Redemption's Second Best Hue...

Happy Ascension Day!

Acts 1:9-11

After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, 

and a cloud hid Him from their sight. 

10They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, 

when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

 11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?

 This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, 

will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

Isa.55:12

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; 

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, 

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Celebrating green, among other colors in today's post;

sharing a few shots from an excursion yesterday, with a friend and

kindred spirit, we oohed and aahed and squealed and sighed to our heart's content

at details we didn't need to explain...

Redemption’s flood is red that flowed/flows for all at Calvary

So that we who are/were dead in sin might live eternally

For, all who repent and believe by faith have been made whole

The grace of God through Christ achieves hope’s anchor for the soul

But, for the earth reborn in spring, redemption’s flood is green

A death-defying deluge thundering from founts unseen

A tidal wave of emerald as hallelujahs peal

Through fields and woodlands heralding their Orchestrator’s zeal

Trees clap their hands, grass-cushioned grandstands beckon everyone

The river’s wrinkled sashes twinkle silver in the sun

Tulips in bold profusion bloom, as bud after bud pops

On verdant, velvet banks are strewn pools of forget-me-nots

Fair nature celebrates redemption’s second-best hue; green

Regaling trees with melodies where bare branches had been

Unfettering a plush, lush splurge, surging from east to west

While rabbit hops from bush to bush, a nibble-happy guest/pest

© Janet Martin

It's May

A montage of glimpses that helped inspire today's poem...

a poem that ended up being an all-day-long doggerel

as lines were snagged between a rather dizzying dash of to-do-ness

Treetop’s translucent flickers wink; its first fanned flame is brief

Soon every bit of blue-sky chink will be filled in with leaf...

At dusk frayed half-leaf shadows sprawl beneath a pastel sky...

And everywhere we look green ambience haloes the land

Unraveled in skein after skein from the Creator’s hand...

Time’s wheel of seasons spins; it’s the beginning of Sweet May

The Belle of Blossoms wins; Old Man Winter is tucked away

Contagious rapture seizes outstretched arms of heart and soul

Hope trembles on warm breezes like a celestial drum roll

Below the hill the winding brook meanders between reeds

It curls its gurgling lay through nooks where the blue heron feeds

And everywhere we look green ambience haloes the land

Unraveled in skein after skein from the Creator’s hand

Treetop’s translucent flickers wink; its first fanned flame is brief

Soon every bit of blue-sky chink will be filled in with leaf

Soon every wooden wick will brim with hymns of nature’s praise

Kindling the giddy glance and glim of glorious summer days

Forget-me-nots dazzle the dell with periwinkle whiff

Regal tulip-chalice compels us to draw near and sniff

To peer deep into petal-souls and be completely awed

At each iconic detail extolling the eye of God

The slope is strewn with sunbeams; yellow dappled luxury

I wonder, was the dandelion post-Eden or pre?

The robin entertains, with earnest tug-for-dinner fight

The grosbeaks and orioles return, to Birdwatcher’s delight

Time’s wheel of seasons spins. It’s May, and the glad gardener cheers

The perky pansy grins, the bleeding heart bursts into tears

The fallow furrow beckons and the chipping sparrow trills

The brooding bloom plot reconciles and smiles in daffodils

The worry-wart forgets to fret, as beauty tames the Beast

As joy, once set before us sets a sumptuous splendor-feast

And worship overflows, in hearts susceptible to bliss

Of blush-blue-green-gold works of art, as earth yields to spring’s kiss

May turns our spirits younger in a bare foot happy-dance

May satisfies the hunger for a soil-and-soul romance

May grants a glimpse of Heaven in earth’s air of welcome hugs

Past garden-woes forgiven; (yes, even potato bugs)

May is a lithesome minstrel, piping luring melodies

May sprinkles blossom tinsel like confetti beneath trees

May makes us feel like royalty in palaces of dirt

And we become more carefree, in spite of life’s shares of hurt

May makes us very merry, imbibed with draughts of fresh air

May wears apple and cherry orchards like boughs/bows in Her hair

May unfolds frilly parasols that money cannot buy

At dusk frayed half-leaf shadows sprawl beneath a pastel sky

The farmer whistles, faith-refueled between fall and spring

Em’rald frond glistens, rain-bejeweled, bees buzz and birds sing

It’s May. Mourning doves bicker in soft-flick’ring filigree

*The frisky calf kicks up its heels, quicker than you or me

© Janet Martin

*the last line is inspired by a calf-chase I engaged in last week,

and a heads up from another neighbor this morning,

to be on the lookout for a frisky, brown calf that out ran its owners!

Dear May, a Farewell Love-letter

 Happy last Day of May!

Dear May, somehow you always exceed eager expectation

As you begin to nurture nature’s treed rejuvenation

As gardens start to thrill our gaze with petal-punctuation

And overhead a minstrel plays leaf-lays in celebration

Dear May, you always rouse anew, rekindled planting pleasure

As you run wooing whispers through buds bursting with bloom treasure

As you, beneath young and old feet, unfurl your finest measure

Where beauty and duty compete with lures of toil and leisure

Dear May, the way you always spill with April’s remnant showers

Makes worth the while it takes until you reward faith with flowers

Tulip chalices, bleeding hearts, allium, lilac-bowers

Always, your floral drumroll kickstarts summer’s fleeting hours

Dear May, your dust is sacred, stirred by farmer’s urgent labor

Your prudent lease sublimely blurred by your lime-coloured saber

Waving a welkin wand that welcomes home the long-lost neighbor

As nests are built and filled with featherdown and fledgling caper

Dear May, it always feels as if you leave us way too soon-oh

Medley of march-and-meander through days, dandeli’n-strewn-oh

We could not bear the fare-thee-well of your sweet afternoon-oh

But for the tolling of a bell that always brings us June-oh

© Janet Martin

Perfect Fit...

When the backdrop of day is green

Because the bud has borne its sheen...

And when the crown of it is blue...

And when the dawn of it is new

And when its gown is lilac-starred

And its breeze like soft seas unbarred...

And when its flowers smile and nod

And when its Gardener is God...

Is it not enough just to fit

Into a teeny bit of it...

When the backdrop of day is green

Because the bud has borne its sheen

And when the crown of it is blue

And when the dawn of it is new

And when its gown is lilac-starred

And its breeze like soft seas unbarred

And when its flowers smile and nod

And when its Gardener is God

Is it not enough just to fit

Into a teeny bit of it...

And make the most of it because

Soon it will be the Day That Was

© Janet Martin

1 Chron. 29:11

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, 

The power and the glory, 

The victory and the majesty; 

For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; 

Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, 

And You are exalted as head over all.