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Saturday, September 30, 2017

Of Come-What-May and Hip-hip-hooray...God Is On His Throne

This morning one of my waking thoughts was the words to this Steve Wariner song;
Sun is up, 
Time's at hand
There's a stir across the land
And so begins another day on life's highway...


...and so begins another day of plans and the happenings thereof
or of dealing with life when it does not go according to plan.
like those suffering on hurricane-stricken islands,
or those longing to be with loved ones but cannot due to crisis in the country(such as South Sudan)
This little blue dot hung in space groans with confusion 
that comes with turning one's back on
and one's heart against its Creator God
until many do not even know that they are doing so,
ignorant of the Love that begets light of day
and longs to be our Hope and Stay



Who can foretell come-what-may
Laden with the light of day
Voyageurs on life’s highway
One and all are we
None can sway earth’s seasoned sod
Nor the Staying Hand of God
Faith and hope and mercy shod
We trod toward He
Who, Jehovah, never veers
Never changes with the years
Greater than man’s temp’ral fears
Is His Majesty

Thus, no matter come-what-may
In dark night or light of day
God sets His watch on life’s way
Rife with soul-charged dust
None can thwart what He ordains
Even consequence remains
In the place where He sustains
Remorse; He is just
Therefore, we who seek will find
Strength though weak and sight though blind
God is merciful and kind
Our part is to trust

Sun is up and who can say
What will come to pass today
But, no matter come-what-may
We are not alone
Overhead, around, beneath
Faithful in both life and death
Is He who breathed our first breath
Shaped our skin and bone
He will not leave or forsake
We of stumble and mistake
No matter what move we make
God is on His throne

© Janet Martin

the words to this hymn are so powerful;
this is why I post and re-post it!





Friday, September 29, 2017

The Hand That Dismantles The Dark





 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. 
Reach out your hand and put it into my side. 
Stop doubting and believe."
John 20:27


The Hand that dismantles the dark
Then dims the light at death of day
Cups in His keep each mortal bark
Like sheep that once had gone astray

The Shepherd of undying love
Seeks man’s undying soul to save
He fits them for a place above
Through His own life He freely gave

Upon a cross He suffered loss
The Shepherd bore guilt’s albatross
And saved mankind from death’s dark dread

The Hand that dismantles the dark
Is scarred where nails pierced Heaven’s best
For earth’s worst; mercy met the mark
That grants the Way to Heaven’s rest

© Janet Martin






Thursday, September 28, 2017

Hello, Farewell Melody






Don’t forget
What lies ahead
Will soon be strewn upon a path
That harbors All
The days that fall
Prey to the call of Aftermath

This which we hold
Of tainted gold
Will crumble in the hands of time
Then don’t forget
What lies ahead
Soon blooms on tombs of Yester-clime

Ah, listen well
Time’s tolling bell
Insists upon dawn’s sacred due
Today, the tryst
That stands betwixt
The ever old and ever new

Then don’t forget
That far-off ‘yet’
Will soon beget its echo-sheaves
What blooms o'erhead
Will soon be spread
Across death's dread like scattered leaves

© Janet Martin


Why Poets? Why Poems?






To cheer the dull dormer
To salute the former
To paint with a murmur
A picture of thought
To hail far-off fellow
To scale willow-cello
And touch time’s lost hello
With tittle of jot

To sail summer’s schooner
When winter comes sooner
Than we expected
In the prime of youth
To etch on plain paper
Child’s innocent caper
To press on page-patience
Age old words of truth

To probe faded flowers
And revisit hours
That day-night devours
Without heed or care
To love with ink-ardor
And revere the charter
Where words beg and barter
From arbors of air

To tickle our fancy
With fickle romance-y
To dance with a drifter
Of whisper and pen
To write then to wonder
What waits over yonder
If poet should plunder
‘Perhaps’ once again

To hold to the Holy
And traverse more slowly
The hill and the valley
Of days come to pass
To keen callous senses
To Ageless Immense-ness
Hinged to shimmered deftness
In life’s hour-glass

© Janet Martin





...As Everyone Is Asking Where Sweet, Sweet September Went



 Where oh, where did sweet September go???
 ...it dripped in a drop 
 and it slipped in a plop
of red apple laughter
 and yellow-leaf caught

soft on a silver and purple-plumed fell
 primed with a sonnet of summer farewell


The offspring of acquittal and rebuttal tunes a tide
That vexes and perplexes with irrevocable stride
It keeps proprietors of clock-stock ever on our toes
While pondering the age-old conundrum of where Time goes

Tis quite a subtle fling between first cry and final sleep
As mist of mystic Moment slips through grip’s ephem’ral keep
This here-today-and-gone-tomorrow beg-and-borrow ploy
Soils-cleans the cup, spoils-keens the sup of love’s sweet sorrow-joy

The wheel that packs the track where what we lack cheers what we hold
Is ethereal yet weaves an odyssey of gray and gold
As floors that roar with seasons spent spill solid solitude
Where everything that came and went is dust-to-dust subdued

Autumnal topiary eases us from summer’s swell
A sentimental poem pleads where none can thwart farewell
As offspring of daylight to dark vexes the eager stride
Of weathered pioneers aboard the bark of season-tide

© Janet Martin