Sometimes I Miss The Bliss of Ignorance

This post began taking shape through some very precious get togethers

 with friends of Lucy's who have now become friends of mine.

What bittersweet joy these friendships hold...(for both sides)

as we near the 7 mo. mark since she left this world for the next.

Today marks a year since this community

mourned/mourns the loss of a dear wife, mother and friend...

This poem is written

In Loving Memory of Kelly and Lucy

These photos were lovingly composed mementos from a caring friend...

 

Sometimes I miss the bliss of ignorance borne happily

Till sorrow tore the front door from the hinges of my heart

And I welcomed in strangers who were friends waiting to be

To teach me lessons about love and friendship’s priceless part/art

Sometimes, in the raw longing of remembering Her face

I fear that I would trade them all for one more sacred chance/dance

To linger without looking at the clock, in the embrace

Between hello and the farewell that Time never recants

Sometimes goodness and mercy’s Tender Shepherd steals my breath

He comforts me; and crowns my grief with joy, words cannot spell

He draws my want beyond the somber outer folds of death

(Futile to lean upon the place where last Her shadow fell)

Beyond the somber outer folds of Death, I gaze because

The bitter cup of grief when tipped is like a curtain-rise

Then, sometimes when I miss the bliss of ignorance, I pause

And thank God for the unveiling of angels in disguise 

© Janet Martin

 

 

 

God Bless You As You Celebrate...

I have four friends celebrating birthdays today!

A 70th, a 61st, a 50th, and a sweet young 30-something 💝

Happy Birthday, Karen, Debbie, Kim and Paula!

All of you have enriched my life immensely!

Esp. in the past 5 mos. 🙏

God bless you are you celebrate.

God bless you as you celebrate the gift each birthday brings

An opportunity to count the gifts we sometimes miss

For life is full of cares crowding to cloud love's finer things

Caught between hello hugs that lead to farewell's tender kiss

God bless you as you celebrate each face-to-face delight 

Let a firm handshake steal your breath, let laughter make you cry

With joy and thankfulness for everybody you hold tight

And never take for granted looking loved ones in the eye

God bless you are you celebrate another year complete

Where highs and lows collect in settled dust of Past, surreal 

And Today, Happy Birthday, grants a milestone, bittersweet

Because no one can hold at bay, Time's hastening appeal 

 

God bless you as you celebrate the give and take of love

And make the most of Here and Now, because we cannot see

How near or far we are to where the Soul slips off its glove

And leaves behind the precious treasure of A Memory

Love, from Janet 

And to all of us who have or will, 

Lord willing, celebrate a birthday this year!

Author unknown for the poem below...

To Frame a Memory...

Today is perfect cup-o'-java-joy-bottomless-refill weather!

Part of the reason I spent this morning's hours outdoors 

was the promise of a rain-song afternoon!

I began painting another poem this morning, 

then got distracted by duty and beauty

While along came this poem to

 interrupt the previous one...

'composed' by the last 24 hours of life!

A peek onto a poet's 'colour-palette' 😊

If I could I would frame it;

that moment when she and I

stood spellbound by an egret

beneath autumn's brooding sky

That cozy fall contentment

with a coffee-pot between

That season of enchantment;

as bronze seeped through summer green

That solace of the woodland

and its shadow-dappled path

Its palace built with remnants

of butterfly aftermath

The orchard that not long ago

was wreathed in white and pink

Lanes decked in perfumed petal snow

Where now red apples wink

Dawn, as it drew ajar

windows of opportunity

Dusk, as it pinned a star

on pages of fresh history

September's cinnamon-kissed sweeps

we tasted with our eyes

The playful puppy as it leapt

through laughter's paradise

Saturday pitter-patter fueled

by rain-symphony 

Where ink and order dueled

(they will never quite agree)

My mother in her kerchief, warm

against fall's chill embrace

Love, evoking a perfect storm

*for joys so un-commonplace

Wonder, in all its rapture

never snared by brush or pen

I wish that I could capture it

to touch and taste again

...and then I smile, and then I say

Thank God for poetry

A poem is the perfect way

To frame a memory

Janet Martin

* a mother's kerchief-framed

most-beloved-of-all-faces

is anything but commonplace 

so I edited that sentence💖

Another un-commonplace joy today

is my parent's 58th wedding anniversary!

Consolation Canticle

This post is inspired be this dear old hymn;

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

We may come to Him just as we are!

Just As I Am

When life doles out double trouble; when hearts break with bitter grief

Each day like an uphill struggle where disappointment seems chief

What sweet comfort to remember There is One who will defend

Then we weep with joyful wonder ‘What a friend, oh, what a friend’

When love feels too great a burden; thorns bereft of Beauty’s crown

When we groan beneath the hurtin’ and we want to lay it down

What sweet solace to remember There is One who will restore

As we lean on Him and murmur ‘What a Saviour I adore’

When the weight of what is waiting seeks to steal our present strength

When the process of the breaking strips away well-trained pretense

What sweet release to remember There is One who fully heeds

As we hope with humble hunger in He who supplies our needs’

When faith's altar is the rubble that remains of plans and dreams

What a friend we have in Jesus; no matter how all else seems

What sweet goodness to remember, there is One who will prevail

Then we walk, stronger than ever because Jesus will not fail

© Janet Martin

Matt.11:28-30

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, 

and I will give you rest. 

29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 

for I am [f]gentle and lowly in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. 

30For My yoke is easy 

and My burden is light.”

Jesus~

To My Family and Friends (with my blessing)

PAD Challenge 23: Time for our fourth (but not final) Two for Tuesday of the month! 

Pick one prompt or use both…your choice! 

1. Write a free poem.
2. Write a not free poem.

 Seems everything I dream is part of you...

You have taken (with my blessing)

What I used to call ‘me free time’

You make me feel undeserving

Of love's (often uphill) climb

Strange how we change what we wish for

From footloose and fancy-free

To the best life has to offer

When love turns ‘me’ into ‘we’

Once upon a long-gone freedom

I would dread The To-do List

That was before you and me and

All the love we would have missed

Love fills up life’s cup of laughter

And because not much is free

Love drains all but echoes after

Life turns time to memory

Keep on taking (with my blessing)

The 'me free time' I hear tell of

Because after Us there's nothing

I would rather have than love

© Janet Martin

As long as we love

there will always be

So much to do

and so little time!

Hello Fellow-Traveler...

 PAD Challenge day one; Write a morning poem

 Just can't resist showing a pic of my newest-sweetest-baby-est fellow-traveler

(our grand-daughter, not quite 2 days old)

Hello, fellow trav’ler of pleasure and pain

Of twilight’s goodnight and dawn’s ‘begin again’

Because none of us sets out to fail or fall

Let’s lean on each other and love one and all

Hello fellow-trav’ler where we always meet

On morning’s fresh threshold of gold or gray street

Where we all grow old if we’re given the chance

So let’s help each other through each day God grants

Hello fellow-trav’ler of high road and low

My, my, but what waits to be we cannot know

Where future is never the picture we drew

And we're all just learning what we thought we knew

Hello, fellow-trav’ler where Time’s tolling bell

Soft-nudges us nearer to tears of farewell

Where no one can tell when death’s knell bids us part

So let’s love each other with all of our heart

…and let’s greet each morning like an honoured guest

In all that life offers let’s give it our best

And taste like word-sugar love’s sweetest words yet

Hello fellow-trav’ler, so nice to have met

© Janet Martin

Let's Just Be Friends...

“A new command I give you: Love one another. 

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, 

if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

 These two youngsters are still learning the art of friendship; 

one minute its hug-you love, the next its hit-and-shove.

But they are babies and simply 'acting their age'

I've seen similar 'action' whether in body or language 

from we who are 'old enough to know better!'

 

...for there is always more to It Than that which meets the eye

Where judgment’s quick analysis cannot the full descry

So before we ignore the More that Mercy’s love defends

Let’s put our arms around each other and let’s just be friends

Let he or she who has not sinned be bold enough to stand

Aha! See there is no one who is fit to raise a hand

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

Then let’s not be so quick to shed a fellow-trav’ler’s blood

Let’s just be friends and then instead of condemnation’s slight

The love of God in us will fit us for life's soul-full fight

Instead of fist-a-cuff His love will change hearts, hard and blind

And turn fear into courage because words are soft and kind

© Janet Martin

inspired by a moment yesterday when I oh, so dearly wish I would have kept my mouth shut!

As If...No Time Has Passed At All

For Jesus-followers, as hard as farewells are, 

we have a bond that goes beyond miles right through eternity!

There is nothing in this world like the bond between fellow-believers!

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor. 13

Never enough time with those we love!
I was going to do this post way before a month passed but...
you know how it is; the days feel twice as short, it seems, since we're back,
 catching up on fall work and adjusting to a new child-care routine!

I have a lot of thought-hugs (aka prayer:) for this gal (an old neighbor) since visiting a month ago!

And when we meet each other, sisters in The Faith, it's as if no time has passed at all...

This gal had a huge welcome' sitting on our counter and in the fridge when we got in...

 (in a  house lent to us for our east-family visit) by its owner-angel we have never met!

I cherish the face to face moments we had...almost a month ago already?!!

...and some moment are nice immortalized in poem!

A few people have asked how many poems my East-trip-visit inspired
and my answer is always the same...I don't know yet!

I was thinking as I cleaned a mundane lunch mess, 

about where we were a month ago and how nice it was to just sort of pick up where we left off...

..to a heart-neighbour (not an old neighbour:)

...As if our children had not grown

taller than she or I

where year on year has softly flown

into That Big Oh My

as if a couple thousand miles

did not exist twixt Touch

so then hugs drowned in teary smiles

Don't hurt us quite so much

as if, deep down we try not to

dwell on the Big Fat When

of days-weeks-months, a year or two

until we meet again

as if her house was next to mine

or not far down the street

we say with Confidence Divine

farewell until we meet

Janet Martin