Of Melded Miles...

This morning's moments held much to smile about...
(the best part? He patted the floor and wanted Grandma right there beside him
to share in the delight of anything with wheels😊)

Then morning melded to noon,
and noon to night

Night’s raven wing has gathered

Earth’s brood beneath its bars

The ash of tears and laughter

Strewed to a roof of stars

Ebony whispers suture

Its miles where moments meld

To Past’s vast cast of pictures  

In Thought alone beheld  

© Janet Martin

Silver-white Postcard-night

The dark is blanched where full-moon light

Paints hill and dale all silver-white

As silent-silent falls the night

Like a still-life postcard

And dazzling on the listless lane

On boulevard and snow-starred main

Stirs something too hard to explain

Like echoes on a yard

Where once fair, carefree children ran

Strawberry lips and feet of tan

Before they wore woman or man

Encumbered with time's might

And standing where the day has gone

And stripped night naked to the bone

Save for Yore’s echoes falling on

A postcard silver-white

© Janet Martin

After Dark....

Bedside lamps click 

and drop a cloak 

of black across 

thoughts sundry roads

…imagination, loneliness; 

the highs and lows 

that living goads

Some touch each other; 

some turn backs 

toward the middle 

of the bed

Some lie awake 

and toss and turn; 

some sleep as soundly 

as the dead

We live in two worlds, 

one by day,

the other be

-neath dark of night

One full of color 

and the other 

charcoal-gray 

and black and white

One wears the pounding 

feet of people 

as they hasten 

to and fro

The other wears 

a world of sounds 

save in the pallid 

streetlight’s glow

 Yellow rectangles 

let in people 

when the dark 

opens a door

The world is full 

of brick-wood houses; 

homes are made 

of something more

The dark is not 

an idle gossip; 

its secrets 

few can beguile

…the mouth is not 

a fool-proof closet; 

though some think so 

for a while

Bedside lamps click 

and drop a cloak 

of black across 

the end of day

Some turn to nurse 

their curs-ed fears 

while others turn 

to God and pray

And here and there 

the dark is sparked

 with bits of talk, 

then none at all

And here and there 

the dark is marked 

with sorrow-stars 

that stilly fall

© Janet Martin

A Good Night's Sleep

Nothing else we do is quite as good without it; a good night's sleep!

Did you have a long or a short night? 

I hope it was something like eight instant hours;-)

How is it we close our eyes and already the alarm clock is beeping?!!

Happy September Day Two!

If the morning is any indication it looks like a beaut!!

When from slumber’s oblivion

And from thought’s full respite

We wake; we shake our heads and say

‘How little was the night’

…but when we lie and cannot keep

Thought’s busy street at bay

Or lull into sweet, gentle sleep

‘How long the night’, we say

Life’s ‘fairest of them all’ must be

Not charm or fame or wealth

But simply this; a good night’s sleep

To better our health

© Janet Martin

On Summer Nights Like These...

Poetic Bloomings Pompt day Two: Today's feature, Smiles of a Summer Night

Sultry breeze spirals then settles at dusk

Hummingbird whirs where each bloom is a cup

Afternoon washes bare feet then recedes

Blue, like a tide on summer’s sky-wide sea

Sun-drenched day softens, horizons subside

Noon was a young man with dreams in his stride

Time slows its gait now, forgets its demands

Undresses wishes with whisper-like hands

Noise on the highway is muffled with dark

Boys and girls slumber, somewhere a dog barks

Moon is a skiff set a-drift all alone

Stars splay like broken glass caught in the sun

Jasmine and clover perfume heaven’s wand

Salt-flavored wind-skin-heart-sea-song are one

Temptation is a word too young for us

Darling, the night is blurred with dew and dust

Touch is a servant to thought’s hungry eyes

We’ve known each other too long for surprise

Summer breeze murmurs in raven-leafed trees

Earth is half-heaven on midnights like these

© Janet Martin