Pages

Monday, February 26, 2024

For Your Name's Sake (some sonnets)

You drape the dell with scarves of silver tulle...

You carve the curving course of brook-song hue...

...the earth is full Of the glorious handiwork of You





You drape the dell with scarves of silver tulle
You carve the curving course of brook-song hue
That shimmers out to sea; the earth is full
Of the glorious handiwork of You

You fill and whet the seed that leaps to life
Fruit and flower reply; ah, who are we
That we should doubt Your ways while earth runs rife
With Your mercy, glory and majesty

You stir within the human heart a sense
Of holiness and power undeterred
A Culmination, awesome and immense
That eye has not yet seen nor ear yet heard

Oh Lord, let no path I pursue or take
Be for a lesser cause than Your name’s sake

***

Ps.23:3
...he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

***

You wake and rouse the earth from winter’s clutch
With ways we love and have come to expect
With daffodils and robin trills and such
With plumes and blooms sun-kisses resurrect

You tune four-season’s steadfast carousels
Sun, moon and stars their ordained circuits stay
And never stray; not one planet rebels
Your perfect law and order they obey

Nothing and no one can usurp Your will
Ancient oracles have not slipped your ken
Heaven and earth will not pass away till
Each jot and tittle is fulfilled. Amen

Behold! where autumn’s auburn petals fell
Springtime’s unfailing hallelujahs swell

***

Ps.24:1
The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof;

***

The earth is Yours, and its fulness thereof
The greedy forget this and want for more
Than Your goodness, mercy, kindness and love
Offering wealth that pales this world’s brief store 

Your righteousness and truth are of great price
The wise covet its fortune earnestly
Striving to be a living sacrifice
Lest worship be a show of vanity

You rend the dark; cut mercy’s legions loose
You bend heavens and earth with evidence
Of You; thus, we are all without excuse
When it comes to devotion’s recompense

Dear Lord, whatever life may bring our way
Help us endeavor to trust and obey

***

Ps.103:8
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

***

Compassionate and slow to anger, You
Withhold judgment, but not forever, oh
Someday total accounting will come due
Pity the one who heard You and said 'no'  

You, who held nothing back but gave Yourself
Pity the one who prizes prideful pelf
Above the love that robs death/hell of its claim

Time's four-season circuit spins round and round
Some sense its sacred toll, some scoff and sneer
But someday Time's Veneer will run aground 
And all earth's tribes will mourn with holy fear

Then, hope and grace and faith will be no more
When who we chose to serve settles the score 

© Janet Martin

***
Matt.24:30
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, 
and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory.

***

Behold! where autumn’s auburn petals fell...

Springtime’s unfailing hallelujahs swell





No comments:

Post a Comment

I hope you enjoyed your pause on this porch and thank-you for your visit!