I Would...Just Once

Every now and then the When that taunts me from afar

Jars heartstrings and soft- vexes the imagination, oh

The impact of what slips beyond the frond of farthest star

Defies my best intention to focus on what I know

I know I cannot resurrect even one gasp when past

I know tis but in vain to plead for just one Yesterday

Futile to scan the faces that are ever memory cast

And somehow wish to Being that which Time has sealed away

But if I could, oh, foolishly, I know I would…just once

Allow another ‘one-more-last-slow-dance-before-we-part’

For then it would refresh the tender pledge echoes ensconce

Of your fingers slipping from mine to wrap around my heart

© Janet Martin

Better This Way...

Every now and then I enjoy a Maple Coffee Dessert...start with a splash of whole milk, then a swirl of maple syrup. Fill with hot coffee. Yum-m-m-m:)

Better this way; that we cannot turn back to Yesterday

Or weigh wanton embrace with what will never be again

Or rush ahead to claim what may not ever come to pass

Better this way; to fully taste the moment in our glass

Better to dwell on what is; not what was or else might be

Better to love with what we have while we have it; for we

Cannot adjust the Must, but only trust that if God wills

We do not miss the moment-kiss that from His mercy spills

Better this way; life’s come-what-may will be here soon enough

While what we hold will softly fold into the ache of love

But Now, the opportunity to experience Today

In all its wondrous fullness; yes, it’s better this way

© Janet Martin 

While I cannot help but immerse myself in a bit of nostalgia as I listen to these grade-school girls(see previous post) laughing and chattering, and knowing that this stage is CLOSED(most of these girls are parting ways and going to different schools and with Victoria being the youngest, this is our last school-party)...Jim calls to tell me its going to be very windy and rainy on Sunday. It is our turn to host the annual BBQ for his mom and siblings and their families. Suddenly I jolt to the moment and remind myself to focus on Today...don't soak in the Past, don't worry about tomorrow 'for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof' but pay attention to Now...

On Combing the Air For Treasure...

When stars return to splay their froth upon celestial sweeps

When the whole world is fast asleep save poets at their quest

And even winds have ceased their aimless to and fro to rest

When Time has tucked into his sheaf another leaf for keeps

When morn has filled its emptiness and noon has tipped its flask

To pour its virgin vintage on dusk’s blushing cobblestone

And Before adds to scads of After, its Unknown to Known

Where expectation is subjected to Time’s certain task

When we have stripped the husk away and gorged upon the fruit

And spit the pits and lingered over its sweetness a bit

When all that we have left of what was once a page un-writ

Are postludes played and replayed on a thought-inspired flute

…when today’s seeds have scattered to the soil of what will be

The Gate into its meadow barred with moments, nothing more

Then we stare at the fine-tuned air that echoes, shore to shore

With all that we have left of it to keep; a memory

© Janet Martin

We are in the process of making a once-in-a-lifetime memory. Let's make it special! Happy June 26th.

Here summer vacation has officially begun. Victoria and her friends, (the Gr. 8 girls) are ending a chapter in their lives while beginning another, with a camp-out. The back yard is a plethora of shrieks and laughter like only a whole lot of  13-14 year old girls are capable of...great memories in the making!

I had fun preparing brunch which originally was going to be served mid-morning (and I guess 9:00 is mid-morning for girls who stayed up most of the night and were 'STARVING!!';-)

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole 

Blueberry Coffeecake 

and the regular store-bought cereal etc.

Most of them chose frozen waffles and Cheerios;-0

 

Bound By Time

Sasha has us pondering Time today...

Time has no eraser, only morning

Earth is not immune to moment-grace

Where Generations pass like grass; ah, darling

How it eases through eons of space

Its resting place a grave I cannot see

Because its death will be the Death of Me

Time has no rebuttal; it is subtle

In its non-confrontational exchange

Of dawn to dark and Truth as youth is startled

By Awareness of Something age-old, yet strange

And I, along with universal masses

Am bound by this that only Death surpasses

© Janet Martin

There is only one alternative to getting older, the minister reminded us at my aunt's funeral yesterday...we should consider Time's gift a priceless allowance!

If Death should come calling today

In form of The Sublime

to grant one wish

I'm sure we would say

'oh, for a little more Time'

Some verses from God's Word on Time or Life...

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."…James 4:13-15

Job 7:7
Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;
Psalm 39:5
You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.
Psalm 78:39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
Psalm 102:3
For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
Psalm 144:4
They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.
Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Isaiah 2:22
Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?

Of Moments At Large

 It's Wikem day...perhaps the last official one for a while but who doesn't use wikipedia on a regular basis?;-)

'Time has long been a major subject of study'  Wikipedia.  

(anyone who reads this blog knows that I constantly try to capture its fullness, but cannot)

From Kindergarten 

to Grade 8 in a blink... 

Sasha's topic fits in well with the season, but then Time is always in season!

Its longing dismembers our best intention

Its friendships forgive vexing voids that gape

And bleed through our bearing; its intervention

Is sure and pure without substance or shape

Here it is, there it was, here come new pages

We cannot rein in its invisible tide

Poured in moments that meld to the ages

Sealed in thought-cages somewhere deep inside

Darling, the newness of morning amazes

Soon the sun blazes and melts it away

Vortex of triumph and loss interlaces

In faraway places of Yesterday

Once we were new to the way of its graces

Vowing we would not submit to its charge

Like our forefathers, but soon our faces

Wear fool-proof kisses of moments at large

© Janet Martin