Setting sun

That lights then dims

A fight that brims

With life and death

Barely begun

This is not it

This is not it:

Lie, stand and sit

Morning-to-night

Again, again

Triumph to loss

Time’s albatross

That teaches us

Pleasure and pain

This is not it

This is not it

This fleeting fit

Of giving-taking

Is a door

Not back to earth

But to the birth

Of unfathomed

Forevermore

This. is. it

© Janet Martin

 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 2 Peter 3:14

When my son asked me what I thought of a movie I saw on the week-end (American Sniper) I told him that what I saw was a whole lot of souls transported instantly to meet Jesus, and Jesus doesn't take sides; He loves everyone equally. I told him that I realized a-fresh what an awful thing war is, and what an awful cost, freedom.