The Intent of the Sky

He is nobody's friend

Moiling from west to east

A glowering and fearsome  fiend

...seething, merciless beast

We watch this dragon crawl

Across the lowered sky

Praying and hoping, one and all

That it will just pass by

For no one can defy

Or threaten with demands

The intent of the stormy sky

is in the Maker's hands

Janet~

side-note; no, it isn't tomorrow;) I needed to adjust the time setting in my camera.

Some anxious moments as the temps drop...a tornado warning was issued tonight but it is gray and raining now and according to the news none have touched down so far.
...at the bird feeder it was business as usual!

  

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26

after Sasha's comment I decided to post one more pic. Yes, this feeder is safe from squirrels but not entirely safe! and I don't know what to do to keep the neighbor's farm-cat away. Nothing deters him for long!! Mostly I throw water at him but he shakes it off and returns...and he can jump high enough to nab one!

Let's Talk About Love #4 Perfect Storm

When I’m with you the might of moment stills

And we are not victims of its cold clock

Rebels are we to its relentless tock

A storm is brewing past these charted hills

Tremor of urgency excites the pine

What is its fantasy? even the breeze

That thrives upon the vexing of the trees

Pauses beyond this midnight-mute incline

Darkness is but a nocturnal disguise

Where longing escalates; visceral flame

Of guiltless passion and want without shame

Smolders virile, like comets in our eyes

And now the wind leaps from its hiding-place

Moaning madrigal of Need’s grand despair

The rise and fall of oceans fills the air

Or is it just your voice against my face?

Tear down the clouds that vex the moody deep

Leave prouder cares to daylight's disarray

Then let this raving craving have its way

Darling, this storm is much too wild to sleep

The trespassers of love’s most sacred part

Will never touch their feet upon this shore

Where breakers crash; euphoric eons pour

In heaven-measure through body and heart

Ah, perfect storm of love’s intrinsic bliss

When I’m with you I cannot count the years

Lest while I’m counting this storm disappears

…Is that a lightning bolt or just a kiss?

© Janet Martin

Morning Does Not Lose Its Way...

Morning does not lose its way

Though tardy, it seeps through gray

Lighting coppice, crag and firth

Sallow orb o’er white-washed earth

Windswept, hinterland and dell

Brace against steel tentacle

Nook and hollow, alley, hill

Nothing can escape its chill

Somewhere softer canticle

Teases turquoise-bathed pebble

Purple pool of morning mist

Veils lush vineyards warm, sun-kissed

Here we brace against the growls

Flung from Old Man Winter’s jowls

Here, at hearth we linger long

Slipper-clad and coffee-strong

Morning wends from heaven-tress

Vexing night’s dark wilderness

Through its howling, headstrong wrath

Morning melts a little path

© Janet Martin

Crazy-cold and stormy...all schools in a wide area are closed!

Shaped and Held

Across the cove from ports above

The morning parts night’s muted deep

Life’s little care that we must bear

Draws us once more from slumber’s keep

Life’s trying storm that tests our form

For some will pass, for others surge

We touch the sod that we must trod

Where feeble faith and fear converge

Beneath the mist of dawn sun-kissed

We bow our heads, whisper a prayer

For this we know, each ebb and flow

Is shaped and held within God's care

© Janet Martin

Life’s storms come in all shapes and sizes; some visible and some borne in the heart.

I have never heard anyone say ‘I have far more faith than I need. Here, have some of mine’. We never know how deep our faith runs until we need it! This is the thought that occurred to me as I read these posts of inspiration from people who are weathering storms.

An Angel in Your Path

The Waves

and one from my dear friend Glynis, If All Else Fail, Follow the Direction

February Night Storm

He is not playful tonight; darkness reels

His venom pelts fiercely, glazing windowpanes

The silver-tipped reed of full-moon appeal

Shudders beneath his tempestuous refrains

No corner is spared of his seething rage

Growling he ravages, savage and grim

Like a hungry beast released from his cage

He lunges, snarling at the stark, naked limb

Spilling his scathing ice-shard repertoire

Enhancing the comfort of kind, kindled fire

Fly, little bird, to your hole in the tree

Hop, little bunny to thickets and brush

We will not challenge his cold mutiny

Stripping the fell of its calm, full-moon hush

Rock-a-bye girlie and sleep little man

This cold scavenger cannot reach your cot

Pull up those covers as snug as you can

Dream of sand-castles and for-get-me-not

For somewhere beneath earth’s frozen facade

Trembles the surge of spring’s bloom-dappled sod

Then let him vent, howling outside the door

Splattering dregs of his fury, snow-spun

Though now they humor his bold, burlesque roar

Soon they will melt in the kiss of the sun

Rattle the sashes and whimpering trees

Spew frozen threats from your blue-puckered mouth

Oh, harbinger of fragrant, buxom breeze

You cannot conquer the streams from the south

Somewhere the bondage of spring’s petal-fray

Will softly unravel and nudge you away

© Janet Martin

The windows are glazed in his temperamental dally between snow and rain.

It will be snow by morning. I can sleep now:) I wrote this while I was waiting for my daughter to get home from work. She arrived, (midnight) very happy to be here, the roads are heavy with the snow that fell before the rain/snow mix. The fire crackles, the wood-pile is replenished, we are warm and have so much to be thankful for. I pray everyone is warm, safe and dry tonight.

Goodnight.

  

Of Storm-song and Promise

Darkness relents; day’s argent surf rolls mute

Out to the melded fringe of land and sky

Where none its austere anthem can refute

As gales shiver our summer dreams awry

Beyond the window, frigid fathoms seethe

Parting ice lips in cold and cheerless mirth

Yet none restrains the potent pulse beneath

Of life held in the womb of mother earth

Where delicate wild anemone still sleeps

Forget-me-not and violet whisper quenched

Before the fragrant, purple river sweeps

Across the emerald vale of spring unclenched

Earth’s frozen scrim of winter-white is kissed

With visions of frothed pink and amethyst

Beyond the dappled pane we hunch to brace

The tides lashing our pallid skiff of skin

Clinging to promises of golden grace

Clad in a dashing zephyr’s welcome grin

Then, watch the screaming, scowling felon wilt

His rival threatens not with bully roar

But challenges with bits of sunshine spilt

In puddles warm against earth’s south-faced shore

Before it spreads, virile and ravishing

Across the plain, over hollow and hill

Melting beneath its lovely lavishing

Winter’s tenacity and waning will

And soon the still and sterile snowbound lane

Will smell of dust beneath a summer rain

The skeleton of naked apple tree

The maple and the willow, silent, strong

Suffer the span twixt snow and honey-bee

And bud-pods bursting with summer night-song

Outside the wind moans, searching for the choir

Of quivering aspen, poplar, elm and birch

He rakes the stark and unrelenting spire

The woodlot hushed like Monday-morning church

And so he wails across unfettered field

As sleet-tears sting our cheeks, our lips and eyes

His grief exchanged; raw, raging tempests wield

Their utmost in longing’s stormy disguise

A soloist; his passion amplifies

As a cappella storm-song fills the skies

© Janet Martin

Our thoughts are with those on the eastern sea-board once again. Be warm, Be safe.

We are snow-bound in a very broad region in Ontario today.

Out of Storm's Reach

Whispered vespers elevate

To an ominous roar

The ocean is a monster

Devouring the shore

Where we strolled

Leisurely

On boardwalk and beach

We tuck tender memories

Out of the storm’s reach

© Janet Martin

Thoughts and prayers remain with those hard hit! The winds are receding a little here…but we will need to hang onto our hats and hair-dos for a few more days.

On the Fringe of a Hurricane...an edited re-post

The wind bends the air in mutinous growls

Baring its jowls, a ferocious beast

Yesterday’s sunshine is swallowed by scowls

As hurricane Sandy arrives from the east

Fall's jaunty languor has furrowed its brow

Purpose of plundering rides on the gale

As shutters flung open are bolted now

Respectful of nature’s preeminent wail

Elements tremble beyond man’s control

Over our delicate measure of thought

As we recognize the vulnerable whole

In every achievement that human has wrought

Faith, hope and trust cling tight to the arm

That gives and takes in a flash on the sod

As nature unleashes its wrath in a storm

Mankind acknowledges his dependence on God

© Janet Martin

They tell us the hurricane forces have not yet arrived and it is WILD out there. Many in the area are already out of power. It seems this is going to get worse before it gets better. My thoughts and prayers are with those in the brunt of it now.

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
⁶ For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
    Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
⁷ a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
⁸ O Lord God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
⁹ You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them.
¹⁰ You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
    you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
¹¹ The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
    the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
¹² The north and the south, you have created them;
    Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
¹³ You have a mighty arm;
    strong is your hand, high your right hand. 

Ps. 89: 5-13

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." Isa. 12:2

The Imminence of Autumn-past

The cold wind broods in morose moans

Its iron-girded stance

No longer frolics o’er the stones

In willow-song romance

But tugs and tears fragmented leaf

From stiff, saturnine limb

As heaven sheds its torrent-grief

From dark, nocturnal scrim

The imminence of autumn-past

Seethes in the evergreen

Its petulance an icy mast

Of purple-frosted sheen

The skyline seals its sullen dome

A scowl upon its face

And suddenly the hearth of home

Beckons with warm embrace

Somewhere the languid sigh of spring

Cajoles the budded strand

And lovers, carefree and laughing

Meander, hand in hand

Somewhere in distant, dew-drenched fields

The sanguine sunbeams drip

While here the barren landscape yields  

To Old Man Winter’s grip

© Janet Martin

 We are bracing ourselves for Hurricane Sandy! I didn't know what to do with all the leaves we raked up the other day...I guess now I'll wait and see what Sandy does with them:)

I pray for those without 'home' to go to during miserable weather. Please be warm, dry and safe.

Dancing in the Rain

Yiruma always makes me feel like writing:)...love songs

Let me love you

Darling, let’s stop keeping score

Starting over

Is not what I am asking for

But just another

Day-opportunity

To love you, darling

Like I thought that love would be

Let me love you

What if this day were our last?

Would its memory

Be the one that we hold fast?

It’s so easy

To forget what we live for

And all I’m asking

Is for one loving-you-day more

Let me love you

Only death makes it too late

To keep on trying

Let me love you, then today

This flesh-blood offering

Is all that I can give

But oh, my darling

Let me love you thus

Each day I live

…and let me love you

Like a slow-dance in the rain

I want nothing

But a day-chance to try again

Starting over

Is not what I’m asking for

But just to love you,

Oh my darling

Just to love you one day more

© Janet Martin

A Sonnet of Barred Shutters and Storms

Pale whispers sweep the dark to hidden shores,

Staid expectation murmurs on its lips,

but we have drawn the shutters, locked the doors,

Time will not dictate our fingertips,

for I must make a study of your eyes,

tracing the future of unfettered bliss

While yearning resonates in muted sighs,

I hunger for the flavor of your kiss.

Too long the regimental tick of clocks

has orchestrated the release of locks

Longing shatters the dam of rigidness;

The beauty of familiarity

enriches passion’s unrestrained caress,

Outside the day assumes normality…

…here oceans swell in unrequited fire

of flesh and blood; white horses of the sea

spawn unbridled indulgence and desire

We crown the pinnacle of ecstasy

while merchants, bound by meagerness of dust

redeem their petty dollars for its lust

Pale whispers escalate, intensify,

A quickened urgency ignites the calm

in raging rivers crashing from the sky

as heaven spills its timbre on earth’s palm.

Outside the servant treads toil’s beaten path

and dreams of recompense with glist’ning brow,

while here, we revel in the aftermath

of foaming tides receding from earth’s prow

The sky resumes a sleek, unwav’ring blue

We kiss away its salty residue

 Janet Martin

Poetic Bloomings Prompt: Burning Passion