A Poem For Newlyweds

As you begin living the dream

I hope that you will find

What you’ve been looking for and more

At each other’s side

As love unfolds its years

I hope that they will be

A melding of laughter and tears

In home-sweet harmony

As you begin living the dream

I hope you vow each day

To woo each other with kindness

Come whatsoever may

Then, as the gray and gold

Of seasons coalesce

I hope and pray that they will hold

A life of happiness

© Janet Martin

A verse for marriage ...and everything else too

Be kind, one to another,

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another

even as God, for Christ's sake

has forgiven you.

Eph. 4:32

Two weddings this weekend and thus, two of our nephews begin life with their brides:)
After their honeymoons both couples will return home to the busy life of dairy-farming.
This poem is my wedding-wish for them.

Still A Pretty Nice Thing

“Though marriage takes everything you’ve got and almost breaks you,

All in all it’s still a pretty nice thing”,

This was hubby’s analysis as he watched our nephew

And soon-to-be bride smile as they counted down the days to this Saturday.

It’s a give-all-you’ve-got

Or we fall apart

It’s as much a matter of mind,

As of heart

It almost breaks us

That’s the truth

As it makes old people

Out of youth

It will tether your wallet

And weather your brow

It will turn those raven locks

To snow

It will exchange 'me'

For 'we' and 'us'

It will brush away years

Like a fleck of dust

It’s never quite

How we suppose

And everyone who has

Been there knows

It takes a lot more give

Than take

After the vows

And the wedding cake

…and the honey moon

Turns into life

A ‘Til death do us part
Husband and Wife’

While we laugh, weep, 

And rearrange

What once we thought we knew

Then change

…our minds because

Love’s grin and grit

Is never how

We picture it

Yet, in spite of

All it will bring

Marriage is still

A pretty nice thing

© Janet Martin

Next week, June 3rd, James (husband) and I celebrate 28 years of 'a pretty nice thing'.

Mastering Marriage (A re-run:)

In the on-going art of learning to co-exist I have learned that hubby will hang his hat where-so-ever he pleases, and he will ever-so-thoroughly enjoy every evil eye I toss his way as I return it to the hooks inside the door intended for...HATS!

Love’s culmination of differences

Must learn to co-exist

Its Mr.’s and its Mrs.’s

Experiments of risk

Back when we knew it all; naive

To all we didn’t know

It was so easy to believe

In what we thought was so

But Time rolls out its welcome mat

Where love cannot pretend

So love becomes an acrobat

Learning to stretch and bend

And love becomes forgetful

For how else can it usurp

With heavy heart and head full

Of its insult and its hurt?

Back on youth’s dream-paved Easy streets

Answers exceeded years

Before we bore selfish defeats

And wore a lover’s tears

Before we understood that we

Will never understand

Each other quite as perfectly

As once, perhaps, we planned

…so love culminates differences

And learns to co-exist

Its Mr.’s and its Mrs.’s

Willing to take its risk

© Janet Martin

Happy 52nd Anniversary to my parents.

Happy Wedding Day to my nephew!

Here comes the bride

All starry-eyed

Oh, pray God spills time's jars

In many

years of happiness

And never snuffs love's stars

Happy Anniversay, Robyn and Emily

 A year ago today these two became one...wishing you, Robyn and Emily, many more years of rich blessing from God.

Marriage makes ‘our’ and ‘we’

Instead of ‘my’ and ‘me’

It unites two with this; ‘I do’

And binds them eternally

While we cheer and applaud

And witness vows of love

One sacred kiss signifies this;

A promise sealed by God

Bridegroom and bride, one day

Husband and wife for aye

We pray, God bless with happiness

And love, each come-what-may

© Janet Martin


Love and best wishes from all of us ...

Victoria, Matthew, Melissa, Robyn & Emily, Mom and Dad

Forever, My Love

Forever, my love, for now and for always

We will keep passion and prayer intertwined

Pity the one who dies while he is breathing

Inhale, exhale without dream, wide-eye blind

Forever, my love, for there is no quitting

Long-haul or uphill, we cannot cease

Darling, the hilltop and vale in life’s painting

Augments the beauty of love’s masterpiece

Forever, my love, beggars cannot be choosers

And I’ll be a beggar for love until death

To have my fill of our love would be torture

Climax of hunger fulfills every breath

Forever, my love, and that but the beginning

True love surpasses this flesh-blood divide

Hold my hand darling, life’s highway is slippery

And oh, lest we stumble, let’s walk side by side

© Janet Martin

Wedding Day

Here we are…

About to walk

Through a door

We have rehearsed

A thousand times before

In thought,

But now Thought watches

As our feet follow a path

Not of fantasy

But of faith

And reality

Shaping

Memory

Here we are…

About to embark

On a day

We will remember

As long as God

Grants us life

For today

If the Lord wills,

Robyn becomes our son

As our daughter

Emily

Becomes

His wife

© Janet Martin

 We welcome you to rejoice with us in thought and prayer today as we celebrate Rob and Emily’s marriage.

I long to tread slowly across this Sweet Day

To gather its gold before Time claims its prey

Dear God, bless and keep us and let this day be

When night slips upon it, a dear memory

To Fathers of the Bride

Dear Daddy, once her hero and the apple of her eye

Your best version of laughter and the reason you would cry

Your second miles and daddy-smiles, glad victim of her charms

Your ultimate contentment as you held her in your arms

Dear daddy, once her favorite guy and no one else came near

Or rivaled for the sweet affection of your daughter dear

And love would drive you from your rest to earn her bread and keep

But still you tip-toed in to kiss her or to watch her sleep

Dear daddy, she has found her love and it lies in another

Though it seems like just yesterday, once too you stole her mother

And surely once her daddy felt the way you feel today

As he replied ‘I do’ when they asked ‘who gives her away’

Dear daddy, hold your chin up, let her take your arm and smile

Thank God you lived to be the one to walk her down the aisle

And though today you give her to belong now to another

You'll always be her daddy; she will ever be your daughter

© Janet Martin

When Man and Woman Say 'I Do'

All day I have been 'windows-shopping' until my head hurts!

...for this! An up-coming celebration

When man and woman say ‘I do’

Oh wondrous mystery

God joins the lives of what were two

And binds them tenderly

Then what was two is done away

And what were two is gone

As with this promise, ‘I take thee’

God joins two lives as one

Oh mystery

How can it be

Oh, great and glorious wonder

A sacred cord

Bound by the Lord

Man cannot rend asunder

‘Til death doth part’ hallowed vow

Recorded up in heaven

From this day forth two are one now

As long as they are livin'

To have and hold forevermore

What God has joined abides

Until that sad and solemn door

Where life and death divides

Oh mystery

A unity

Of sacred, holy wonder

This ties that binds

Two hearts and minds

Man cannot part asunder

(Repeat) When man and woman say ‘I do’

Oh, mystery of wonder

God joins the lives of what were two

And makes them one forever

© Janet Martin

…For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and join to his wife; And they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. …Mark 10:7-9

Laugh, Lovely Lady and Smile, Tender Groom

 

Laugh, lovely lady and smile tender groom

Here comes full beauty in love’s blushing bloom

Here comes the bride; for the rest of her life

Smile tender groom, she will be your wife

Smile, tender groom and laugh, lovely bride

Forever he vows to remain at your side

To honor and cherish each day of his life

In faithful companionship, husband and wife

Laugh lovely lady and smile, tender groom

Never let life strip the glow from love’s bloom

Here comes forever in dreams gently-lined

Oh, let nothing sever these sweet ties that bind

Smile, tender groom do not smother your grins

Laugh, lovely lady; a new chapter begins

From this day forward as God grants you life

This bride and groom will be husband and wife

© Janet Martin

There are few things that equal the joy and celebration of a wedding day.

What Makes a Successful Marriage?

 

 Image Source

For all the words written, repeated and referenced

For all the books gathering dust on our shelves

Marriage must be a constant endeavor

To put the other before ourselves

‘Easier said than done’, that’s a promise

It seems that Self is a dominant voice

Subtle and always eager to be noticed

Willing to be our soothing first choice

Two become one but with two opinions

Two become one in new love immersed

and Marriage will be a beautiful union

Only if each puts the other first

Alone it is hard to apply resolution
The tie that binds two hearts near and dear
Must be secured by a Third divine portion
God will enable us to persevere

© Janet Martin

Love-lessons in marriage are endless! On Monday hubby and I, Lord willing, will celebrate 25 years of learning! The analysis of what I have learned is this;

Two selfish people= disaster.   

One selfish person= abuse.  

No selfishness= Happy marriage
(or instead of no selfishness perhaps simply; each seeking selflessness)

We have experienced seasons in each of these categories.

Of Cups Over-flowing and Heart-strings

 (I wept(happily, sadly) through this whole scene!
My girls and I are now in the middle of watching season 3 on DVDs we borrowed from a friend)

Mom, will you be happy or sad when we get married? my son asked me this morning while the rest of the house was still asleep and he was getting ready for school…I will be...pause, both equally, I said, because…

There are two cups

In a mother’s heart

One for gladness

And one for grief

Even now they brim equally

Spilling and filling

In the same breath

And my dear boy,

A mother’s joy

Is such a strange, mysterious thing

We teach you to move forward

But there seems to be a string

That tugs within her heart of hearts

As the future becomes past

Because Time is a swift-winged creature

Always flying way too fast

And every now and then I miss

The way you once looked up to me

Where now you lean to place a kiss

Upon my tender reverie

Yet, I am learning to be glad

While cradling love’s mysterious pain

Of being so profoundly sad

At what will never pass again...

© Janet Martin

...because when one becomes a groom or bride

she must sever, at least in part

the strings entwined deep inside

the core of a mother's heart.

Unbroken (a Wedding Poem)

How long this oath? We do not know

When death this troth shall sever

From this day forth, but this we know

In life it is forever

What God has joined no flesh can part

Or draw its bonds asunder

Husband and wife, joined hand and heart

Pure, immaculate wonder

For better, worse, in sickness, health

To reverence, honor, cherish

To keep these vows above all else

And never let love perish

For love is life’s most sacred trust

Its charge, faithful and tender

To always put the other first

Proving its holy splendor

From this day forth and for all life

This pledge will be a token

Of love forever; husband, wife

Until death parts, unbroken

© Janet Martin