It's Just That Way

Here we have it

It's just that way

Whispers and pieces

Of  thoughts we pray

And maybe its true

That somehow, someday

We'll learn to let go

Because its best that way

Here we have it

I hear a door close

And footsteps begin fading...

Only God knows

The rhyme and the reason

Of good-byes and hellos

But here we have it

That's the way life goes

...and here we have it

The laughter and tears

Of loving and losing

Of days turned to years

Life is a ballroom

We pass through but once

Hold me closer

My darling, let's dance

Because here we have it

The bitter and sweet

Parting is simply

The road till we meet

So here we have it

The fall and the rise

Of pleasure and passion

Of hellos and good-byes

...yes, here we have it

A little thing called life

A culmination

Of sorrow and strife

A tender ballad

Of its highs and its lows

And where it will take us

Only God knows

...so we take love's chances

A faith-leap of dust

Over and over

We love and we trust

Here we have it

Love's dance in the rain

And darling, I know

We'd do it again

J~

Song of Thanksgiving

For mornings, heavy with un-scattered rain

For life’s constant bevy of glorious mundane

For man’s strength renewed as night-shadows wane

Lord, we thank You

For spring fields seeded with harvest’s fresh hope

For wild-flower rivers and emerald-green slope

For the steadfast Known as through unknowns we grope

Lord, we thank You

For blossomed distraction beyond my kitchen sink

For peony-splashes of petal-pure pink

For dishes to wash while I pray and I think

Lord, I thank-you

For smiles that gleam through love’s tender-sweet tears

For children that dream undeterred by aged fears

For memories to soften life’s chastening years

Lord, we thank You

For Master-piece moments in life’s darkest hours

For Master-piece miracles spilling in flowers

For Master-piece vaults of sunshine and showers

Lord, we thank You

Lord, we thank You for unfailing grace

The hope of heaven beyond life’s troubled race

For You, that You prepared such a Place

Oh, Lord we thank You

© Janet Martin

This morning Victoria suddenly turned as she was getting on the bus, with a big grin,  two-thumbs up and a merry wave…then they were gone. Just like that, my sink full of dishes and empty fridge and begging housework became beautiful through misted tears.

All I could think of to say is this…thank-you Lord.

 “Listen to this, Job;
    stop and consider God’s wonders.Job 37:14

Dear Flower...

You didn’t say a thing

As I gazed at you

Petal of virgin

Pink, gold, purple, blue

Delicate miracle

Sweetening the breeze

Of red, periwinkle

Intricacies

I am dumb-founded

As I study each gem

Unfolded from emerald

Leaves on a stem

Dazzling in beauty

And none that is greater

Each designed perfectly

By its Creator

You didn’t say a thing

As I studied your face

But I heard the whispering

Of God’s wonder and grace

© Janet Martin

 There is no 'fairest of them all' in God's flower-garden.
He created each of us just as He intended!

Precursor

Thought is a foot-loose wanderer

She follows no map or chart

Leaving no footprint behind her

A master of mind-numbing art

Thought is a subtle deceiver

No man is immune to her vice

She must be diligently guarded

This charge of inestimable price

Thought, though believed well-hidden

Cannot escape one simple fact

She is the lone precursor

To every word or act

© Janet Martin

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Phil 4:8

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Realization

In certain moments we are suddenly gripped

With Realization, as we pause to think

Of how subtly, smoothly hours have slipped

In another year over Time’s fluent brink

And as we reflect on the invisible haste

With which fleeting life-times swiftly disappear

Surely we are challenged to savor and taste

Each morsel of living that forges a year

The ache in our throat and the sob in our chest

Sweetens the sorrow of loving and of loss

As Realization, in most earnest quest

Arouses awareness of dust’s feeble dross

For what is this life?... but a semblance of hours

In which all must be either servant or slave

Of this thing that softly, ceaselessly devours

The scope of our breath twixt the cradle and grave

Thus, in certain moments we are sacredly gripped

By the whisper of He who designs each life’s span

As subtly, smoothly another year has slipped

Far from the reaches and the will of man

© Janet Martin

Last eve we attended the wake of a neighbor in his 93^rd year…

He leaves his wife, also in her 93^rd year, to mourn with beloved family…

Birthday’s and Death…two keen reminders of the beautiful and sacred gift we hold in each day, for life, no matter how long, is a twinkle in the eye of eternity. Cherish it, hold it lightly and cling to the Giver.

Twilight Dirge

In silken shrouds of misted-gray

Dust-fragrant folds caress

The transient corpse of this wee day

As it is laid to rest

Across blue hill and dusk-cloaked pond

A soulful dirge begins

Drifting from crypts of earth beyond

This vale of mortal sins

And souls, yet cloaked in human flesh

Pause, ere they lie to sleep

As notes of loss and hope enmesh

The song that tunes the deep

The stillness of night’s hollow seas

With farewell tones is fraught

The rise and fall of memories

Resounding in our thought

Into the void of Past it slips

Buried, but not with sod

This Day is gone, from fingertips

Of man, returned to God

© Janet Martin

The Crux of Choice

In life, the road we choose to take

Will make us who we are

The crux of choice, an awesome blank

‘Til we look back from far

The obstacles along the way

And how we choose to bear them

Will leave a lasting legacy

To future generations

In life, the road we choose to take

Affects not one lone traveler

The footprints that our choices make

Some other soul will follow

The crux of choice; how can we know

Which way will be the best?

We cannot; but trust God as we go

And let Him do the rest

© Janet Martin

A 'Happiness Guarantee'

We are not born with wisdom

But if we would be wise

We should go and get it

As King Solomon advised

If we want to be happy

Then we ought to heed his word

For he who seeketh wisdom
Obtains favor from the Lord

© Janet Martin

Insatiable Appetite

Words feed the poem in me

For a little while

I am satisfied

But then,

As one starving

I attack them

With renewed hunger

For a poem

Is never

Completely

Filled

© Janet Martin

Invisible Alignment

When dim-lit eve turns up the dark

And rain, like tiny elfin-feet

Trips lightly on the onyx pane

That by noon’s light, frames bustling streets

…when this small day undaunted slips

Into a vault I cannot see

And Time exhales from ageless lips

Another little day for me

I pause, both grateful and afraid

For while Time gives it also steals

One hand conceals a two-edged blade

While with the other hand it heals

And I, with one hand holding fast

Allow the other to let go

As dim-lit eve turns up the dark

I hold love close, yet miss it so…

J~