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

who they will serve/trust 

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