Candor of the Clock

PAD Challenge day 9. For today's prompt, take the phrase "(blank) of the (blank),"

replace the blanks with a word or phrase,

make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Consummate toll of tick and tock

Determined undertow

Winnowing shorelines made of rock

With season ebb and flow

A minute and momentous merge

Of is, was, and will be

The gilded surface of a surge

Veiling eternity

…while dreamers dream and poets troll

The teeming deeps that mock

The pioneer of heart and soul

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock

The lilt that tuned the nudge that broke

The shell that held the bow’r

That grew into a mighty oak

Reclaims glory’s fleet flow’r /hour

Giver and taker synchronized

The candor of the clock

Grants and gathers eons comprised

Of teeny tick and tock

…unfurling a tempest of pearls

Some pray, some shake a fist

Tick tock, the clock replies, and twirls

Time’s carousel of mist

© Janet Martin

James 4:14

What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears 

for a little while 

and then vanishes.

The Gift of Here and Now

 

How swift Here-and Now's moment-spheres

Augment the tent of yesteryears...

Yesterday I collected autumn colours for lunch (rainbow Swiss Chard)...

and air-fried beets with feta cheese (5-star meal!)

...and marigolds, dried for tea!

One large bowl of flowers when dried

fit into this jar!

What is can never stay; hello soon farewell kissed

The golden summer day soon drawn away on autumn mist

The garden green and young soon gleaned of harvest fare

The boldness of the silver tongue soon wizened by life’s care

To everything a time; this clime where seasons flow

A little like a pantomime of hold and letting go

A little like a page where ballerinas twirl

Like autumn leaves across a stage that steals the little girl

What is soon disappears, a joy and sorrow spree

Bittersweet fleet of smiles and tears that sparkle out to sea

Duty and beauty’s sands like treasures from a trove

That sparkle through our hearts and hands all for the sake of love

So then, because of how swift seasons rise and fall

Let’s use the gift of here and now to its full potential

To do the best we can to shoulder what we ought

For the welfare of fellowman and the glory of God

© Janet Martin

A last-minute invitation to Daughter and children made the meal ever-so-much-more memorable!

Granddaughter decided to bring alpha-getti when she heard what was on the menu😂

Baby just cooed and smiled (between gramma-cuddles, naturally!)

Dear Granddaughter...here's to a whole winter-long of tea-parties!

(And Grandsonny too, but he prefers stirring it to drinking it😍)

We've dubbed this blend (fresh mint, lavender and marigold)

 Azerbaijan Tea thanks to all the varieties showcased on Country Life Vlog

Phil.4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, 

whatever is true, 

whatever is noble, 

whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is lovely, 

whatever is admirable—

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy

—think about such things.

A Royal Opportunity

 

(photo in the public domain)

A few comments from King Charles III's proclamation speeches;

‘I shall strive to follow the inspiring example that has been set…’

‘Even as we grieve, we give thanks for her life well lived’

We have a royal opportunity to have something in common with Queen Elizabeth;

Through faith in Jesus Christ, to set an inspiring example

 and to leave behind a life well lived

to honour the King of kings and Lord of lords

by following the example He set!

 The family of believers in Jesus,

 is the greatest royal family of all!

Everyone is welcome🙏

John 3:16-17 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him.

***

Far more than merely moments spring from time’s volatile fount

Where life runs rife with choices for which we will give account

As step by step and day by day we all advance toward

Last Breath, when this world slips away and we will meet the Lord

What earnest heed we ought to give to what we do and say

Between the past and future, we live always in Today

Where no one knows how near or far its final grant will be

Or when the person that we are becomes A Memory

The common ground of opportunity is made of dirt

A momentous velocity of happiness and hurt

Where we all share the common need, however rich or poor

Of faith in Jesus Christ; He alone keeps the soul secure

This is the day the Lord has made; oh, will it be our last?

Not all will see its shadow laid to rest in ages past

Lord, help us live as if today could be the steppingstone

To that which never fades away, when life on earth is done

© Janet Martin

Col.1:9-13

For this reason, since the day we heard about you,

 we have not stopped praying for you 

and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will 

in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 

10so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord

 and may please Him in every way: 

bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

  11being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might 

so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, 

who has qualified youc to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

13He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness 

and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, 

14in whom we have redemption,

d the forgiveness of sins.

What a Day That Will Be...

Because We Never Know What Waits...

 

Because we never know what waits

While winter pounds on summer’s gates

While moments drip like diamond studs

Where Bygone’s velvet footfall thuds

On boulevards of misted gold

While what we have wafts through our hold

Like jewels we can never snare

But touch, as they slip to thin air

...we dare not stand and stare too long

Where life runs rife with yester-song

But thank God for each falling star

And make the most of where we are

© Janet Martin

Before The Blue Tableau (of that which is no more)

"Rest is not idleness,

and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day,

 listening to the murmur of water,

or watching the clouds float across the sky,

is hardly a waste of time."

- John Lubbock

For some reason this summer

 it is taking serious discipline to press 'pause' for a bit!

As August arrived I panicked suddenly realizing I have hardly

stopped to soak in Sweet Idleness

if only for 15 minutes!

Rest is not idleness

Then pause the cause of Task

and linger where the sparkle of

summer

pours from a flask

through flower-bower-flues

where soon petal flares fall

and children that were half past two

have grown so very tall

 

Rest is not idleness

 Beneath the sprawling sky

earth showcases momentous

blips of 

seasons slipping by

through laughter and lament

Oh, may it never be

that we were always too care-bent

to rest beneath a tree

Rest is not idleness

Then, though toil's demands press

How sweet it is 

to sit a bit in

idle happiness

to feel the ebb and flow

of Here and Now before

it adheres to the blue tableau

of that which is no more

Janet Martin

Be still,

and know that I am God

Ps.46:10

Time Enough...

Sometimes Time flies,

Sometimes it sleeps.

Sometimes it sings

Sometimes it weeps

But one thing is certain,

Whatever the deal

Whatever it grants,

It also will steal!

First bud

Beams bashfully...

I'm so eager to plant the flower seeds a friend gifted to me at Christmas...

My, how far-off summer's larkspur plumes feel while still cradled in seeds...

Though I know, from looking back how it will feel like a flicker that flares and fades

so today I revel in the perfection of flowers not planted yet!

The friendliness of flowers while still cradled in a seed

Feels like a face we cannot kiss because of miles between

The constancy of hours tries the tenure of the reed

And Time Enough will bear the bloom that Time Enough will wean

How far away the other side of suffered sorrow seems

And laughter of tomorrow, while today’s troubles still toss

How broad the gulley seems to groan, agape with broken dreams

Where Time Enough will build a bridge that Time Enough will cross

Better to bear the brunt of whatever today will be

Rather than stare ahead too far or back to yester-reel

The clock weaves and unravels with suave synchronicity

The threads that Time Enough will grant and Time Enough will steal

The beauty of what was or waits gilds gates beyond our touch

Our duty is to treasure well the measure of today

To be tuned to its music and not to fret quite so much

Where Time Enough will write the song that Time Enough will play

© Janet Martin

Of Glint and Fray

It is impossible 

to return

to undo 

or redo

what we would do

differently 

if given the chance

All we can do

is the best 

we can do

with what we hold

today...

This💖💖💖 (do you remember those dream-sweet play-days?)💘

Lots of little flash-back moments as the tots of today

dust off the toys of yesterday

and fill them with starry-eyed pleasures once again,

as the little hands that used to play with them are now 

juggling the demands and responsibilities

of growing up

Timeless thrills...

The beginning...

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; 

and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Eccles.1:14

The conclusion...

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:

 Fear God and keep his commandments, 

for this is the duty of all mankind.

Eccles.12:13

Ah, life the way it used to be

Gleams like a summer, sun-kissed sea

Cupped in a sigh, a memory

A vault of yesterdays

Whilst look, the dark above us dims

Like brook-song, morning’s skyline brims

A canticle of hopes-whims-hymns

Shimmers on untouched trays

…with friendship waiting to be made

With Duty’s common promenade

With Poetry’s awed escapade

With high five and low blow

With mercy and sufficient grace

With smile upon a loved one’s face

With hand to hold and dream to chase

With wonderment and woe

…with turning older, tick by tock

Yet, learning not to watch the clock

But rather where and how we walk

While Time is on our side

To try to taste full flavors of

The subtle nuances of love

And to never get quite enough

Of moments not yet tried

While dust to dust and ash to ash

Waits to reduce its starry splash

And slow the feet that dance and dash

Through childhood’s greenest green

Until they too gaze at a sea

Cupped in a sigh, a memory

Of life the way it used to be

Before the years between

Ah, life the way it used to be

Is juxtaposed with you and me

And present opportunity

To tint the glint and fray

That tunes the tide that ebbs and flows

With echo-molded mementos

That wash in pictures we compose

With what we hold today 

© Janet Martin

Awesome Overtures or Moment-ous Ink

The gold of moments molds mementos we cannot hold in our hands

It composes strange concertos from the sum of settled sands

Eventide’s subtle rebuttal eases the brunt of day’s death

With skylines where pink-gold-purple teases eyes and steals our breath

The gold of moments molds mementos we cannot hold in our hands

It composes strange concertos from the sum/thrum of settled sands

Nothing in the world can alter the momentum of the clock

Soon the Flare of Now will falter on the wick of tick and tock

Look, the lane once fringed with daisies wears a chain of snowflake stars

What once drove desire crazy decks the halls of yester-bars

Let’s not take today for granted; let’s make it a work of art

For its echo soon is planted in the garden of the heart

The ink of ten thousand oceans sweeps shorelines of Bygone’s grave

While we wrangle into Poem the sun-sparkles on its wave

Lyrics of lament and laughter sealed in stanzas set to rhyme

Before soon pours into After; where After hoards ash of Time

Ever-afters last forever hinged to morning's virgin yawn

After and before are tethered to a weathered on-and-on

Where endings beget beginnings destined to augment Past's stash

As twilight collects its winnings; dust-to-dust and ash to ash  

Eventide’s subtle rebuttal eases the brunt of day’s death

With skylines where pink-gold-purple teases eyes and steals our breath

Thievery like this is common when wonder fulfills its charge

Where we bear witness to awesome overtures of God at large

© Janet Martin

Of Purposed Pleasure...

If the eye does not gaze

the heart does not sigh

Venetian Proverb~

And never take for granted what dusk steals and morning frees...

Take time to be amazed and gaze at common majesties

It only takes a moment to make lifelong memories

Take time to look into the eyes of little girl and boy

And salvage from love’s sweet surprise life’s lyrics of pure joy

It only takes a moment to make lifetime memories

Then taste with purposed pleasure the measure of moment-ease

And do not let an afternoon without fond homage slip

But hark! List to the music and give humble thanks for it

Take time to look into the eyes of little girl and boy

For soon, so soon they kiss childhood goodbye, ahoy, ahoy

To blaze trails through dreamlands soon tamed and framed by shadows cast

To wonder at the way a season disappears so fast

Then, salvage from love’s sweet surprise life’s lyrics of pure joy

And join the hymn as earth and skies the praise of God employs

And never take for granted what dusk steals and morning frees

For these turn into moments that make lifelong memories

© Janet Martin

The Great Undoing...

Child-caring inevitably has some very hairy moments!

right? moms and all other child caregivers😅

And now and then in those wearying moments we are

tempted to say 'I can't do this!!!"

but then along come those moments that just melt our hearts

as joy trickles from our eyes in sweet surprise!

A reminder that in all of life, with the high comes the low and vise-versa!

When my grandaughter's 'pleath?' is accommodated with yes 

she is as sweet as sweet could possibly ever imagine being!

but if 'ple-e-e-ath' ith anthsered with 'no' the thweet thmile can turn upthide-down in a wink

and rather astonishing unpleasantness can ensue😂

I uthed the lithp(lisp) becauthe right she steals my heart with hers.

Yesterday, except for one incident that partly inspired this train of thought,

it was pure sweetness💖💖💖

Helping gramma with the dishes...

(and wearing an apron that I wore when I was her size...)

Teatime on the deck in mid-December!!

(she prefers pouring it to drinking it)😂

Trying to find 'auntie' Matt's shirts on the clothes line... 

(yes, she calls him auntie Matt)😁😂😅

The tapestry that moments weave achieves its work of art

By intertwining joy and grief from looms within the heart

Where subtle shuttles whir and bind time’s threads of gray and gold

Into a picture designed for retrospect to behold

Where we begin to learn, in warp and weft of lows and highs

That grin and groan and twist, turn into Beauty’s sweet surprise

...as startled senses waken to time’s ever-changing sway

Yesterday overtaken by the colours of today

Bidding us, with each gifted fray to always keep in mind

Swift, swift the tendrils of today with past are intertwined

And, never in life’s kiss and cuss should we forget The Whole

The shuttle that weaves This undoes the shroud around the soul

© Janet Martin

Delighted with a whole 'new angle' on playing house

I Cannot Help But Laugh a Bit...(A Precious Moments Medley)

Sometimes I look back on a day or week that at first glance seems quite commonplace

until its scenes/music plays back to me and I see it for what each moment is; precious!!

 

Pumpkin Snowman instructions here

Tea-party 'cheers'

...and last but not least, the ever-changing window-framed art of each season!!!

(because it was this view through my window as I was passing through the kitchen

that inspired the first four lines in this poem)

I cannot help but laugh a bit

At the dear and sheer thrill of it

Of seasons as they spill and slide

Across acquiescent countryside

Of vistas ever changing hue

Of kiss and hug, hello, adieu

Of Old Man Winter’s hearty grin

In spite of what we think of him

Of home-sweet-home’s sweet friendliness

To thwart life’s out-of-sorted-ness

Of cherishing the day in hand

On pedestals of waning sand

Of passing pictures, window-framed

Soon by the Rite of Twilight claimed

Of what seems common until we

Scan it with closer scrutiny

Where word like ‘us’ and ‘with’ and ‘we’

Suggest your lovely company

Suggest a cup of tea and such

The poetry of taste and touch

And then I have to laugh, tis true

At the sheer and dear joy of you

I cannot help but laugh a bit

And sing and weep and pray a bit

The fling and swing and sway of it

The come-whatever-may of it

The way the tune of Time is played

The way that flowers flare and fade

The ebb and ache and eddy of

The give and take of life and love

The sense of something like a dance

Where moment-medleys glide and glance

Where wave on wave of hours roll

Across shorelines of grave and goal

Where youth soon wears the tender trace

Of truth; where dreamlands interlace

With matters of four-season fact

Where time will not leave us intact

And Want is better now because

It is much simpler than it was

When we were green as spring, fresh-spun

And king and queen of Opinion

Where in the autograph of it

I cannot help but laugh a bit

© Janet Martin

Soon, soon a season's sweet collage

turns into echo-decoupage