No Return...

They come…they pass
To deck the grass
Where once fore-fathers bled
A breath, a sigh
A tear-dimmed eye
A bowing of the head

A little toil
Handful of spoil
A little joy and strife
Before we face
The God of grace
And the measure of our life

No return
We cannot burn
A moment or a day
But we can cope
With one true Hope
That never fades away

How swift they pass
Our days as grass…
Soon lie in fields to burn
The path we tread
Leads not to the dead
But to a place of no return…

Janet~

When I See You

When I see You push the tresses
Of the deepened night awry
When the timid light caresses
The low border of the sky
When the sea of dazzling starlight
Fades into the azure blue
Oh, my Lord, I am reminded
There is none like You

When I see the gleaming wheat fields
Where the dormant sod had been
And I see the fruit that earth yields
From the orchard, bent and green
When I see the bud awaken
By the nudging of the sun
My faith in You remains unshaken
Oh Lord,like You there's none

Season folding over season
Tears and laughter deck this sod
And I cannot find one reason
To deserve the love of God
Though life’s disappointment tests me
Though the drought may parch the land
Still I see You, God of mercy
When I cannot understand

When I see the earth surrender
To the seasons You ordain
When I see Your love so tender
Wash away sin’s wretched stain
When I gaze up to the heavens
To its vault of ethereal blue
Then remember…I’m forgiven
I cry, Lord, there’s none like You

Janet~

Night Song...

Late night stillness, sing to me
Notes of dew upon thy sigh
Sweep life’s cares out to the sea
In your turquoise lullaby

In the fading of this day
Fold upon thy ruddy breast
Dappled shadows, clouds of gray
Ere we hasten to our rest

Let the fern beside the brook
And the green leaf on the tree
Shade the deep and darkened nook
While we pause and list to thee

Bold, bright flowers bow their heads
Timid blossoms shut their eyes
While the night its glory sheds
In softened, moon-dimmed lullabies

Late night quiet, quell the throes
Of forbidden dreams profound
As the tear of midnight flows
Mingling with the dew-kissed ground

Late night stillness, sing to me
A melody, of star-lit spire
Longing, love and poetry
Throbbing in thy midnight choir

Soothe the weary, aching limb
Kiss the sad and downcast eye
For thine is such a tender hymn
Falling softly from the sky

Late night stillness, sing to me
Songs no words or tongue can form
A drowsy, haunting melody
Angling through a silent storm…

J~

Complexities

It is one thing…
It is a million things…
It is the breaking of a heart
…and its healing
It is ecstasy…
…and agony
It is life's heaviest burden
…and its greatest blessing
It is desire…
…and fulfillment
We live for it…
…and for it we die
To receive it…
…we must give it
It may fill us…
…yet, we can never get enough
So complex...
...yet, astoundingly simple
…we call it…
Love

Janet~

A Prayer...

Thoughts of you, my love, link together
Until they become
An eternal, drawn-out sigh…

Thoughts of you, my love, help me to weather
Life’s smaller storms
Gathering as a tempest in my eye…

Thoughts of you, my love, collect
To sear a gaping hole
Across my heart…

Yet, thoughts of you, my love, form an ocean
In my soul
Drawing us together when we are apart

Thoughts of you, on some days, my love
Are too heavy
For one person to bear…

…so I gather them tenderly, my love
And lift them up
In a prayer…
…a prayer…
A prayer…

J~

Far, Far Away...

I love those I hold, in the comfort of arms
Touch is a priceless grace
I love to feel you against me, kind and warm
As I brush my lips ‘gainst your face
But oh, I have loved you, my darling today…
Powerful, painful and far, far away

I love the love of you next to me
As I touch you with my eyes
And trace every curve of you softly, slowly
But suddenly I realize
I’ve loved you keenly in thought, quiet; gray
When you are not near me but far, far away

…as I out-line your voice and the warmth of your smile
In thought, I caress you there
And I hold you closer for a little while
In the arms of a tear and a prayer
I love to love with the pleasure of touch
But far, far away, oh, I love you so much…

J~

Opportunity

Yesterday’s passion recedes into the mist
Tomorrow’s temptation is not hard to resist
Its failure or fortune lies far, far away
All that we hold in our hands is…today

Why do we fret or dare even to borrow
The care not yet seen in some phantom tomorrow
Why do we pine for past’s down-trodden fray?
While here in our palm lies the gift of today

Opportunity waits, not in vaults of the past
Nor in a day that has not yet been cast
Yet, we need not wait for it to begin…
Opportunity lives in the moment we’re in



Janet~

The Woman

At night
Lying in bed
Cradled in the womb of darkness
She tells herself
‘I am a woman’...
But if someone told her
‘No, you are a girl’
She would believe it…
For a moment
Before her senses
Honed by womanhood
Keenly remind her
In flesh and blood
Of the aching inside
And the relentless tide
Where time’s river flows
Through her heart
Tearing apart
The girl from the woman
And the light of a dream
From her eye…

J~

Never Alone...

Alone
In the still of the morning air
The thought of you
Brushes my heart
In the cadence of a prayer

Alone
But for a lingering thought or two
Touching my soul
Like sun etching a leaf
I out-line the memory of you

Alone
Oh bliss that will never be
It seems the thought
Of you remains
To keep me company…

J~

Straggler...

I left you standing at the end of the street
Told you why you could not come
But in every room it is you that I meet
Somehow you followed me home

I didn’t know I would see you again
Why is it wherever I roam
I seem to hear you laugh in the rain
Oh, somehow you followed me home

…with my morning coffee, when I go to sleep
Tell me where do you come from?
I feel the warmth of your skin on my cheek
Oh, somehow you followed me home

…somehow my heart was not in our good-bye
Somehow you don’t leave me alone
I cannot tell you the when or the why
But somehow you followed me home

J~

Now I Lay Me...

Now I lay me down in the arms of a prayer
Touching a compassionate hand
I place my sorrows into His care
With the things I do not understand

Now I lay me down in the light of His love
No matter where life’s path may go
He never leaves His throne up above
Or loses sight of me here below

Now I lay me down, on a mountain of dirt
And the anguish that living may bring
He whispers softly, oh be not afraid…
…as I sleep in the arms of a King

J~