Serenaded............

Tonight you’ve come to sing to me
A sad and lonesome melody
Not sung by wind or barren limb
Not sung by her nor else by him
The notes that drift across the moon
Bear a melancholy tune
It brings a teardrop to my throat
Yet comforts me within its note
I’ve never heard a song like this
Bittersweet and tender bliss
High, then low the baton falls
In its flow an echo calls
From the faint, far-folded mist
I am serenaded, kissed
As the evening fades away
In a grand, soundless display
Like a phantom symphony
Silence; how you sing to me

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

November's Garden.....

A garden full of nothing…..
It used to be in bloom
She’d bask where nature’s passion
Shed her glory in full bloom
But that was before cold fingers
Stripped the last brave buds away
Still…..she comes and lingers
In the silence cold and gray
As she hears the tender echo
Of a summer passing by
And a little jolt of sorrow
Brings the teardrop to her eye
In a garden full of nothing
Where the flowers used to grow
Where the children loved to wander
And the laughing winds would blow
Where the blue eyes of September
Smiled a sweet and lazy sigh……..
Ah, the garden of November
Is a soulful lullaby

Janet~

The Trouble With Truth....

I can dance all around it and try to avoid it
Invent lies to take its place
But no matter how clever the ruse or endeavor
It eventually stares me in the face................

I can rearrange it and constantly change it
Re-phrase every sentence I write
But I may as well face it instead of erase it
For the truth visits me every night

I could write prose as sweet as a rose
With never a thorn or a tear
But what good are lies, just a fickle disguise
Until the truth re-appears

I can dance all around it and try to confound it
But I have learned in the end
I will still need to face it for naught can replace it............
And truth is both foe and friend..................

Janet~

Tomorrow......

Tomorrow will be too late
To go back to before today
Let’s take this moment, make the best of it
Before it slips away
No matter how hard we may wish to try
No matter what words we say
Today is as untouchable as the sky
When it becomes yesterday

Janet~

Pain............

I did the right thing today
…..and I cried
Why do the right things bring us pain
Before the peace of doing right?
Choosing the wrong gives us pleasure
Perhaps for a moment or two
But its reward is grief beyond measure…….
Tell me now, which should we choose?

Janet~

....sometimes it's 'tough love'
with our children...
and sometimes its 'tough love' with ourselves:)

Linked...........

We become linked to each other
In so many different ways
Sometimes in a moment of pleasure
Or untimely tragedies
Our paths cross, briefly or indefinitely
But we cannot sever
The myriad of memories
That stays with us forever

You were my teacher, you were my nurse
You were my first real kiss
You were the guy who returned my purse
You are the friend that I miss
You were a school mate, you were a pal
You were my best friend’s mom
Or maybe you were simply a gal
I met once, that night at the prom

You were my mechanic before I moved
You were the old man next door
You were the fellow that once I loved
Many long years before
You were the packer at the local food-mart
You were on my baseball team
You were the one who taught me the art
Of chasing an impossible dream

You were the doctor who said to me
Congratulations, it’s a girl
You were the one who once led me
To the brink of another world
You were the one who broke my heart
Before the one who stayed
You were the one who held my hand
When I was afraid

We become linked to each other
In various and sundry ways
Some memories stay with us forever
Some only for moments or days
A word, a touch, a handshake
A glance while passing by
Another link in an invisible chain
Reaching to the sky


All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

That's Life and Love

Sometimes a moment melts our hearts
Sometimes words cut like a knife
Sometimes truth tears us apart
Well, I guess that's love and life

Sometimes hope is a vault of blue
Sometimes rain pours from above
Every so often a wish does come true
Well, I guess that's life and love

Janet~

I Understand.............

To smile and say that I understand
No matter how noble my thought
When I have not walked your mile in the sand
Or been taught what you have been taught
Is simply an impossibility
I cannot understand it then completely
But I can listen as you share
And I can sincerely care

To say that I understand or know
What you are going through
Can only be truly stated by those
Who have walked there too……..
But sorrow or loneliness feels the same
No matter what circumstance is to blame
So will you let me hold your hand?
In that respect…..I understand

We’ll taste, if we live long enough
The sorrow of regret
The agonizing side of love
Or words we can’t forget
I may not walk your mile or two
But in my life I’ve walked a few
And I would like to hold your hand
Because I know you understand

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Heavenly Poem....

God sent me a lovely poem today
Written on parchment of blue
The ink was as gold as the sunshine of May
With only a stray cloud or two
The syllables whispered on fleet-footed breeze
Dancing as if it were June
I’ll take a whole volume of the same poem, please
At one o’ clock each afternoon

~Janet~

Consolation......

I miss it already and it is hardly gone
I miss the music-laden dawn
Melting 'cross a dew-drenched lawn
Unlike this silent shroud
As from every tree and rill
Nature's golden song would spill
Over every field and hill
Before this austere cloud


I miss the murmur of the breeze
The laughter of the willow trees
As the taunting zephyrs tease
Her green and golden tresses
Oh, I miss the fern-lined bower
And the sudden summer shower
I miss each smiling, sunny flower
In all their pretty dresses

They tell me that the summer's gone
But within me it lives on
I can see so far beyond
The brown hills of November
To the music of the sea
Flowing 'cross this frosty lea
In a sun-kissed melody
As softly I remember

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

I Should Be Happy......

We raked up the remaining leaves last night…..
For a while we just lay there in autumn’s delight
Inhaling the scent of a summer gone by……….
I should be happy, but I want to cry

The sky is the perfect shade of melancholy
The wind moans a lonesome melody
Wildly thrilling, this blue lullaby
I should be happy, but I want to cry

As we dashed to load up the leaves we had piled
The wind whipped large rain drops about; my son smiled
‘I like this’ he laughed and I said ‘me too’
I should be happy, but I am so blue

I love the scent of November; the wind and the rain
I love to lie here and remember……sweet summer again
I love the exhilaration of her cool, sullen eye
I should be happy…but......I want to cry

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

No Little Things.......

It’s the little drops of water
That fills the ocean wide
And little blades of grass and blooms
That decks the countryside
It’s all the little grains of sand
That makes a sandy beach
And little breaths make memories
Soon beyond our reach
Oh yes, in life the little things
Are the big things, it’s true
So there really are no little things
In anything we do………..

It’s the little unkind, thoughtless word
That breaks a tender heart
It’s little selfish acts incurred
That tears true love apart
It’s all the little ‘I love you’s’
Each pleasant little smile
That brings the joy to all we do
In each little mundane mile
Oh yes, in life the little things
Are really not that small
For somehow in the little things
We learn to stand up tall

The little acts of disrespect
Without small reprimand
With just a little more neglect
Will someday be a man
When a little kind, gentle reproof
A little patience too
May be the difference and the proof
When a childhood is through
Oh, yes in life the little things
Become oceans and men
And little things wrought in the ‘now’
Will soon live in the ‘then’

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

TCM was playing Annie, Get Your Gun, which I was
watching/listening to while fall-cleaning
the family room.....when a 'little' remark
started a big train of thought:):)

The Last Leaf Fell......

I think today the last leaf fell
No grand hurray, no sad farewell
No distant tolling of a bell
I think today the last leaf fell

Has autumn shed her final tear?
The rustling bed of memories dear
Ah, so it goes, another year
Has autumn shed her final tear?

I think today a teardrop fell
But who it is, no one can tell
Sorrow is a silent well
I think today a teardrop fell

Winter, spring, summer and fall
Splash their colors on us all
Painting memories on our wall
Winter, spring, summer and fall

I think today the last leaf fell
Where it landed, none can tell
Nature’s tears, a soundless knell
I think today the last leaf fell

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Today was a silent, stunning dawn.

Some Things Never Change......

It’s been said of this old life
That nothing stays the same
And that the only constant
Thing in this life is change
But now that I am older
I would like to make this claim
As much as things are changing
Some things still stay the same

A dollar makes a young lad grin
And boys will still be boys
Full of mischief, life and vim
Energy and noise
Heaven still sends angels down
Wrapped up in little girls
Wisdom is our greatest crown
Above rubies and pearls

A baby is still innocence
Pure and undefiled
And there is nothing on this earth
As precious as a child
A mother in the kitchen
Is considered old-fashioned
But a home-cooked meal for dinner
Is still loved by everyone

A broken heart still hurts the same
As it did years ago
We still make dirt regardless of
The latest cool gizmo
Love is still the dearest thing
That everybody needs
Words can heal or injure
And our actions still plant seeds

Hand-written letters are still the best
And can be tucked into a pocket
You cannot smell an e-mail
Or put it in a locket
A sunset is still beautiful
As is a sudden smile
We long for our loved ones
We have not seen in a while

Constant is this thing called ‘change’
It changes oh, so much
Yet there’s a myriad of things
That change can never touch
God’s love is still unending
His gift of grace is free
And nothing changes one great truth
After life…..is eternity

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Thought..................

We cannot always pen in word
The thoughts that tease and plague or hurt........
Nor does it seem that I've been taught
How to derail my train of thought
Thoughts seem to have minds of their own
Drifting and tumbling when we are alone
Unhindered by distance, time or space
In them lingers the warmth of a face...............
Thought is our chief in command
Thought becomes the work of our hand
It can be pleasure or agony
The cradle of our destiny
Thought provokes and it inspires
Sometimes the smoke, more oft the fire
It is an endless avenue
Given to both the wise and the fool
Tis the thoughts we choose to entertain
Which lead us to ruin or wisdom’s gain

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Hideout....

She made a little hide-out
To get away from the ‘crowd’
And on the outside she wrote
‘NO BOYS ALLOWED’………….

And it made me ponder
If I have a hide-out
With a sign on the door
Saying…..’NO GOD ALLOWED’

Janet~

Almost November

The perfumed haunts of late July
Lay cold and barren ‘neath the sky
A sky of moody blue and gray
Where low cloud drives the sun away
The sun which seems a little pale
It’s valiant beam a little frail


The purple pansy bows her head
Nestled in a leafy bed
She listens to the lonesome tune
Of winds that used to laugh in June
But now they sweep across the earth
Weeping with a chilling mirth

In the frigid morning hush
The paint upon the artist’s brush
Has turned from gold, scarlet and bronze
To cold and muted under-tones
Almost November……is what it would say
If the sky were turned into a painting today…………..

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

What Might Have Been........

Not for us to plead
For brilliant field
Or question cold and
Grievous streams
Tumbling by.......
All the fruit
That thought can yield
And all the yearning
Of vague dreams
In barren reaches lie
Does wisdom fall
To those who patiently abide
Trusting higher Hands
Life's undulating echoes call
Across the shifting tide.......
Life's shadows dance
And shimmer on time's whitewashed sands
With joy and sorrow drifting low
A transcient sheen
Not for us to clutch within our hands
The elusive glow
Of what might have been

What Was It?

What was it about that night?
Was it the way the pale blue moonlight
Was slightly diffused by the ragged cloud
That hung like a muse or a misty shroud
On the Shoulder of the autumn eve
Or was it the sight of that lingering leaf
Shivering like a lonely Straggler on the street
That is silent now, though all day busy feet
Moved by Him, and no one said ‘hello’
Was it the Sigh of the naked willow?
Or was it the ivy that clung to the wall
Where I could see the Shadow fall
Of the tree where the lonesome leaf still clung
And far-off on the breeze the town clock strikes one
And I should be sleeping like the fit and the wise
But for some reason slumber evades my eyes
For I cannot forget that mood in the air
Akin to that night I met You there
Ah yes, I remember it now…I do
What made that night special; it was You

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Leaves.............

Leaves...........
If they were leaves
they would drift
aimlessly, on the breeze
then settle at last at our feet
or be that miniature raft
on a rippling avenue
its destiny; the great big sea
or a forgotten shore
where they would never be remembered
anymore
If they were leaves I could
gather them and burn them......
Destroy them.......
They would be so numerous
with none significant
in a soundless descent.......
and eventually
the last leaf would fall.......
and there would be
nothing
left
at all.................
to remind me of you
But thoughts are nothing like leaves
There will never be a last one to fall.........
and no matter how many thoughts compile
they will never be too numerous
to bury or crowd out
or make insignificant
my
every
thought
of you

~Janet Martin~