Best-Of-All Blessings

This poem was inspired by the flood of loving grad photos on social-media

from proud moms and dads...

One photo esp. inspired this poem as I stared at the tall, handsome, young man,

 that spent many hours at our house

and seems, was the size of the tots in the photos below not so long ago.

Reminds us to cherish the Here and Now,

the 'noisy joys of girls and boys' 💗

which filled the morning at Janet's/Grandma's house

They start so small;

life's best-of-all-blessings...

The momentum of to...

...and from, is subtle in its tugs

They start so small

Life’s ‘best-of-all-

Blessing' fills arms and hearts

The noisy joys

Of girls and boys

One of love’s sweetest parts

…while sparkling streams

Of hopes and dreams

Become the tender tide

Of smiles and tears

And days and years

That draw them from our side

The momentum

Of to-and-from

Is subtle in its tugs

As moments meld

To seasons felled

Beneath kisses and hugs

Time’s stellar flight

Of morn to night

Turns little people tall

While ‘I love you’

Fashions the flue

Through which youth's contrails fall

And keens us to

An avenue

Trampled, but not with feet

Where blessings of

Life’s best part; love

Makes thankfulness complete

 

© Janet Martin

Eph.5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us...

 

Dear Child, Why Do We Spend Precious Time With You?

Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

PAD Challenge 24: 

For today's prompt, write a question poem. 

Bird-watching/learning

Grampa-trampa-line...

Aunty-secrets

Order up; Pine-cone Corndog

puppy-love

Next two photos; photo credit Brittany Ruppert

Uncle antics...

Aunty-acrobats

Why do we walk, talk, read, sing, pray

And spend precious time patiently

With you? Because, sweet child, someday

The sapling will become a tree

How swift the seed begins to sprout

To crucial pliability

Thus, it takes love’s diligent clout

To train the tendrils of a tree

…the kind and gentle touch, the knife

To prune weak offshoots faithfully

So, you can weather storms of life

When you become a full-grown tree

How brief the shaping season is

How swift the tender sapling grows

Why do we scold, hold, hug and kiss

To make you strong when life's wind blows

© Janet Martin

For Homemaker and Childcare-giver

 Inspired by today and other days much like it...

Pee-puddles, sweet cuddles, study of a bug
Tuck in for a nap then called back for kiss-hug
Rain-laughter and after it slows, barefoot splash
A picnic of popcorn, Popsicle mishmash
A dash after mister who shed all his clothes
A leap to snare missy and wipe runny nose
One rag for all spills, a face-cloth for each kid
‘Crunch’ say the toast crumbs, spaghetti cries ‘skid!’
Boogers and snooger bunnies, me-oh-my
Swing till the tippy-toes tickle the sky
Hair-tangles, bear wrangles, spoon on plate-drum
Wondering what (soon grown up) they'll become
Cup refill, cup re-spill, patience gets riled
Some things never change when it comes to a child
Where Teacher and Learner are both young and old
But one is the pourer and one is the mold
Where messes and happiness mingle unplanned
Innocence and experience hand in hand
Toy trucks in planters and blooms strewn awry
Oft-repeated answers for oft-repeated ‘why’
Toys, noise and simple joys gone in a blink
Girls and boys poised on an echo-world’s brink
Unicorns, teddy-bears, picture-books, dolls
Gossamer glimmers on yesterday’s walls

© Janet Martin

What You Cannot Know (through no fault of your own)

'You didn’t know me then', I sometimes say to my now grown children

 when we talk about something I used to do before they were born, 

such as drive to work at 4:00 a.m. on slippery wintery roads.

 All they know me as is mom who looks after a family’s practical needs!

 (my sis texted me this afternoon about these pages above

and more but you'll have to buy or borrow the book for the rest)😀

The Shape of a Year by Jean Hersey

I think because we have the same mother and we both have daughters

we relate to certain parts of this book on a very mutual level! 

One of my top ten favs ever!

My dear, you cannot understand (by no fault of your own)

How much your mother’s heart expands to hold children full-grown

Or how the girl she was is still a part of who she is

(no matter what changes because Time keeps its promises)

The heart you cannot fathom until you are old as she

Will always still be learning how to hold while setting free

Twixt yester’s child and today’s woman, man her love is torn

Where thankfulness and longing spar in whispers heaven-borne

Yes, she’s been disappointed at love’s disappointments, oh

At how the future is nothing like she dreamed long ago

As God so rich in mercy grants breath-stealing more or less

And teaches her to look closer at ‘what is happiness’

I did not understand back then (through no fault of my own)

How oft my mother’s heart landed before her Father’s throne

Or how once upon long ago my mother used to be

A barefoot maiden filled with dreams foot-loose and fancy-free

Before the call and cares of life joined love and motherhood

And still through all the joy and strife she knew that it is good

How all we did not understand is what waited to be

Sweet thrills of surprise at age-old, newfound discovery

…she waits for passion to become astonished at time’s way

No one can seize the pendulum that dictates night and day

But as the heart expands to hold what soon is left behind

The girl she was will remind her to be patient and kind

© Janet Martin

Once Upon a Mother's Love...

It's November. Writer's Digest's Poem-a-day prompt begins again!

For today’s prompt, write a once upon a time poem. 

With a change in pronouns this could be  'dad' or 'parents' poem as well
but because my dear mother turns 77 today, I wrote it for her.
The older she and I get, the more I cherish the person she is
and the more I realize how much I took for granted!)

(my mother, being of a meek and modest nature
might not object to one small pic of her peeking from behind some blooms)

Happy 77th, mom!

Oh, once upon a younger love

Before Time turned the page

That stirs revised collections of

A fond and foreign age

There, from a well of priceless ink

No child can comprehend

The poetry of childhood’s wink

Was unconsciously penned

Oh, once upon our mother’s prime

We spent her best of days

Oblivious to Father Time

And his insistent ways

We out-grew shoes and buttered bread

And learned to do our share

Blind to the sacrificial thread

That wove her loving care

Oh, once upon a simpler day

(We didn’t see it then)

While balancing work, play and pray

We became women, men

And looking back thanks often falls

Beyond the reach of word

Where once upon much greener halls

Childhood’s swift seasons blurred

…as once upon a mother’s love

Her fledglings learned to fly

Up, up, love's brave and tender shove

Propelled us to the sky

While we, intent upon the stars

Did not fathom her part

Until we bore love’s battle-scars

And wore a mother’s heart

© Janet Martin

Yesterday morning was our annual mom's birthday tea with my sisters and sister-in-laws;

ten of us in total and always a special time of food and fellowship

as we reconnect after a busy summer and plan for Christmas etc.

My contribution to the food was 

Oatmeal Raisin Pie

Mix and pour in unbaked 9" crust...

(handful of raisins sprinkled on crust optional)

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

 3 eggs, beaten

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (and/or nutmeg)

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup corn syrup

Bake approx. 45 min at 350F

Don't Grow Up Too Fast

Don’t grow up too fast little girl, little girl

Daddy’s cherished darling, Mommy’s precious pearl

Leave your dearest dollies scattered everywhere

Childhood is the nearest thing to heaven earth can share

Don’t grow up too fast, little boy, little boy

Mommy’s happy helper, daddy’s pride and joy

Leave your trucks and tractors scattered as you go

Childhood is the nearest thing to heaven earth can know

© Janet Martin