Timeless Madrigal

No instrument, minstrel or crooner

Can imitate, or compete

The low, melancholy languor

Of this melody, tender-sweet

Into deep-hushed charcoal hollow

Over moon-gilded plateau

It rises and falls at my window

Now restless, now moody, now slow

No violin quickens the pulses

Like its haunting madrigal

A ballad of longing and losses

Wanders earth’s somnolent hall

It curves quickened notes in an ocean

Clutching love’s bitter-sweet thought

A solo of dissonant emotion

Soothing, yet searing the heart

There is no other song equal

In lyric, in measure or rhyme

No composition to rival

This hymn since dawning of time

Over the graceful willow

And earth's silver-blue diadem

Over the tear on my pillow

Croons the wind-song of one a.m.

J~

In the Path of Wrath and its Aftermath

 

 The Sky appears unruffled....

Word Wrath...

They spew from nowhere

In un-designated wrath

Leaving grief and destruction

In its aftermath

Words spoken in anger

Cruel and unkind

Are like needless devastation

Of violent wind

© Janet Martin

The gale rages mercilessly

Beneath an innocent sky

I can do nothing but wish it would quit

As I watch the shingles fly

We are in the middle of a violent wind storm…90 -100km/hr. I can’t believe our hydro is still on!

Many are out due to downed trees and hydro-lines!

The sky appears calm and unruffled in spite of the chaos below!

Our thoughts and prayers remain with those suffering in the devastation after violent tornadoes!

Adding to my Suspicions

You crumple the blue clouds into a dark ball Adding a chill to each breath you exhale You strip away lingering petals of fall And petrify frostily, dawn’s misty veil You slip your fingers beneath my coat-collar And laugh, as I shiver at your icy clutch Gathering your troops, you sweep into the hollow Where flowers relinquished their blooms to your touch You moan at my doorway and rattle the window Grabbing my attention from embers that glow And I must admit you have raised my suspicions… …I think you are holding a world full of snow Janet Martin

November's Wind

Tonight with sullen scowl it strips

The gold leaf from the limb

Tonight with cold and puckered lips

It churns the clouds of heav’n

Tonight the shiv'ring moon is dull

And teardrops lash the dark

As every ragged ditch is full

Of Autumn’s waning spark

Tonight it preys outside the door

And moans against the sash

Tonight, across a ghostly shore

Its howling billows crash

Tonight it weeps in sobs of gray

Across earth’s barren form

A sorrowful soliloquy

A bold and empty storm

Tonight the landscape is a floor

The wind a ruthless broom

It heaves down every corridor

And into every room

It sweeps in vile abandonment

The orchard and the vine

Across the muted continent

Without thought or design

Tonight we tuck the little child

Between warm quilts of down

And though the brooding wind is wild

And every leaf far-blown

It cannot chill the firelight

Where thoughts and memories flow

We hold our loved ones close tonight

And let the north wind blow

Janet Martin

The wind is raging and howling tonight...

Hang onto your hats and grab a coat before heading out.

Or, stay home by the fire, hold a loved one and keep warm.

Tantrum

She weeps against my windowpane With wild and stormy tear Wailing as the raging wind Screams through the atmosphere The tree, her naked victim She tosses at her will I long to reach and still them Or shield them from her chill With merciless insistence She pounds against the door In spite of her persistence Her begging I ignore As all the more she battles In violent, furious rage I turn on the tea-kettle And slowly turn a page Like children throw a tantrum She too must have her fling A turbulent transition Before it can be spring She whips the ragged pine tree And storms across the grass Yet, for her venting misery I know, this too shall pass Janet~ We have a WILD one on our hands tonight! Seems she’s throwing everything at us she can possibly contrive… …wind, sleet, snow, rain, frozen rain!

Cold Shoulder....

I have lost every trace of trembling delight
I see no grace in your fresh coat of white
Take your venom and your ghastly chill
Fly far beyond the pining hill
Oh, how I long for a dew-laden fling
And a dance on the lawn in the color of spring

I am repelled by your cold blue lips
I shiver at the touch of your finger-tips
There is ice in the chatter of the hurrying brook
The broken reeds scatter into each hollow nook
And I can’t help but long for just one thing
A kinder song in the color of spring

Even the wind is a restless fellow
Pleading, as I for a whisper of yellow
To melt the frost from the window-pane
And draw the buds from the limb again
He moans at my door in a low murmuring
For a warmer shore and the color of spring

Janet~

Chance Meeting......

The wind tugs at the frozen landscape
Tonight he is moody and blue
Roving the hills with a restlessness
I know, for I feel it too
He leaves no trace of his passing
And yet in the remnant air
I hear the sigh he is voicing
As his fingers run through my hair

He roams with teasing madness
I reach for his finger-tips
He pulls me in with harsh kisses
There is ice upon his lips
Yet it is not I who is shaken
He falls like a wave to the sea
I feel his ire weaken
As he releases me

The scent of spruce and balsam
Now claims the thickening air
I must go, for dusk is falling
So I leave him trembling there
Then, lest he appears defeated
He sweeps from the darkening sky
But somehow he has lost his fury
I smile as he rushes by

Janet~

Ballad of the Wind......

A trickle from the stars above
Draws a tear into my eye
It’s a tender song of love
And sometimes it makes me cry
I can hear upon its moan
Words like ‘gone’ and ‘missing you’
In its rippling undertone
I can hear the color blue……
Ballad of the wind

Seems to me there’s going to be
A continual encore
Music of a rolling sea
Or waves upon a distant shore
And I’m thinking that this song
Can not find a way to end
I will listen all night long
It’s become a sort of friend…….
Ballad of the wind

It’s a chuckle and a sigh
A ripple, and a rush, a roar
It’s ‘hello darling’ and ‘good-bye’
But oh, I think it’s so much more
Its ‘do you really need to go?’
‘When will I see you again?’
I hear the music start to blow…….
In the ballad of the wind
Oh, ballad of the wind

It’s a lonesome lullaby
Crooning from the star-strewn hill
It’s a love song from the sky
Pleading when the night is still
I would dance a little while
On some cold and darkened plain
To the music of your smile
And the ballad of the wind
Oh, the ballad of the wind


Janet~

Alive......

How much of God we tend to miss
If we are immune to heaven’s kiss
Blind to the shadow of His hand
Moving across sky, sea and land

Have you seen it?
His hand behind the pale ring of the new moon
Have you heard it?
Beneath a frozen brook, hope’s muffled tune
Have you felt it?
Wonder stirring as you gaze upon a fragile rose
Have you tasted it?
The keen wind weeping salty tears as it dips and flows
Have you wept it?
As you see the naked corpse of summer silently lie
Have you walked it?
The road of tear-worn memories ‘neath a painted sky
Have you been mesmerized by a Presence in the thread of dawn?
Have you been taken by the whisper of a small cloud, far-blown?
Have you paused mid-step, completely spell-bound
By a miracle sprouting from the sun-parched ground
Have you been comforted by the tender murmur
Of rain softly falling in a midnight summer
Do we move like mummies wrapped up in life’s shroud?
Oblivious to love screaming from the silent cloud
Oh, how much of Him we tend to miss
If we are numb to heaven’s kiss

Janet~

Autumnal Wind.....

Today she is gentle, then furious and flexed Her discourse a blending of wistful and vexed She teases each careless blade of grass Then weeps in frustration as moody clouds pass She is Gold in the presence of the valiant sun Bold in the essence what is to come She is Tenderness; a soft sweet seduction She is Wild; raw and edgy; an unpredictable unction She is a soul-mate, a lover, a friend She is a powerful passionate blend Of laughter and teardrops, she is harsh, she is kind She is a woman; the autumnal wind All Rights Reserved Janet Martin

Autumn Wind

I embrace you, taunting, wild You dash from off the ridge In carefree gambols, like a child I race beneath the bridge Then suddenly, the bittersweet Snatches away my laughter As I see the sad retreat Of summer’s ever-after You tease the hunger in my soul My cheek longs for your kisses Your wanton ardor makes me whole Yet I spurn your caresses An imposter and a thief You charm with reckless fervor Mindless of the ragged grief Within the heart of summer If I were a marionette Then oh, how you could move me I would twirl and pirouette As you seduce and love me The passion in your cobalt eye Would fill this wretched hunger But you can never satisfy A true blue heart of summer All Rights Reserved Janet Martin