Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Ears to Hear...Today's Song (and a funny video of my grandson's reaction to the snow!)

Where muffled footsteps fall
En route to find a perch
To revel in the madrigal
In nature’s perfect church...


…to listen as we should
(for time’s timing is keen)
To sermons from the winnowed wood...


That once stood, lush and green


Snow-lovers are singing winter's praises this morning!🎜🎝🎝❄❄❄

(the video doesn't pick up the excited and what I am interpreting as happy tweet-tweets😊)

other's not so much💖😂😂😂



Lord, grant us ears to hear
The melodies of life
Help us find today’s song, so dear
From orchestras run rife
In hush of morn beguiled
By rush of notes dusk quells
In darling laughter of a child (or other sounds of a child😂)
In chimes of Christmas bells

Lord, give us ears to hear
Sacred commonplace lays
That kindle in the eye a tear
And set heart-hearths ablaze
The tea, as it is poured
The click of spoons in cups
Symphonies all ears can afford
To cheer life’s downs with ups

The heave of billows borne
On time’s four-season tide
The brittle leaves in sheaves of corn
Snow-truffled countryside
Where muffled footsteps fall
En route to find a perch
To revel in the madrigal
In nature’s perfect church

…to listen as we should
(for time’s timing is keen)
To sermons from the winnowed wood
That once stood, lush and green
To treasure tenderly
The timbre of ‘hello’
Before the solemn harmony
Of final farewells flow

Lord, give us ears to hear
The cries of those in need
Your still, small Voice to counter fear
And condemn lust and greed
Lord, grant us ears to hear
Beyond the noise of strife
The tempo of love’s songs so dear
Tuning the joys of life

© Janet Martin

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Matt.11:15




Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Now's Love Song or Masterpiece in the Making


Wherever we are at in life, what ever part of the song,
may we learn to trust the Maestro
till the Masterpiece is complete...

My music sheet is a bit messy and paint-splattered  these days...

...hoping to get it a bit more organized today
before a belated birthday supper for Matt tonight!


(finishing this post while waiting for the cocoa-mixture to cool before
I can finish mixing the cake)

Matt's fav; Cocoa Chiffon Cake


This poem niggled beneath my ribs
from drifts of music from noisier
days gone by...


It seeps through heart-shaped holes, through walls weathered and whisper thin
A little like a gong that tolls when dusk is closing in
It gathers missing faces from Bygone’s lost places near
A love song of awareness to embrace the now and here

This is the life. Unfolding not upon yon fairer clime
That morrow is withholding; now is all we have of time
To touch and taste, to hug and kiss, to revel in the thrill
Of a love song we dare not miss as its melodies spill

...while penning lyrics to a tune not fully composed yet
A crescendo of crescent moon, a petal pirouette
A rush of sound and color, a rippling arpeggio
A test of will and valor as we hold, but to let go

A smile-tear-prayer glistened yes-no, a courage-christened leap
Now high, now low, now fast, now slow Now's ballads lilt and weep
To seep through heart-shaped holes, through walls weathered and wonder-worn
Where every gifted half-note tolls with love songs being born

© Janet Martin

Eph.5:15-20

See then that ye walk circumspectly, 
not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, 
because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, 
but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; 
but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms 
and hymns 
and spiritual songs, 
singing 
and making melody
 in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things 
unto God and the Father 
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Monday, July 11, 2022

Living's Hymn




Make the most of moment measure
Feel the notes that glance and glim
Composing with tick-tock treasure
The lyrics of Living’s Hymn

Trace the tempo of an hour
With far more than fingertips
Bury your face in dawn’s flower
Linger where departure drips

Wear wonder like ballet slippers
Twirl across time’s ballroom floor
Orchestral arrangements quiver
With what soon will be no more

Leap where faith turns fear to flying
Scale the heights of happiness
Keep the melody from dying
Dredge the deeps of thankfulness

Write a love song full of fumbles
Dust your knees off when you trip
Life is a dance full of stumbles
Sing with joy and cherish it

© Janet Martin




Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Of Highs and Lows (aka as Life's Arpeggio)


Life is full of highs and lows...
High; a wonderful time at a ladies Christmas brunch on Saturday morning


Low; extremely high winds on Saturday afternoon destroyed our play-center/swing-set


this loss is small in scale compared to the destruction of the tornadoes in Kentucky
but its disappointing all the same!

Another glorious sunrise!

'The highs and lows of life compose a soulful melody
The deeps that spawn lavender dawn are steeped in mystery'

The highs and lows of life compose a soulful melody
The deeps that spawn lavender dawn are steeped in mystery
Life’s gain and loss an albatross of mingled joy and strife
As seasons surge and moments merge into a song of life

The stroke is swift that snuffs the gift from morning’s gleaming wick
The string that tunes spring afternoons is soon cut to the quick
And a new page becomes the stage for faith’s arpeggio
Where He who grants its song and dance will never let us go

Look up; the cup that overflows with highs and lows is held
With utter care and God knows where and how each drop will meld
Like notes, into the rush and woo of holding and release
Each rise and fall and beck and call part of life's Masterpiece


© Janet Martin

...and in our lows we are reminded in Luke 12:22-31
Do Not Worry
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 
what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 
23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 
24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn;
 yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 
25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[b]?
 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. 
Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 
28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, 
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
 how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 
29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 
30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, 
and your Father knows that you need them. 
31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

tots looking at the birds...
'They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn;
 yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! '

Have a wonder-full day!






Friday, September 24, 2021

A Breath-By-Breath Ballad


Do you ever feel it:
The sweeping surge of season-song?!
The merging of moments like music-notes,
composing a breath-stealing ballad?!

The wind has been a rowdy minstrel this week,
raking a reckless, cold, wet bow across barely-Autumn strings.


Last night a hummingbird straggler took advantage of the
break in the 'music' to drink and drink to its bitty-heart's content!!


I could barely keep up with its hither-thither darting...


...a bit like hummingbird hide and seek😅



...and a main reason for planting these Cana lilies
was because they make perfect hummingbird drinking fountains!


Darkness dissolves like a sun-kissed snowflake
Beneath a beacon no bond can restrain
Seasons revolve as night falls and day breaks
Silence births leaf-song then silence again
Grinning and grieving, doubting, believing
Failing, achieving, earning battle-scars
Learning and teaching, yearning and reaching
Orbit of dreams stirs and settles the stars

Then we grow older and lend our shoulders
Like rungs on ladders for youngsters to climb
Heady with hunger and blind to the boulders
Ready to test what no one defeats; Time
Flying and falling, crying and calling
Finally crawling while learning to walk
Knees bruised and bleeding, brashness conceding
No one can hold back the hands of the clock

Autumn is always around summer’s corner
Tugging at strings tied in forget-me-nots
Heart is part dancer and partly mourner
Torn between wanting and what life allots
Laughing and weeping, waking and sleeping
Planting and reaping; some things never change
Giving and taking where living is making
Moment-mementos that moments estrange

Sometimes the soul feels like a glass-splinter
Snags in the skin of that which has no skin
Or is it a sun-sparkle where winter
Is always on the verge of closing in
Ebbing and surging, melting and merging
Dawn’s birthplace burgeoning with dusk and death
Where Time is dwindling, consuming the kindling
Seasons soft-swindling the hearth, breath by breath

Ah, can't you feel it like river-song rushing
Breath-by-breath ballad while we play our part
 In Life's Orchestra, bashful and blushing
Until the melody captures the heart
Reeling and rolling, pealing and tolling
Stealing the feeling of something amiss 
Clashing and blending, splashing and wending
Bending the minstrel of dust with God's kiss 
 
© Janet Martin





Tuesday, August 3, 2021

The Master's Touch

(update: I wrote this poem yesterday to send with a meal for my sister!
They are planning a wedding for Friday 
while her husband's beloved oldest brother is on his deathbed. 
During last night God rescued him from his suffering)
Rest in peace, Murrell.

So much beauty midst broken
So much joy midst sorrow

So much broken midst beauty
So much sorrow midst joy

So much more God
 above, beneath and through it all!







Touch us, oh Lord, with beauty’s chords

Where nature’s orchestra enthralls

Lift our eyes unto the hills

To hear creation’s madrigals

Unto the flowers of the field

Unto the fledglings of the air

Unto heaven’s vast music sheet

Where thy great glory is declared

 

Touch us, oh Lord, with mercy’s chords

When waves of sorrow wash the soul

Let not despair consume our hearts

But grant us faith to make us whole

As from your everlasting word

Love’s melody of hope resounds

Then, even in the dark of night

A hymn of humble joy abounds

 

Touch us, oh Lord, with love’s pure chords

In songs of grace and sympathy

Let earth be longing’s pale prelude

To heaven’s perfect harmony

Then open up our eyes and ears

Until the only Strings we clutch

Through The Unseen, wakes evidence

That tunes us to The Master’s Touch

 

© Janet Martin



...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
Eph.5:19

I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?
Psalm 121:1




Sunday, July 25, 2021

The Music of the Heart

As long as God writes the melody
the heart will never weary
of trying to set it free...

So much beauty to set the heart on fire!






A song can never spill the whole
of a heart’s melody
No bard as yet can bare the soul’s
full hymn in poetry

In the depths of the commonplace
Swirled worlds of splendor span
Like stars in the eternal space
Beyond the lens of man

Then, while we grapple with the surge
Of wonder’s splurge and laud
May whisper and desire merge
In pure worship to God

Pray we may never cease to thrill
to do our humble part
As we are awed by God, to spill
the music of the heart

© Janet Martin

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; 
I will glorify your name forever.
Psalm 86:12

Psalm 9:1
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; 
I will recount all Your wonders.

Monday, January 11, 2021

Adagio Composers



Mondays, especially gray ones, especially during lockdowns
 can feel a bit heavy some weeks, 
but it takes the ebb and flow of high and low 
to compose Masterpiece Adagios.
We are still in the middle of what could will be
a Masterpiece, if we put our faith in the 
Forever Faultless, Faithful Keeper of fumbling 'composers'!

Where highs and lows compete 
With shores that disappear
Where Today spreads a music sheet 
Replete with Now and Here

Where love and longing spark 
A strange adagio 
Like waves that roll across the heart 
In soulful ebb and flow 

Where darksome, daily grind 
And laughter, silver-teal 
Will fill the bars soon left behind
With symphonies, surreal 

Where what we have and hold 
Is soon the wafting fray 
Of melodies that fill the old 
-en world of yesterday 

Where swift, soft moments splay 
Gilt lilt of high and low 
To compose with notes of today 
Morrow’s adagio 

© Janet Martin 




This morning's Daily Bread Devotion Bible Reading-

Psalm 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.




Monday, November 18, 2019

Before The Music Fades

PAD Challenge day 18: For today’s prompt, write a music poem. 

 I had the pleasure of hearing the K-W symphony perform this past weekend...

Here's bit of a blurry glimpse as the musicians took their places...
(obviously no cameras allowed after it begins)

Music reminds me we are all part of a great orchestra!


Arise, the day is dawning
Time does not skip a beat
The Maestro of the morning
Unfolds a music sheet
Where notes of joy and sorrow
Compose a veiled array
As the drum roll of morrow
Becomes the break of day

Come; take your place of honor
The Leader of the band
Is a Flawless Conductor
So focus on His Hand
For we hear but a section
But He who whets the dawn
Will blend into perfection
Our noise with His baton

Hark, on the dark horizon
A prelude starts to play
Pink flush frays the plush ribbon
That held earth’s stage at bay
Then, as the curtain rises
Into the firmament
Hope, in all shapes and sizes
Picks up its instrument

Ah, soul-sacred concerto
Of both ballad and dirge
While tick-tock metes the tempo
As anthems ebb and surge
Pray  that far more than Duty
Tunes blues and serenades
So we can hear the beauty
Before the music fades

© Janet Martin

 1 Chronicles 16:23
Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Proclaim His salvation day after day.


Romans 15:11
And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.



Saturday, October 26, 2019

Moment In Hand

 What a gorgeous morning!
For one micro-moment Victoria and I were caught wishing 
for freedom to wander autumn's frost-kissed wonderland, 
where the clock dictates so much of love and life's duties and desires.
"if there's one thing I've learned," I said to Victoria,
 "is just to make the most of the moment in hand so we don't
 miss the beauty of it because we were wishing for something else".

We don't live in a world without time-and-toil constraints. That's what Heaven is for! 
So we dash or dally and try to make the most of moments...







Night’s nebulous cocoon unfolds dawn like a butterfly
Time spreads its wings, alights upon earth’s plume and fills the sky
Where frosty kiss of Autumn while the world was still and dark
Has shattered nature’s colourful collage of leaf and bark
And scattered lofty orchestras that crooned all summer long
Beneath our feet, a music sheet of woodland’s remnant song

Come now, come now, my darling, do not weep for whispers spent
See how above our hunger Hope has pitched a seamless tent
And pulls us toward places we have never been before
Dawn’s virginal embraces draw us to a ballroom floor
To teach us how to try new steps in time’s determined dance
Where to sit on the sidelines is to miss life’s sweet romance

Earth’s heaven-glimpse of happiness unfurls its world of choice
Where we, without a word will give our utterances voice
Then pray we do not miss the melody moments compose
Or trample Mercy’s Butterfly perched on earth’s frost-kissed rose
For where so much is taken much remains yet to employ
The worship that when wakened overflows Hope’s cup of joy

Hello, sweet moment within reach, teach me to revel in
The awesome anthem trickling from an ancient violin
Help me to hear the harmonies that waft then softly fade
Into the prelude of arrangements waiting to be played
Where Mercy is the Maestro of most a momentous band
And we all hold an instrument of a moment in hand

© Janet Martin

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
 singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
Eph.5:17-19