Farewell's Shadowlands

Oh, the undeterred momentum of moments no one can faze

It sparkles through our bearing to a world of yesterdays

It vexes rhyme-dazed poets and Duty's proprietors

As it hastens new morning through noon and dusk's gaping doors

Where, in the wake of choices that we make in its brief chase/grace

Remains the part that never stays yet no one can erase...

The above ditty was suddenly inspired from part of a 

conversation with Hubby this morning, who called

in the beginning/middle of the poem below,

begun after starting the fire, morning devotions

between putting supper in the crockpot,

filling empty bird feeders,

answering messages, texts and emails,

and other sundry domestic dues,

 while trying not to panic as

 I gaped at the clock that boldly declared

that the topic I began writing about

(daybreak's hello) in the waking hues of today

has long since ceased to be...

already part of farewell's shadowland!

but, in the afore mentioned conversation 

Hubby asked me if I ever think of everything

I could accomplish if I didn't write.

I guess none of us can see the hidden 'scale' within,

 where we weigh (hopefully) the eternal value of how we fill

fleeting moments!

Oh, how often I am torn between lyrical cadence

and domestic prudence 😔😅

...because what we do is so brief

yet so eternal!

Dawn, like an unplumbed well of ink

Unstoppers gold-gray, blue and pink

The tranquil tides of night soft-wane

Unveiling berths of mirth and pain

Beneath the tolling of a bell

Unfurling shadows of farewell

The halo of hello is brief

Harbinger of pleasure and grief

Like ripples of a pebble tossed

Dawn disappears; its advent lost

In hues and dues that rose then fell

To fuel shadows of farewell

How subtle spills life’s epitaph

A world where echoes weep and laugh

Composed from the momentous surge

Where daybreak and hello soon merge

Like melted mist, intangible

With long, deep shadows of farewell

Present, where past and future meet

Beckons reckonings, bittersweet

How careful-prayerful we should weigh

Think-ink, that fuels do-and-say

Soft spilling from our lips and hands

To dwell in farewell's shadowlands  

© Janet Martin

Ps. 121

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to [a]be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your [b]keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall [c]preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve[d] your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

A Beautiful Life-Jim Reeves

Farewell, dear January...

January has been watered with many a private tear

and strengthened through many a private prayer!

Thank-you, everyone who has been part of this army

of casting our cares on God!

January granted some much needed down-time,

though not totally by choice but due to 

a variety of cold and flu bugs... 

January has given me a start in tackling

some long-procrastinated tasks;

 organizing-purging-cleaning

January has thrilled my snow-loving 'inner child' with heaps of it!!

(good, old-fashioned winter in Ontario)

January always makes me extra-thankful

for warm homes and simple, wholesome food

gathered in glorious summer...

Prepping veg frittata and sweet-potato fries (an air-fryer fav!)

January has blessed me tenderly,

 with many words and mementos of love

from thoughtful friends and family

January is such a wonderful way to begin

a New Year; its slower pace

(if we discipline ourselves to make it so)

grants us opportunities to reflect 

on days/God's faithfulness past

and reevaluate our goals for hope's ahead.

Yesterday Victoria (daughter)

remarked how January flew by!!

yet, Christmas seems so long ago!

I agree!!

Eccles.3:1

To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

so,

Farewell, dear January...

Farewell, sweet January days 

Of earth tucked beneath stars and lace...

Of, 'oh, how can I count the ways'

I love your slower, simpler pace...

Of home-sweet-home contentment's blaze

Of tea-pot where happiness steeps...

Of awnings that command awed gaze

As heavens crown snow-swaddled sweeps

Farewell, sweet January days 

Of earth tucked beneath stars and lace

Of, 'oh, how can I count the ways

I love your slower, simpler pace

Of home-sweet-home contentment's blaze

Of tea-pot where happiness steeps

Of awnings commanding awed gaze

As heavens crown snow-swaddled sweeps

Farewell, dear January lull

The threshold of another year

If the Lord wills, of push and pull

Of laughter's vim and heartache's tear

  Where birth and death will lend life's best;

Love's utter joy and utter grief

Where Abraham's God still will test

Faith's untried measure of belief  

Cheers, January, bittersweet  

While Old Man Winter huffs and blows

We find a comfy window seat

To watch five-star bird-feeder shows

While wiggling toes in cozy socks

And giggling at bickering breeds

Where a flurry of feathers rocks

 Tables replete with supplied needs 

Farewell, fond January hours

Farmer and gardener's respite 

Before a fresh season of flow'rs

And fields to plant, awe and excite 

Farewell, fleet, fickle afternoon

Still twilight's early, easy prey

Before we welcome the glad boon

Of February's 'longer day' 

© Janet Martin

Cheers, January, bittersweet  

While Old Man Winter huffs and blows

We find a comfy window seat

To watch five-star bird-feeder shows...

November-Hushed

Garden-scapes are strangely quiet...

Sheared and shucked and tucked and tilled...

Hushed, the heaven-on-earth riot...

Of frames, fruit and flower-filled

Autumn's auburn awnings dwindled

Golden haloes dimmed and fell...

Autumn's auburn awnings dwindled

Golden haloes dimmed and fell

Earth, a hearth of embers kindled

With November-hushed farewell

Hushed, lush, lofty leaf-song rivers

Nature's funereal repose

Quickens sentimental shivers

From our heads down to our toes

Garden-scapes are strangely quiet

Sheared and shucked and tucked and tilled

Hushed, the heaven-on-earth riot

Of frames, fruit and flower-filled

Hushed, the carefree, barefoot banter

Of life-heady, laughing child

Heedless of Time's fixed decanter

Spilling where farewells run wild 

Like a heart learning love's lessons

Earth endures That Which Must Be

Time's cacophony of seasons

Age-old, still stuns you and me 

Where the bud bursting with treasure

Bears its bloom, withers and falls

Till the whole of nature's pleasure

Decks November's doleful/soulful halls

Hushed beneath a sheath of snowflakes

Hope and joy toll welkin bells

Comforting a world of heartaches

With November-hushed farewells   

  © Janet Martin

 

Hushed, the carefree, barefoot banter

Of life-heady, laughing child...

I Loved You Well

Today's poem is inspired by farewells

The bittersweet farewell to August

The bittersweet (Niagara Falls) tears of my grandchildren as they bid

Nova Scotia Mimi and cousin farewell

and could not, would not be comforted

(until I reminded them aunty Mel is coming home for the weekend

and there will be birthday cake!!!

 and that helped a little if not totally.)

I was reminded of how precious time is

as I chatted with my parents last night and was so touched 

as mom expressed how she sometimes longs so dearly

to talk to her mother again, who passed away 

around this time of year over 40 years ago!

and by my dad as he shared how deeply he misses his 

oldest brother who passed away in January of this year at age 85,

 But in their grief remains the calm joy as they look forward to seeing them again!

And therein is the comfort of farewell-what lies beyond it...

always the hope of hello again 💖 

Today, whether we have birthday celebrations or not,

is full of reasons to celebrate loving well!

(I am seeing 3 'birthday girls' today

My friend's mother turns 75

My little neighbour turns 3

and my sister (Carolyn) turns 54 💝

Yes, there will be cake tomorrow although it looked doubtful for a bit

after the first Lemon Poppy seed  Bundt cake broke beyond repair

when I pried it from the pan because I forgot to take it out while it was warm.

 The broken cake was soon 'rescued' by my daughter leaving for a camping weekend! 😅

Here's wishing to one and all, a weekend of loving well while we may!

Farewell August...

 

I loved you well, without regret; to wrangle with relinquishment

Is like bearing a beggar's debt no want or wish can circumvent

The way of days no thought can thwart; no force can faze Time's tolling bell

Each season like a love to court; each dawn a dance to dusk's farewell  

I knew it when we met, my dear; no longer blinded by hello

Without reserve, I held you near, suave harbinger of letting go 

And how we danced, while memories fell from ballads of such-and-such  

From bitter-sweetest harmonies of brutal strength and tender touch

Because I knew full well, my love, that time does not cater to 'stop!'

That days are never long enough for love to drain every last drop 

Thus, I avowed, with heart so true, before the hour of farewell

To cherish every part of you, so I could say 'I loved you well' 

And so I marveled at the rose and suffered the prick of its thorns

While tripping t'ward the curtain-close of summer's dew-bedazzled morns

I laughed, I wept, I hoisted sails; some that stood strong and some that fell 

Determined, that if all else fails I did my best to love you well 

My dear, today is all we have to weave what soon we leave behind 

Let's hope the echoes we engrave are beautiful, gentle and kind

For life is a fleet hug-and-kiss; dawn grants no twilight guarantee

Thus the best we can make is this-an 'I loved you well' legacy 

Janet Martin 

Galatians 6:10
As we have therefore opportunity, 

let us do good unto all men, 

especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

January Farewell Lyric

 A few final, farewell January mementos before February takes center stage

We had 3 sunrises in January; on the 4th, 21st & 22nd...

Though you are infamous because of temps that chill us to the bone

And gales that wail and howl and make us humbly glad for home-sweet-home

And though the farmer does not miss your tricks of frozen pipes and taps

You still spill much to love; your bliss of Jack Frost art, your pristine wraps

Your cooler pace than when we chase spring-summer-autumn’s urgent task

Your gratis shadow-show poured flawlessly on snow, from yonder flask

Your still-life ebb and flow of tundra; white and blue capped sense of seas

Your subdued quietude of muffled, snow-truffled brook-song and trees

Your feathered patron-jam at feeders filled with ceaseless flickering

Your yellow flash as sparrow-hawk crashes carefree bird-bickering

Your pure delight as white-on-white leaves speechless troubadours agape

Your happiness, that we confess is as simple as tea and cake

Your first-month-of-a-new-year-status, soon stripped of its pedestal

By a momentous apparatus that drains every season-full

Drains the outdoor rinks of pink-cheeked youngsters with star-sparkly eyes

Drains the eaves of ‘cicle-brickle, drains the bite from squall-rent skies

Drains winter’s hour of its power to hold gold and green at bay

Drains the bud to leafless lintel, drains bluster’s lackluster gray

Dear January, if we could I doubt that we would hit ‘repeat’

Yet in your wake you leave an ache for lyrics lost beneath Time's feet 

© Janet Martin

Your still-life ebb and flow of tundra; white and blue capped sense of seas

Jack Frost garage floor art!!