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Saturday, October 31, 2020

October-set


Jim, my most faithful compliment-or and critic
said this morning, 'bless their hearts, whoever they are
(who bother  take the time to read another autumn poem by Janet
And have any idea what she's saying)'
And I say Amen. 😀
(I usually try to finish writing before he is home but I got lost
outside too long this morning...
He said if he wrote an autumn poem it would say
In Fall 
We Rake 
Leaves. 
I told him most people would prefer his style to mine. 😂
He is for the most part very patient when it comes to my rhyme-fetish.

This morning's frost did it;
Earth is embossed in golden snow!
 





Earth’s halls are decked with Autumn-set 
Beneath our feet is splayed 
The fading strains of what remains 
Of foliage-promenade 

Ballrooms of air are gleaming where 
Leaf-ballerinas twirl 
And lure us in to laugh and spin 
With life’s Forever Girl 

Impressions of fond days we love 
Are transformed, leaf-by-leaf 
The Dancer shucked and gently tucked 
Into the Planter’s Sheaf 

The Best and Worst of Blessed and Cursed 
Are lavished with fine art 
Where time performs its season-storms 
Until death do us part 

Now dawn is tossed in yawns of frost 
The Silence, silver-kissed 
As green becomes the brittle sums 
Of Autumn’s amethyst 

Where gardens glow with golden snow 
Midst heart-throbbed hugs and sighs 
Because we sense the transience 
Of autumn’s paradise 

Weightless and soft medallions waft 
As nature’s tresses fall 
Into a wreath settled beneath 
The Framework of it all 

© Janet Martin 




Friday, October 30, 2020

More Than Swift Sweep of Seasons...


The older I get the more it feels like seasons sweep through years
like the wind through leaves...


 






Thankfully life is much more than a legacy of leaves
Seasons but the effecting of what dust-to-dust conceives

In this swift sweep of seasons spurred by rise and setting sun 
Of appetites we feed or curb with seeds soon spilled and spun 
Whether shadows of doubt dark-fall, or clear appears the view 
God knows the ins and outs of all with which we have to do 

The break of day with seamless sway folds into noon, then dusk 
While we, students of Learning taste the grains that drain the husk 
And in the course of smacking lips, of samples bitter, sweet 
We start to sense an Immense Grip instilled in hands and feet 

The Matrix from which moments flow is without form or cast 
Where from a foothold we call Now future turns into past 
And from the Hand that gives, a world of hands reaches to take 
Where everyone who lives is loved by He who holds time's ‘cake’ 

…and no one is forgotten on earth’s awesome glockenspiel 
No matter who we are the Author holds and turns a wheel 
Which ushers tears and laughter through the flue of day-to-day 
Until the Ever-after brushes out Mercy’s buffet 

Ah, what a feast for thought is this; The One who grants Because 
Metes more than the analysis of scientific laws 
In this swift sweep of seasons spurred by rise and setting sun 
He knows the inmost ins and outs of each and everyone 

And what some deem as nothing but a blue dot flung to space 
Is Human Being’s common ground abounding with God’s grace 
Where He is the Good Shepherd of Time’s season-thoroughfare 
And we are all together sheep in pastures of His care 

© Janet Martin 

Psalm 95:6-7

Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.

  

Psalm23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: 
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: 
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: 
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: 
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.


Thursday, October 29, 2020

Garden Siesta Song

 




After the garden is plowed...

...it always seems to beg a farewell-ballad





Like a pungent, umber blanket tucked in all along each edge
Autumn’s garden, slumber-readied tugs at Twilight’s loose heart-threads 
Sky-high noon of laughing summer has its sun-spun luster lost 
Now October yields to kisses brusque with dusk and leaf embossed 

Soon a crop of stars will sparkle on the midnight of the sod 
And the plot that popped with colour will be covered up by God 
Granting to the soil sweet respite while fruit-flower founts are sealed 
Interceding for the good of both the grower and the field 

Longing and relief entangle in the furrows, doffed and brown 
Where the silk of echo-spangles wafts aloft like thistledown 
As the murmur of spent summer like a brook, not frozen yet 
With a tempo of mementos plays a tender minuet 

Sleep, dear garden do not worry what the morrow holds for thee 
God has said as long as earth is, seed and harvest-time will be 
Snuggle up and take thy rest now, beneath downy sheets of snow 
While you earned winter’s siesta, I was learning to let go 


© Janet Martin 




Skimming the surface of Echo-spangles...




The bright side of a poor potato patch...lots of play-space!

Universal Call/Cross


(can you whole-heartedly and honestly sing the hymn below without reserve?!)
Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite when I sing it.
I tend to get kinda stuck in My Ways😒



Nothing speaks quite so powerfully as a person's choices.
When we watch someone lay all of their own personal desires
on the altar of daily sacrifice to wholly follow Him.
We have a young man with a young family who is about to start fulltime
service at our church after leaving a secure job to answer God's call.
Will you pray for him (Andreas) and his family in this leap  step of faith...
And while you do could you add another man (Gary) and his family to your prayers,
joining our church family in January.
The rebuilding at WBC, around the hole Ron left begins...

Matt. 16:24 
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, 
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Luke 9:23
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, 
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.


There is a universal call to all who love God’s Son 
Though He has paid the debt for sin the cost has just begun 
For all who follow in His steps must be willing to die 
To the desires of the flesh and their own will deny 

There is a cross not made of wood that we are called to take 
To do the things disciples should for their dear Master’s sake 
Not to adhere to high decrees some prominence to prove 
But to follow where His call leads with no motive/credit but love 

There is a thorough reckoning that someday will come due 
Where reply to His beckoning is more than verbal spew 
Whether we are courageous or remain somewhat aloof 
Our answer spills in pages we fill up with Living Proof 

There is a universal call to repent and believe 
And oh, how very beautiful is Faith’s Gift we receive 
Where, though Redemption’s price is paid and salvation is free 
The cost is still cross-shaped as we respond to ‘follow Me’ 

© Janet Martin 

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Happiness Is Full Of Holes


Oh the irony; the Bloom that blesses 
with greatest happiness-es
Is the selfsame Sheaf
cradling our deepest grief!

Cherish the bloom...



Still a few tenacious blooms hoisting their pretty plumes💕
No precious posy is overlooked as we are poised on the brink of November!

Happiness seems to grow dearer 
As the days to years increase 
Where it seems joy’s perfect picture 
Is often missing a piece 

Missing faces and caresses 
From those too far off to reach 
Realizing happiness-es 
Are like waves that wash the beach 

Rush of pure and sweet enchantments 
Swirls and eddies; tender taunt 
Runs life rife with disappointments 
We did not expect or want 

Takes away a much-loved someone 
Leaves a teardrop in their stead 
Teaching us to cherish moments 
Weaving a gossamer thread 

…full of twists and tears and creases 
That no fingers can secure 
And though it is missing pieces 
Happiness can still endure 

For with loss comes the awak’ning 
To the other side of joy 
And the sacred undertaking 
Of the moments we employ 

Futile to unravel echoes 
Where time’s sparkle-skein unfolds 
Better to embrace the present 
And the happiness it holds 

Happiness, life's sweet Comforter
How its wonder warms our souls
Happiness, we soon discover
Is a blanket full of holes

© Janet Martin 



Grateful For The Afterglow...

 








"Oh! I'm so glad we're back to a golden glow instead of snow!"
I raved to Victoria this morning after yesterday's late-afternoon eyeopener!



Autumn’s color-riot quiets 
The crowd, loud with awed applause 
Pauses to raid wonder’s closet 
Finds a scarf of mauve-mist gauze 
Winds it ‘round the heart with gladness 
Grateful for the afterglow 
As October’s colour-madness 
Whispers suggestions of snow 

© Janet Martin 

Preparing For Combat

How do we prepare for combat?
For something will (without a doubt) test where we are at
Since time began man has been at odds with each other.
In the very first family Cain murdered his brother.

What gets our ire sparked most severely
What are the values we hold to most dearly
How in the muddle of this human race
Of political, ethical, theological debates
Can we be equipped for the battle at large
and know what to do when our tempers cry 'CHARGE!'

The Armor of God 
Eph.6:10-17

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 
11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 
but against the rulers,
against the authorities, 
against the powers of this dark world 
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, 
you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 
14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, 
with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 
15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 
16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, 
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 
17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.


How long this trampled...


...sampled orb


has weathered seasoned ways...
(this morning the snow has returned to its rightful October place😊)




How long this trampled, sampled orb has weathered seasoned ways 
Where man forgets to give the Lord His righteous due of praise 
Where constant combat wages twixt desire and despair 
As human heart engages in fight-to-the-death warfare 
And never ought to leave exposed one vulnerable part 
Lest the sly serpent’s hate should penetrate with fatal dart 

How often we leap out of bed and seize the ready rod 
Then dash into the fight without the full armor of God 
Aha, man’s confrontation with temptation is severe 
If we rush into battle without God’s protective gear 
And not until we realize our dilemma is grim 
Is careless pride cut down to size as we call out to Him 

Who can afford to disregard the Lord’s prerequisite? 
The power of His might is not an accidental fit 
But with sober intention the wise soldier puts in place 
The infallible armor of God’s righteousness and grace 
So that we may withstand the arrows of the enemy 
And be equipped to fight the good fight unto victory 

© Janet Martin 


  

Lyrics in English

My Soul Be on Thy Guard
George Heath


  1. My soul, be on thy guard,
    Ten thousand foes arise,
    And hosts of sin are pressing hard
    To draw thee from the skies.
  2. Oh, watch, and fight, and pray,
    The battle ne’er give o’er,
    Renew it boldly every day,
    And help divine implore.
  3. Ne’er think the vict’ry won,
    Nor once at ease sit down;
    Thine arduous work will not be done
    Till thou hast got the crown.
  4. Fight on, my soul, till death
    Shall bring thee to thy God;
    He’ll take thee at thy parting breath
    Up to His blest abode.



Tuesday, October 27, 2020

This Song Is Not For Everyone



The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom do they have?

Jer.17:5&7

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord...

...But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, 
 whose confidence is in him.




This 'song' below is not for everyone 
But for anyone 
who puts their trust in God


To the ruler of earth and Heaven; Forgiver of sin 
Where the darkness is riven by His light without, within 

To He who instills bud and seed with miraculous mien 
And satisfies the need of all who by His blood are clean 

To He who helps us muster faith when we trust in his Word 
And grants us confidence because His Way is undeterred 

To He who does not lead the sheep of his pasture astray 
But is a Faithful Shepherd, no matter what scorners say 

To He who WAS, IS and Will BE, whose love will never fail 
Who paid sin’s debt at Calvary and rent the temple’s veil 

To He who understands the prayers we pray and always hears 
The pleas we cannot utter as they fall in groans and tears 

To He who receives everyone who believes in his Name 
And does not count against us damning track-records of shame 

As far as east is from the west as pardon’s rivers pour 
He washes our sin-debt and remembers it no more 

To He who does not change like shifting shadows but abides 
And is hope’s steadfast anchor in Time’s tumultuous tides 

To He who bends autumn with leaves and lends wonder’s fine art 
Who does not judge our harvest-sheaves by size but by the heart 

If He postpones His coming will upon the Saviour call 

Who does not bribe, but beckons with an everlasting love 

To He who promises to bless we who trust in the Lord 
Thine is the kingdom, power and glory forevermore 

© Janet Martin 








Seeing Through the Glass Darkly or Prayer Changes Things/Us



This is not just any old chair...


Many, a many a prayer has climbed faith's stair from this old chair!
Prayers for forgiveness, wisdom, healing, patience and trust
and above all, love.

Prayer changes things; it transcends logic’s altitude of facts 
And transfers answers onus to He who His will exacts 
Mercy makes no mistakes, though the middle of His reply 
May feel like harsh rebuttals to the creature of the cry 

Prayer changes things; even when reasoning is mystified 
And ‘answers’ do not always feel like God is on our side 
Prayer changes things, if faith can learn to trust enough to yield 
And leave it all to Love until His purpose is revealed 

Prayer changes things; it flees the cage of comprehension’s scope 
And leaves the outcome with the One who is man’s Living Hope 
Prayer teaches us to listen as He whispers ‘Peace, be still’ 
While He works out for Greater Good the purpose of His will 

Prayer changes things, like attitudes impaired with fear or pride 
The Potter shapes the clay where change begins; on the inside 
And just as Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane 
Prayed to his Father so He bids us all ‘come unto Me’ 

Prayer changes things; as we begin to relinquish control 
And surrender the answers to the Saviour of the soul 
Prayer is the hiding place beneath the feathers of His wings 
Where God gathers us close, so close to Him; prayer changes things 

© Janet Martin 

We pray yet often prayers feel unanswered. 
We pray for healing and people die. 
We pray for the salvation of lost souls, ‘but they will not’ 
We pray for change that does not happen 
For love that seems to fail. 
Jesus prayed in Gethsemane and taught us how to pray;
"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. 
Yet not as I will, but as you will." 
He was brutally crucified. He died. 
It looked like His prayer was unanswered but
God the Father sees beyond the present circumstance/suffering! 
Isa. 53:10-11
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,

    he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.

Heb 2. 8-10 
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, 
he left nothing outside his control.
At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, 
crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, 
so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, 
in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation
perfect through suffering...




Monday, October 26, 2020

About The Good Old Days...



Some supper-nights are more chatter-y than others; 
lots of laughter at tonight's meal reminded me to Cherish



It takes more than reviving old-fashioned cake recipes (like Queen Elizabeth cake
to bring back the good-old-days, but we kitcheneers sometimes try
because we never know what recreating nostalgic flavours will create;
perhaps some youngster's good-old-day memories!
Maybe for my family it will be something like tonight's roasted veggies and chili!


More this year than ever before have I heard (sometimes from my own mouth)
'I miss the old normal' or
'I miss the good, old days'


Although we cannot bring back ‘good, old days’ sweetened by years 
Where, smoothed beneath the hand of time its grindstone disappears 
We ought to strive to keep alive the essence of its How 
And serve it up in ways that seem quite ordinary now 

The gold gong in yon belfry has not changed since time began 
The length and breadth of day to day the same since Adam’s clan 
And love, in spite of all the flaws and faux pas of people 
Is still the Greatest Commandment no progress can annul 

We cannot toss a lure into the deep and draw to shore 
Like a big bass, walleye or pike, those dear-old-days of yore 
But we can seek to emulate the impressions they wove 
And make, even in modern days some good-old-days to love 

Because it is life’s simple things that never lose their charm 
The joy a dinner hour brings where homes are welcome-warm 
And we use words like God, mom, dad, I’m sorry, try again 
Until these days don’t seem so bad that no good can remain 

How common seem the threads that weave mementos, held most dear 
Where echoes waft in pictures that grow more perfect each year 
Because, Time’s tender touch brushes blemishes from Past’s art 
To make the ‘good old days’ a priceless treasure of the heart 


© Janet Martin 


Like A Scarf...


Everything we see is like a scarf 
wrapped around 
More Than Meets the Eye



There's no doubt about it; 
the colour-clock is counting down its tints, 
leaf by leaf, 
like a scarf dismantling
stitch by stitch


Beneath our feet the bittersweet fragments of glory gleam...



The rain drains woodlands of mosaics; scarlet yields to gray 
The wind dwindles leaf-kindled awe as autumn awnings fray 
Beneath our feet the bittersweet fragments of glory gleam 
A little bit like echoes from a fond and altered dream 

The gold that boldly stole our breath while death regaled our view 
With leafy-limbed apparel sketched on backdrops brooding-blue 
Surrenders; for the Splendor cannot keep at bay the toll 
That dismantles tree-mantles like the veil that shrouds the Soul 

Earth’s smorgasbord of beauty is a marvel to behold 
But Time, the tireless Tutor soon reveals more than the mold 
And we who once were deluded by what our eyes applaud 
Become attuned to sums beneath the first-fruits of façade 

The Season-clock is never knocked off-kilter; day by day 
And leaf by leaf and tick by tock Death stalks its primal prey 
Where breath by breath we weave a wreath like leaf or flower-chains 
Till the circle of life falls like a scarf from What Remains
 

© Janet Martin



Saturday, October 24, 2020

Soul/Sole Security


Seems fall-lovers here in Ontario
continue to be thrilled to the max by 
an exceptionally colorful version of the season
in what has been an exceptionally trying year!
The picture below is from a photo-poem desk calendar 
I received out of the blue (no birthday or anything) the other year
from my sister; I keep re-enjoying it because there's always pages I've missed or forgotten!
(I think that's why each season never loses its splendor; the missing and forgetting😊)



No matter what season we are in
may it always be a season of prayer,
Because Time is a turbulent tide!
Sickness of body and soul 
and so much beyond our control
insist we choose either faith or fear
to be compass and guide...

Fear flings us into foaming deeps
without a hope or prayer
is the firm anchor that keeps
us from drowning in despair


We surf a sea of season-tides 
What hides in its momentous deep 
Could keep us from hope’s sheer delight 
And rob us of laughter and sleep 

We bobble between faith and fear 
Because there is no clear-cut course 
Carved through the waves that vault and veer 
And dash us with violent force 

No one can claim clear-sailing grants 
Or tame the turbulence of Test 
Where surf and turf of circumstance 
Is always volatile at best 

Nobody knows what lies ahead 
How then can we find joy and peace 
Fear fills our hearts with doubt and dread 
Where dark the doleful clouds increase 

Faith finds the anchor that abides 
In He who hears each humble prayer 
And cups the sea of season-tides 
And all its ‘surfers’ in His care 

Then since, beyond our control
The toll of time rolls like the sea
Surely the faith that makes us whole
Is our sole/soul security

 
© Janet Martin 

Matthew 8:26
"You of little faith," Jesus replied, "why are you so afraid?" 
Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, 
and it was perfectly calm.

There are SO many seasons in life not marked by a calendar!
For whatever season we are in here's hoping
we have a Friend to weather whatever the weather be...






Friday, October 23, 2020

For Watchmen/Women of the Flowered Bower/Bow-er


This poem is an out-pouring of love
 for a world full of children
who begin so purely but must soon and surely 
choose for themselves

As we who watch for dawn to rend yon regions steeped in dark...

And siphon from the silhouette of trees the singing lark (or harsh shriek of blue jays😀)

...as we who wait for baited bud to break

Alas, perfection cannot keep nature's fiat at bay...



As we who wait for baited bud to break and thus disclose
The essence of a Presence suggested in ev’ry rose 
Alas, perfection cannot keep nature’s fiat at bay 
No matter how pure life begins it is time’s ceaseless prey 
Where influence of elements and matrix of demise 
Will soon convey the evidence of death’s flowery disguise 

As we who watch for dawn to rend yon regions, steeped in dark 
And siphon from the silhouette of trees the singing lark 
Where birth is the beginning of what none can circumvent 
Farewell is always thinning the fabric of Therefore’s tent 
And perception is often blinded by what eyes behold 
Though This is but the catalyst that twists and breaks the mold 

As a mother who keeps account of her forever-child 
Always on earnest guard because this hard world is defiled 
And bent, it seems on robbing dreamers of their innocence 
She prays for mercies multiplied against pride’s ignorance 
Because she knows how swift the petals of the rose adorn 
The sash of dust and ash beneath the branches of the thorn 

We are like gleaners in a field watered with prayers and tears 
Someday faith’s framework will be filled when Majesty appears 
Where roses never falter and the night will never fall 
When Time’s sorrow-stained altar will be crushed once and for all 
As paupers pray for Kindness, as the shepherd tends the lamb 
We watch and work and wait till the Fulfillment of I AM 

For someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess
That He is Lord; the soul will be stripped of its flowered dress
And Righteousness will reign forevermore; no enemy
Where death is not the end of life, nor grave the victory
As we who watch for bud to break or darkness borne away
We pray the more as we approach the coming of That Day

© Janet Martin 

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. 
He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. 
At that time each will receive their praise from God.
1 Cor.4:5