Thursday, April 30, 2015

Sunset After Showers






We wander where the fresh-washed world
Is softly being laid to rest
Beneath a velvet sky unfurled
In purple-pearl and coral vest

It is not hard to be content
As rush relents to solitude
Beneath the dimming firmament
Where common creature is subdued

The Hand that holds us unfolds gold
Then pours it on the skyline where
All that we can do is Behold
And marvel at dusk’s painted air

Here on the shore twixt light and dark
Of what was, touching what must be
Time seems a sort of bobbing bark
And we, small sailors on its sea

© Janet Martin




Cheery, Deary Daffodil



 They are beginning to bloom at last. 
I've been keeping my eye on a fence-line where someone planted these beaming beauties for no other reason but for others to enjoy! And we do. 
Thank-you, thoughtful gardener:)

Cheery, deary daffodil
Splashing laughter to the rill
Let your gleaming cauldron spill
Where we waited long
Through the bold and bitter cold
Through snow-white on buried gold
Through the blue of getting old
For your beaming throng

Sunny, honey-happy bloom
Spring is such a lovely room
As you lavish winter’s tomb
With your filigree
Yellow fellow rollicking
Where zephyr is frolicking
And the pauper is a king
Here among your spree

Pretty, flirty flower-bell
Bobbing in the wooded dell
Grinning, giddy like a girl
With a brand-new dress
Jolly, jaunty petal-frill
How we love you, daffodil
As you wander up the hill
Spilling happiness

© Janet Martin

Have you seen Monica's gorgeous photos of thousands of daffodils?

Hark, What Streams in Sacred Splendor?





Hark, what streams in sacred splendor
From yon cauldrons blue-gold-gray?
Hark, what do those harp-strings render?
Heaven’s love-song called Today

High above, in star-strung rafter
Dawn spreads out Time’s transient tent
Where Today is like the laughter
Of a flower swiftly spent

Then, walk slowly; holy purpose
Fills, then spills from Heaven’s tray   
Where God’s Mercy, pure and precious
Grants to us one more Today

© Janet Martin 

They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in loving-kindness. The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.…Ps.145:7-9

 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.…Ps.103:7-9

 The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.' "Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your loving-kindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."
Num.14:18-19

 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. Ps.86:5


But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Ps.86:15

 




Bury the Fruitless Sigh



Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God,-Patience-Of#sthash.U21jee7o.dpuf
Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God,-Patience-Of#sthash.U21jee7o.dpuf
 Psalm 86:15 (KJV) But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

PAD Challenge day 30: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Bury the (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Bury the woulda-coulda-shoulda
Because its fruitless sigh
Strips moments of the bit o' love
In hope-streams hasting by

Carry in Want's weeping whisper
Not tears of regret
But gladness because morning offers
What is undone yet

Janet~

I was bemoaning a shoulda-coulda the other day when a Voice reminded me 'today is a good day to start doing what I wish I would have done! '

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God,-Patience-Of#sthash.U21jee7o.dpuf

The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God,-Patience-Of#sthash.U21jee7o.dpuf



Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Of Seeds Softly Falling




  PAD Challenge day 29: For today’s prompt, write a what nobody knows poem. 

These seeds we sow
We’ll never know
How far or full the reaping
So, pray that we
Sow carefully
Where yon harvest is sleeping
Though it appears
It may be years
Before its full-fledged calling
Tomorrow yields
Where today’s fields
Hold now-seeds softly falling

© Janet Martin

 'Very much of our future life will depend upon our earliest days', said preacher Charles Spurgeon on January 15, 1893, then quoted Mr. Ruskins, not quite verbatim, ' people often say we excuse the thoughtlessness of youth, but he says no, it never ought to be excused. I'd far rather hear of thoughtless old age when a man has done his work, but what excuse can be found for a thoughtless youth? The time for thought is at the beginning of life and there is no period which so much demands or so much necessitates thoughtfulness as our early days...I would that all young men would think so.They say that they must sow their wild oats. No! No, my dear young friend. think before you sow such seed as that what the reaping will be. See if there is not better corn to be found than wild oats and sow that, then think how you will sow it and when you will sow it for if you do not think about the sowing, what will the harvest be? '


That Picture-show We'll Never See...



 PAD Challenge day 29: For today’s prompt, write a what nobody knows poem.

(the family, taken at our Easter Dinner)

When the mournful numbers gather
To witness our last repose
When they lay upon Forever
One fair and fond farewell rose
What they say, what they’ll remember
After we depart, death-cold
We will never know, but now we
Shape the memories they’ll hold

Now the warmth of love and laughter
Waits, full-willing in each pulse
Now, before the ever-after
Seals what they’ll recall of us
Now, for who knows what tomorrow
Veils upon its shrouded seas?
Now, an invisible vessel
Designed to hold memories

…then, when loved ones sadly gather
To remember kinder days
We will never see the pictures
Etched upon their tender gaze
Thus, before that solemn bower
Claims what we will never know
We should strive to fill each hour
With a lovely picture-show

© Janet Martin