A Word to Poets (and People In General... )

Whoosh! and another week/month bites the dust!

Farewell April Showers and blizzards!

On a bright note, farm-dust is starting to fly in some areas!

Oh, isn't that wonderful?!!

Even if it smells like manure?!😅

Wishing one and all a weekend full of wonder!

Psalm 69:30
I will praise God's name in song and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

Sometimes what means the most in love and life’s strife and lament

Are simple things; a smile, a word of kind encouragement

A grumble never uttered, and an insult never said

Instead of discontent, a compliment, a prayer-bowed head

Sometimes what we need most where heartache’s bitter brunt must be

Where troubles test and dreams are vexed with stiff reality

Are not poetic platitudes or eloquent cliches

But just a hug to tug at heart-strings full of knots and frays

Sometimes what matters most to give is not nickel-and-dime

But the often apology-defended gift of time

Where what we need is not the creed of some best-seller book

But rather the less stressful counsel of a babbling brook

What waits to be will wait to be; enough with now and here

Where moments fall like stars or like the sparkle of a tear

Where you and I in love and life’s commitments of lament

Should strive to give what we all need; time and encouragement

Sometimes workaday weariness can wear our wonder thin

And holes into the soles of shoes somewhere beneath our skin

Sometimes life’s need and noise pleads us to fold want’s weathered wings

And count life’s wealth of simple joys until we feel like kings

Sometimes poetry snared in script is not equipped with ears 

Sometimes a rhyme takes too much time and ink and paper gears 

Sometimes what means the most is not something that prose defines  

But someone who is close enough to read between the lines

💔💞

© Janet Martin

Psalm 34:3

Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

Little Life-Ladder

Psalm 143:8

Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning,

for I have put my trust in You.

Teach me the way I should walk, 

for to You I lift up my soul.

I have a few friends going through terribly difficult seasons!

Whether we are in the valley of the shadow of death

or enjoying a view from the heights of success

we are where we are by the grace of God

on our way to beholding Him!

I wish I had a picture of Tot yesterday,

standing at the bottom of this ladder

and looking up, up as if wondering

to what wonderland it leads...

 I identified with the wee one, as I too sometimes

look up, up beyond the Meanwhile...

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms- David Crowder

Through the thick and thin of laughter

‘Neath the rise and set of sun

Before turns to ever-after

Gold and gray mingle as one

In the grin and groan of earning

Wisdom’s wonder-wizened crown

We will never outgrow learning

Till we lay these bodies down

Where ways once keener/greener and younger

Kisses faces with lost youth

We, honed by hope’s sacred hunger

Cling all the more to God’s truth

Not forgotten, not forsaken

As He draws us to the shore

Where death’s sleep is but to waken

In His Presence evermore

Through the highs and lows of living

Flows the wellspring of Enough

Where God, gracious and forgiving

Lavishes us with His love

In the hearing and the calling

Until death collects its claim

We are climbing and yet falling

Up, yet back from whence we came

In the valley of death's shadow

Or on heights of sweet success

Life is like a little ladder

Leaning on/leading to Eternalness  

 

© Janet Martin

Oh, imagine if we had the visual of our little life-ladder

(wherever we happen to be in time's climb),

 leaning against Eternity

held by He who is from Everlasting to Everlasting!

Psalm 116:5

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

Yes, our God is compassionate.

A Spring Song

This morning's sunbeams

after yesterday's snowfall

sets spring songs a-ringing!

(in bird and bard!)

The sparkle of frost-brickle

The finch in golden plume

*(or the finch-tree in full plume)

The twinkle in Father Time’s grin

As earth trembles with bloom

Good morning’s hearty handshake

The sky, a big blue bowl

Tipped upside down to grandly crown

The laughter of the soul

The giggle of the garden

The robin’s tiralee

Green sheen unfurled across a world

Wild with expectancy

Where we attuned to anthems

Not written in a book

Join in the hymn of throbbing limb

And chuckle of the brook

How long we wished and waited

For daffodils to glow

For violet stars to deck the bars

Long kissed with flecks of snow

Come, let’s dance on the tarmac

No longer brown and gray

And celebrate the welkin gate

Where winter lost its way (hopefully)😑

© Janet Martin

The sparkle of frost-brickle...

*The finch-tree in full plume/bloom

Good morning’s hearty handshake

The sky, a big blue bowl

Tipped upside down to grandly crown

The laughter of the soul...

How long we wished and waited

For daffodils to glow

...in the words from my two-yr.-old little gal in my childcare-

'I saw dappydils!'

For violet stars to deck the bars

Long kissed with flecks of snow...

The giggle of the garden

The robin’s tiralee

Green sheen unfurled across a world

Wild with expectancy...

Already Overflowing

But the fruit of the Spirit is 

love, joy, peace, 

forbearance, kindness, goodness, 

faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Against such things there is no law.

Gal.5:22-23

Whether ambassadors for Christ or not,

we all prefer being treated with

and surrounded by the fruits of the Spirit

named above,

rather than its opposing counterparts;

hate, misery, worry/war,

impatience, hardness, corruption

disloyalty/dishonesty, violence and rashness

When we view life in light of all the Lord

offers, provides and has provided

our hearts can't help but overflow with humble gratitude

for his everlasting love and faithfulness!

(Sometimes these poems are written to re-remind

my own floundering, susceptible-to-fear faith,

 of God's goodness

so I keep my eyes fixed on a Prize

 beyond all comprehension

and my heart overflowing with worship rather than worry!

Ps.45:1 NKJV

My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a [c]ready writer.

Already overflowing, though cares of life persist

We serve a God all-knowing who sees through morrow’s mist

This constant consolation with His redeeming grace

Attends the restoration where dread could take hope’s place

Through Mercy’s kind bestowing, the heart becomes a sea

Of wonder overflowing shores of eternity

He within us is greater; thus, the heart overflows

To know that our Creator, no power overthrows

No army can defeat Him, no threat can thwart His plan

Therefore, we ought to fear Him rather than schemes of man

And cling with grateful knowing to He who loves us so

His goodness overflowing this world of want and woe

Let us reason together; if God is for us then

His mercy is the tether His kindness metes; amen

His riches are exceeding; how sweet the Spirit’s fruit

(Earth’s storehouses are fleeting; corruption taints its loot)

Sin’s debt paid; nothing owing! The heart is rent with hymns

Already overflowing where thankful worship brims

Already overflowing; the glory of His grace

Like heaven’s halo glowing through tears God’s fingers trace

Where we are undergoing the growing pains of trust

While mercy is bestowing breath-by-breath dust-to-dust

Until, with nothing owing the heart becomes the soul

Already overflowing with faith at last made whole

© Janet Martin

2 Cor.5:20

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, 

as though God were pleading through us: 

we implore you on Christ’s behalf, 

be reconciled to God.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing 

Faithful to the End

 

I am still enjoying a beautiful bouquet given to me a week ago 

after helping at the funeral of  the oldest member in our church family.

 She would have turned 100 years old in July!

Listening to all the heartwarming memories and tributes

was so inspiring and encouraging to we still in the process of 

creating legacies not yet left behind.

Below is the photo released of Queen Elizabeth II 

on her 96th birthday on Thurs. April 21, 2022

 

We cherish her example of faithfulness as well!

 Both of these women

live/lived through an incredible almost-century of progress, 

and tremendous challenges and change

with unwavering faith!

 “For me the teachings of Christ 

and my own personal accountability before God 

provide a framework in which I try to lead my life.”

~Queen Elizabeth~

 

Oh, that we would also be able to leave behind a lifetime legacy, 

not of perfection but of courageous faithfulness to the end,

of 'remembering our own personal accountability before God'

so as we leave we may rejoice in this triumphant farewell...

I have fought the good fight, 

I have finished the race, 

I have kept the faith.

2 Tim.4:7

It’s not in how we start but how we end that we achieve

The climax of commitment and the legacy we leave

A few good turns are not enough to earn triumph secured

Or prove the love and faithfulness of the good fight endured

Success and happiness are not always as they appear

Where opulence and pleasure can produce a false veneer

Desire keens the catalyst of longings that will prove

Where we fix our eyes; on things below or things above

Life’s ups and downs that test and try will refine or destroy

Not for the faint of heart is faith fixed on immortal joy

Where faithful to the end God’s promises accompany

Where faithful to the end He bids His followers to be

…thus, breath by breath and step by step and prayer by prayer we go

Faithfulness takes a lifetime its fulfillment to bestow

We cannot rush or fool the proof wrought by life’s highs and lows

Where faithfulness suffers love's thorns with eyes upon The Rose

© Janet Martin

Faithful to the End

Time Enough...

Sometimes Time flies,

Sometimes it sleeps.

Sometimes it sings

Sometimes it weeps

But one thing is certain,

Whatever the deal

Whatever it grants,

It also will steal!

First bud

Beams bashfully...

I'm so eager to plant the flower seeds a friend gifted to me at Christmas...

My, how far-off summer's larkspur plumes feel while still cradled in seeds...

Though I know, from looking back how it will feel like a flicker that flares and fades

so today I revel in the perfection of flowers not planted yet!

The friendliness of flowers while still cradled in a seed

Feels like a face we cannot kiss because of miles between

The constancy of hours tries the tenure of the reed

And Time Enough will bear the bloom that Time Enough will wean

How far away the other side of suffered sorrow seems

And laughter of tomorrow, while today’s troubles still toss

How broad the gulley seems to groan, agape with broken dreams

Where Time Enough will build a bridge that Time Enough will cross

Better to bear the brunt of whatever today will be

Rather than stare ahead too far or back to yester-reel

The clock weaves and unravels with suave synchronicity

The threads that Time Enough will grant and Time Enough will steal

The beauty of what was or waits gilds gates beyond our touch

Our duty is to treasure well the measure of today

To be tuned to its music and not to fret quite so much

Where Time Enough will write the song that Time Enough will play

© Janet Martin

Earth Always Responds...(to the tender touch of Father Time)

PAD Challenge day 25: For today's prompt, write a response poem.

Song of Solomon 2: 10-13 (BSB)

My beloved calls to me,

“Arise, my darling.

Come away with me, my beautiful one.

For now the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers have appeared in the countryside;

the season of singingc has come,

and the cooing of turtledoves

is heard in our land.

The fig tree ripens its figs;

the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come away, my darling;

come away with me, my beautiful one.”

Earth starts to shed its dormant hues, where nature’s gaberdine

Of brown and gray is woven through with threads of verdant green...

Upon a loom we cannot see we sense its shuttles hum

To trim the limb of barren tree with hints of more to come...

Earth starts to shed its dormant hues, where nature’s gaberdine

Of brown and gray is woven through with threads of verdant green

Upon a loom we cannot see we sense its shuttles hum

To trim the limb of barren tree with hints of more to come

Soon still bedraggled sweeps will beam, where warmer winds caress

Earth’s weathered countenance will gleam with Mercy’s promises

The canvas where spent generations toiled and tilled remains

(We too must bear the castigation Adam’s curse sustains)

How often we begin to think that springtime is amiss

Only to be rebuffed with pink petal-confetti’s kiss

Only to be awestruck anew by ways we cannot change

On an established avenue that none can rearrange

The Maker of heaven and earth keeps every vow He makes

He tunes time’s tethered tide where birth and death’s season-surf breaks

Across the rise and fall of hill and dell His fervor spills

Merlot bud-beakers pulse and swell with favor He instills

Annual metamorphoses-es always steal the show

An unplumbed vault of happiness-es bound to overflow

Where vistas, still silence-immersed in April’s spartan scrim

Are like an orchestra about to burst into full hymn

Earth always responds to the tender touch of Father Time

She blushes as a rush of splendor rises to her clime

As monotones of brown and gray give way to green and gold

And color-worlds about to play May’s wonders to behold

© Janet Martin

Annual metamorphoses-es always steal the show...

An unplumbed vault of happiness-es bound to overflow...

Wonder-full Compulsion! Plus Butter Tart Recipe 😋

Sometimes the ho-hums of housework

would not feel like an honor to perform

until we look beyond it's façade 

to love,

and glimpse the face of God

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:

that if One died for all, then all died;

and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves,

but for Him who died for them and rose again.

2 Cor.5:14-15

Isn't the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful

Compelled by love for He who gave His all, oh let it be

Drawn with desire to put on dear Christ’s humility

For God so loved the world He gave His Son to pay sin’s debt

He rent the bondage of the grave, oh may we ne’er forget

Compelled by love, to honor He who to self-will did die

To offer ourselves to be love’s penitent reply

Where more than Call of Duty bids us bear life’s yoke and rod

With the unhidden beauty of a heart yielded to/exalting God

Compelled by love, first for our God and then for fellowman

Oh, blissful state as we applaud, through servanthood, His plan

Where love did not demand from us the recompense for sin

But rather gave his Son Jesus, His gift of grace to win

Compelled by love, ah, as we contemplate the sacrifice

What higher call could captivate or be worth greater price

Life’s meekest merit never fails; He who is Love supplies

His Spirit's strength as faith prevails and strains toward the Prize

© Janet Martin

Doesn't love's beauty always sweeten the duty?! Aren't you glad?

...some small  'sweetness-es'

sometimes come in the form of

Warm Butter Tart!

Oh!! I'm sorry. Would you like one too?

Here is the best recipe I know!

My mother's...

I Love April After The Snow...

I love April, after the snow when the cusp of creation gleams

With winter’s sepia afterglow off-set by heav’n’s cerulean streams

I love its days, One-of-a-kind, when April like a clean-scrubbed lad

Shivers in a ruffian wind with no towel, waiting to be clad

I love the way sun-rays uncurl quadrillion clenched fists of bud-looms

Before its affections unfurl a gorgeous wonder-world of blooms

I love its sense of imminence; the calm before the blossom storm

The poise of earth’s pure innocence before green grandeur clothes its form

I love the fleecy clouds, like lambs romping upon a sapphire hill

The way its rainy days drench lands with promises God will fulfill

I love the stage before the show, of expectation’s eager eyes

I love April after the snow before creation’s curtain-rise

© Janet Martin

Blissful Ignorance

PAD challenge day 22: For today's prompt, write an organism poem.

There is a scientific explanation for all the wonders of creation!

While I don't condone stupidity 

I do see some merit in blissful ignorance😅

and simply reveling in the beholding/listening.

I will thrill to trills and warbles of spring's feathered orchestra...

I am blissfully ecstatic without the wherefore and why

Of the stunning, unprolific declarations of the sky...

I prefer the panoramic pages of dusk's countryside...

You may keep your scientific, staid specifics if you please

I am quite content to linger beneath music in the trees

I will thrill to trills and warbles of spring's feathered orchestra

Rather than drills about mating and territorial blah-blah

I am blissfully ecstatic without the wherefore and why

Of the stunning, unprolific declarations of the sky

Hail to all scholastic sages, to all valedictorian pride

I prefer the panoramic pages of dusk's countryside

You may muse and mull, sweet scholar, over microscopic tracts

I am quite content to marvel without knowing all the facts...

God bless all the scientific geniuses for their gift

I am quite content to lie beneath the sky where cloud-ships drift

Janet😊

Little Lyric for New Day

While beauty trembles in tresses

Of treetops ...

...and garden dirt

Today’s toil and trouble presses

Happiness is honed by hurt

While beauty trembles in tresses

Of treetops and garden dirt

Today tips time’s tray with laughter

Tries and tests its quests with tears

Where Before is poured to After

-math of moment-meted years

Today treats us to nuances

No one has dishonored yet

Pray, no unkind keepsake haunts us

When its molding clay is set

Today tumbles from its Giver

Like a river filled with fish

Would we do more than just shiver

On shorelines of want-and-wish

Today trembles, skies unfolding

Like wings of a butterfly

Where the wonder of beholding

Groans with onus of reply

Today grants its fleeting offer  

Dare we chance a step, oh pray

Before looking to its Author

And thanking Him for today?

© Janet Martin

Pray, no unkind keepsake haunts us

When its molding clay is set

This is the day the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Ps.118:24

While Faithfully He Parts the Gates...

April mornings in Ontario, Canada serve up a salad-bowl of seasons...

Spring sunshine,

Inspiring picnics...

Picnic lunch: fresh homemade bread, fresh farm-made cheese, zucchini relish canned last summer,

locally made summer sausage, and cucumber slices!

In the fresh air it was a five-star meal in a top-notch setting

of quilt table-tops and no-shoes service!

THEN whoa, back to winter woolies,

...and today?

Raindrop rhinestones and ringlets!

Grand-daughter sighs ecstatically as she counts 'all thothe puddlthe'💖

(but, no puddle splashing today. They are simply too frigid to be healthy!

Warmer puddle-days are just around the corner!)

Creation swells with goodness; wellsprings brim that none can drain

Life’s Giver keeps His promises; He grants the sun and rain

Where nature heeds its father’s rules and trust its father’s lead

Where miracles burst from capsules of bud and bulb and seed

The crux from which earth’s deluxe wonders seep, thrills mortal gaze

The cradle from which birth thunders in silence, leaps with praise

Awe authors humble worship to He who some dare deny

From the fringe of eternity mercy and grace reply

Love lavishes this creature place with glorious majesty

Although the beauty of His face we cannot clearly see

We glimpse Him in the seasons as they toll from shore to shore

Frilled field and flower oceans rolling past our very door

The thankless creature shakes a fist; the grateful creature bows

As gray, or gold and amethyst bends daybreak's gleaming prows

Where whether unawares or not each precious creatures stands

Not only on a foot-width plot, but in God’s gracious hands

Morning’s welcome mat shimmers as it unveils land and sea

Creation swells with glimmers of the Giver’s majesty

Oh, God forgive, greed claws, hate desecrates and bombs destroy

While faithfully He parts the gates where nature rings with joy

© Janet Martin

Something about the gory scenes of war 

bleeding

beneath trees bursting into blossom 

on hills 

steeped in virgin green

tugs at the crux of one's 

soul! 

🙏😢

Psalm 89:11
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: 

as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

This Is My Father's World

This Is My Father's World Lyrics

(so comforting for the times we are in as we lift our prayers

for all the hurting to Him)

This is my father's world

And to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres

This is my father's world

The birds their carols raise

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their maker's praise

This is my father's world

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas

His hand the wonders wrought

This is my father's world

Oh, let me never forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is the ruler yet

This is my father's world

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is king, let the heavens ring

God reigns, let the earth be glad

This is my father's world

He shines in all that's fair

In the rustling grass, I hear him pass

He speaks to me everywhere

Songwriters: C. Barny Robertson / Dp / Maltbie Babcock