As Still as the Dew

I push you away
I don’t want to cry
But I can’t push the day
To the edge of the sky
Or cradle the seasons
Drifting into the blue
Nor quell all the reasons
For loving you

I can’t retain sorrow
Or trade in my grief
Nor leap to tomorrow
In search of relief
And I cannot sweep
To the dark sky above
The tears that I weep
For the one that I love

There is no sweeter
Sorrow than this
To love so completely
That longing is bliss
Who knew emotion
Could whisper and seer?
Who knew love’s ocean
Could be shed in a tear?

I push you from me
I don’t want to cry
But thought will not leave me
In whispered good-bye
Moments spread through me
As still as the dew
I can’t push you from me
Or stop loving you

Janet Martin~

Words...

I am afraid to peek at the clock
The silence amplifies each singular tock
There is a tug I’m not able to fight
It lures me with words, and I write

Partially mixed batter can wait for a bit
Half-peeled tomatoes don’t complain if I quit
T'is not simply food that can whet appetite
Words can taste just as good, so I write

Reading to me is a bittersweet bliss
And my dilemma with reading is this
Every good book I profusely highlight
And then need to pause my reading, to write

Words are not merely quaint forms on a page
Words stir and thrill our heart's hidden stage
Words are a writer’s most ardent delight
As we pick and choose and write, and write

Janet Martin

OKAY! I’m back to work now, I promise! Well,
until I feel the next ‘tug’ at least.
There is no way to stop words; we cannot stop them by closing our eyes
or plugging our ears or holding our noses!
They are just 'there’.
Taunting, teasing, oh so pleasing!

When I Desire Peace...

When I am held by prison walls
Of worry or despair
When disappointment’s heavy shawl
Becomes too hard to wear
And when the angst of mortal woe
Becomes a ball and chain
Then it is time for me to go
In search of peace again

There…just beyond my windowsill
I hear His glory plead
I shrug off duty’s rigid will
As weapons of my greed
I need to find a solace where
The tides of anguish cease
I drink the sassy, frost-tinged air
Inhale the wine of peace

Here the breeze of Eden blows
From heaven’s timeless eye
It breathes its kisses on the rose
A tender lullaby
I touch the proof of Providence
As tiny seeds expand
While burgeoning with evidence
Of our Creator’s hand

Fair is the blossom of the spring
But lovelier its fruit
Weak, floundering hope now dares to sing
With voice that once was mute
I spread upon the trampled soil
My offerings of decay
Ah, soon this glimpse of grief and toil
Will vanish far away

The rise and fall of highs and lows
The hour of joy or strife
Are ripples in a sea that flows
Beyond this vale of life
As He who holds within His palm
Earth’s wondrous mysteries
Enfolds me in His garden’s calm
And renders to me…peace

Janet Martin~

This morning I was torn between some euphoric highs
and very disappointing lows.
I went to the garden to pick tomatoes,
and listen to God.

September's Brush

The raindrops splay their silver notes
Against the darkened pane
And on the night air softly floats
The scent of dusty lane
The cheek of child and apple-limb
Have donned a rosy blush
And far too soon the daylight dims
Beneath September’s brush

The tumbled pasture wakes at dawn
Beneath a frosty dew
Where August's blazing hours shone
For a brief dance or two
But now the walnut leaf is gold
As gnarled fingers crush
The moments slipping from my hold
Borne on September’s brush

The garden boasts its grand hurrah
In gold and orange and red
The grapes are heavy on the wall
As Summer bows its head
And we unto our Maker bow
Who guides the seasons thus
As August to September flows
Beneath time's eager brush

The lengthened evening sighs upon
The shadows long and gray
As twilight in a great blue yawn
Snuffs out another day
I lay upon the shoulder of
A fading summer’s hush
The shades are turning colder, love
Upon September’s brush

Janet Martin~

I’m caught in its bitter-sweetness tonight…
…of time and life.

Frankly, My Dear

Clark Gable’s infamous words flashed through my head
And I opened my mouth to say ‘frankly, my dear’,
But I couldn’t finish the words he said
As I turned away and wiped a tear
It simply wouldn’t and couldn't be true
Because, frankly my dear, I care about you

I care about the way the sunlight
Casts a shadow on your brow
I care about the lines that life
Has placed around your eyes somehow
I care about the way I see
The smiles fade from your lips
And how I feel beneath the hunger
Of your fingertips
I have not learned how to shield
Your longing from my eye
Or how to keep my thoughts of you
From reaching for your sigh
I care about how your voice trembles
With thoughts you cannot tell
I care about your little nothings
And hope they treat you well
I care about the miles between us
When you are not near
So all I can say in the still of the night
Is frankly, I love you, my dear

J~

"No"

Oft times it is in retrospect
I realize love’s gift,
I see the beauty of the day
Caught up as seasons shift
And easily I recognize
The glory of the Lord
Splayed out across the flaming skies
In songs without a word

I see in love’s endearing smile
Or in fingers entwined
Whispers of its pleasant mile
Intricately designed,
But I have learned a purer love
Unseen while teardrops flow
As He bestows love’s kindest proof
In one syllable, “no”

And while I flail and kick and scream
In blind determination,
Patiently His mercy streams
From Hands of all creation
As I resist His warm embrace
Still He does not let go
Though angry teardrops bathe my face
He simply repeats “no”

…and now in humble retrospect
Tears of a broken heart
Roll down my cheek as I look up
And cry ‘How great Thou art’,
Undeserving,oh I love
The One who loves me so
For He cared for me enough
To whisper softly “no”

Janet~

As a parent sometimes this is the most challenging
word to love with...no?

As a Child I have lived long enough to see its beauty.

Taken by Surprise...

Who knew…as I pause to look at you
What a four by six piece of paper can do,
Who knew the ocean could sweep through the sky
As I look deep into the gaze of your eye?
Who knew a heart could explode in a chest?
…yet in a synchronized instant reveal life’s very best!
Who knew that one tiny, little half-grin
Would push back life’s shadows and let the sun in?
The room is quiet, yet it seems I can hear
The rush of eternities past, in my ear
Who knew? As I stand here looking at you
What a small four by six photograph can do

Janet~

...looking at some old photos last night.

Poet

She stares at the empty canvas
Contemplating which colors to use
Her brush hovers impatiently; quiet
As she takes the time to choose
The shades that will accurately reflect
The mood of passion’s stirred
Her colors are consonants and vowels
Her painting…written word

J~

September's Cricket Song

Rolling from the gleaming hill
And from the hazy slope
Rising from the heavy field
A rippling kaleidoscope
From choirs hidden in the grass
A dedicated throng
Heralding the hours that pass
September’s cricket song

In winding lanes and weathered ditch
Their melody is stirred
And in the deep night solitude
Its chirping trill is heard
A serenade from dusk till dawn
And still the whole day long
Rising from the dew-pearled lawn
September’s cricket song

Its ceaseless cadence rises, falls
But never dies away
Yet still our eyes cannot behold
The stages where they play
They fill the sighing atmosphere
A tireless, hidden throng
To tell us summer’s end is near
…September’s cricket song



Janet~

I heard them in the wee still of night,
as soon as I opened my eyes this morning,
while I was washing up lunch dishes,
and now, after supper.
I think I’ll grab a coffee and go out
Where I can have a front row seat!

May my praise be to You, oh God,
as tireless as September's cricket song!

September's Eve

You seem to me a philanderer of hours…
Wasting away the azure of noon,
I cannot dissuade your seductive powers
As you toss to the heavens a pale new moon
Snuffing out moments one flower at a time
Vexing this summer heart of mine

Without permission you toss your dark robe
Of rich and velvet blue
Across the cusp of tempered globe
With memories and dew
Paint the vast midnight with tears of the rose
We are the spectators of summer’s close

Smooth fingers reaching to softly enfold
Ditches of cattail and brush
Bloom-laden fields of burnished gold
Fade out in this premature hush
As you steal an hour out of the day
Hastening, hastening summer away

Janet~


When I returned from my run tonight I thought it must be later
than I am realizing it to be.
It was EARLIER!...only a little after 8:00 p.m. and almost dark!

Departure

The deep August sky parted
At midnight
Expelling its sorrow
In a deluge of September rain

Janet~

September is ushered in by one heck of a thunderstorm!!!

I am so glad my little campers are tucked in…downstairs.
(See poem below)

Child...

There can be no shadow of regret with you,
Perfection lent to earth,
Heaven in your smile,
You evoke in me a measure of worth
You are a child

With your hand in mine nothing else matters,
I am complete for a time,
Let the world seek its fortune
I have found mine
In a child


Janet~

My daughter has two friends here for a sleep-over.
Camping, actually.
5:00 p.m.-set up tent
6:00 p.m. supper inside because it was too windy for a camp-fire.
7:00 p.m. blow up air mattress, stock tent with sleeping bags, treats, drinks, teddies, blankets…
7:30 p.m. Oh no! If we want a fire we need to move the tent! The wind is blowing directly toward it!
7:45 p.m. We have moved the tent and it is being reassembled!
8:00 p.m. Wind has died down so ‘mom’ starts the camp-fire…
8:30 p.m. It’s getting dark. Get flashlight.
8:45 p.m. Fire is ready to roast marshmallows!
8:48 p.m. 3 marshmallows roasted aka burnt! and devoured.
8:49 p.m. Discover marshmallow in hair!
8:50 p.m. getting darker!
8:51 p.m. Tummy-aches and big eyes!
8:52 p.m. ‘mom’ suggests that if anyone does not want to sleep in the tent she will flatten the couches downstairs into beds
9:00 p.m. 3 little girls downstairs on couch feeling much better!:) Tent…empty except for the air mattress.
9:30 p.m. ‘mom’ puts in one of her favorite movies and they loved it! Curly Top (Shirley Temple) ‘mom’ becomes one of them for awhile.
It is now 11:30 p.m. little girls are laughing, giggling, and discussing…TEACHERS!
Methinks it is going to be a ‘late breakfast’ morning…for 3 little ‘campers’.

Of Imminent Departure...

Press the curves of your ethereal body
closely to me; there is urgency
trembling beneath the serenity
of imminent departure as we
put on our best brave faces
to preserve moments sealed in our hearts.

Climb over me, align the fire
in your tortured eye with my heartbeat,
Quite suddenly your lips
brimming with passion and desire
suffocates the dreamer’s bliss
in the quiver of imminent departure

I must inhale the scent of you
in our last dance; heady musk
filling my veins; eyes of blue,
Your neck is warm, your breath intoxicating
highlighting the agony of waiting
in the gathering dusk of imminent departure

A ball of crumpled wishes
lodges achingly in my throat
barring all the perfect words
that I would tell, before you go
across the pale blue hill; and so we stand
as I beg you to press closer

Seal your promise of return within my hand,
Not with summer's roses, for shortly
their petals deck the sand; oh, come closer
so I may hear; not the foot-falls of imminent departure
but the landing of your tear
on my cheek, in this farewell hour

Janet~

Rushing to Oblivion

Like impatient waters rushing
oblivious to the delicate fronds
lining the shore
Or like a flock of wild geese rising
suddenly from the neighboring pond
in a muffled whir
the wind herds moments
gently, yet firmly before it
like a scolding mother
gathering her children
for a bedtime story
…an hour together
beneath the deepening sky
before it is gone forever


J~

No Pretty Pink Bow...

You held it too me beneath the pink sky
It was so lovely that it made me cry
I took it gladly; for oh, how could I
Know it was simply
A beautiful good-bye

No pretty ribbon, no neatly tied bow
No hint of parting; how was I to know
As you gave it to me with a tear in your eye
That it was going to be
A beautiful good-bye

I did not see through its beautiful disguise
Beautiful love song; beautiful eyes
Beautiful moment of beautiful sighs
Prelude to the torment
Of beautiful good-byes…

Janet Martin

Nightingale's Tears

The nightingale chorus
Floats on the dark lea
Over the grave
‘neath the weathered pine tree
High on its limb
Like molten light
Its note takes wing
To seer the night
Where no tear has warmed
The cold, hard stone
Just a nightingale’s song
O’er a grave unknown
The moon may weep
The wind may moan
The nightingale's tears
Brush the cold gray stone

Janet~

Of Poetry

Do you read me
with eyes open or half-closed
Do you read me at all
or do you simply see words
strutting across a page
stilted actors on a stage….
like a ripple on the sea
fading into obscurity
Do you feel the heat
The chill
A heart beat
when the night is still
Tell me, how do you
read poetry?

The essence of you
pulses in me
Ah, this is my favorite
Rhythm of poetry
Words ebb and flow
They rise and fall
and yet sometimes
I hardly see words at all
as a mystic force
draws me near
in a fearless embrace
I touch your face…
or else I hear
the thundering rain
pounding, washing over me
with pleasure's pain
Ah, this is poetry

Intangible blend
of desire, repulsion, hope
Friend touching friend
learning to cope
with life’s harsher reality
as smiles and tears flow
Fires rage,
and in its afterglow
we re-trace its geography
not with ink,
but flesh and blood
immersed in bitter-sweet fantasy
Or is it a keener sense of God?
Ah, this is poetry…

…to feel without touch
To weep without tears
To dance in the arms
Of faded years

J~

Poet' Curse

This must be the poet's curse
and I'm not sure which one is worse...
A pen without inspiration...
...or inspiration without a pen

Janet~

I had one of those days today...
...a lot of work! and that's when inspiration hits!!!
when I'm elbow deep in
canning or kids stuff or heavy muddy feet in the garden.., you know? then
I have the most sudden and tantalizing flashes of
inspiration! Do I remember them when my hands or feet are all clean and dry???
Nope:)

I penned this little ditty a few years ago when I
was frustrated by this...curse.

Over the Years...

Over the years I’ve seen the sapling in our yard
Reach for the sky, growing; tall, lean, strong and hard
And the willow which spawned a young girl’s poetry
Crashed to the lawn relinquishing grace and vitality…
...to nothing more than fire-wood

I’ve seen my mother’s chestnut hair turn white as snow
My father’s vibrant stride begin to slow
As wisdom crowns the hoary heads I dearly love
I’ve seen their dreams shift from the now to ports above…
….where heavenly mansions glow

I’ve seen my wee babes; as I first touched them at their birth
And God released a glimpse of heaven to this earth
I’ve seen them begin to realize the tug of conflicting powers
The accountability of freedom; as the bud opens to flower
…..and their eye’s to our true Worth

Over the years I’ve seen that nothing stays the same for very long
The smiles, the tear, are but the half-notes in life’s lilting song
Over the years I’ve held hands just to feel the pain of letting go
And I begin to see the hint of wisdom’s hoary snow
….with-held from the care-free and the young

Over the years I’ve seen the truth in words my father spoke
I’ve seen that youth is but a brief and winsome cloak
Over the years I’ve seen the rising and the setting sun
Painted across the sky by true Love’s changeless One
…..evidence of mankind’s living Hope

Janet Martin

above are some pictures I've taken ...over the years...

Tear-stained Letter

We’re not as close as I wish we would be…
And I take the blame for that
I know…
I’ve made choices with which you disagree
And I’ve made you sad
But in spite of it all
I love you, Dad

I love you more
And separately
From any other love
You’ve taught me
More than anyone
on this earth...
Generously, unselfishly
By example
…a gift beyond worth
And for this
I love you, Dad

Seventy seems younger than it used to…
Because I don’t think of you as old
I pray as you go forward
God will truly make each day pure gold
Because I can think of no other
Gift I would rather give
Than simply my love to you, Daddy
As long as we both shall live…

I love you
For the legacy you’ve given me
I wish there were some things
That had turned out differently
I know… you wish it too…
For it breaks my heart to realize
You’re *the greatest man…
…I never really knew…

With all my Love
From you daughter, Janet

Happy 70th Birthday, Dad

*Reba McIntyre song

If You Were to Stay...

I would wrap my arms softly around you

Spread my body o’er your fragrant dust

To cover you with sanguine summer-lust

And drink your sparkling wine of morning dew

I would slow-dance in the smoothness of your dark

Linger in your sultry, sullen arms

Victim of your mad and moody charms

Hypnotized by one faint glimm’ring spark

I would wander through your royal palace

Decked with roses; guarded by golden-rod

Built by none other than Holy God

I’d sip your tears from heaven’s purest chalice

Seduce me with your languid pantomime

I would not resist you if you tried

Lay me down where purple blooms reside

And lavish me with melodies sublime

Is there any ear to hear my pleas?

Will you dry the tear upon my cheek?

You kiss my lips, stealing the words I speak

And carry them away on Augusts’ breeze

Janet Martin~

I was lying on the deck soaking up the intense heat that comes

just before a billowy cloud-bank covers the sun and it hit me...

I don't want August to leave yet!

Matter of Age?

Can I, a vessel formed of dust
And prone to turn from fervent truth
Be wiser now than in my youth?
Does one become immune to lust?

Will folly be the residue
To cloak the trunk of wisdom’s tree
The breeze sweeps thither languidly
Across the weathered skins of fruit

Janet Martin

The words for this week are: residue, turn, skins, truth, dust, trunk, matter, breeze, cloak, vessel, sweeps, fervent

Paradise...Lost

Rue the day I come to tell
that I cannot remember well
the breeze that strode before us when
we heard the chorus in the glen
of hopes and dreams and whispers of
the thoughts of those who dream of love
and rue the cold and bitter night
when I cannot remember quite
the timbre of your quiet sigh
the color of your longing eye
and may I never live to tell
that I cannot remember well
what perhaps your name had been
or where you lived or even when
we said hello and not good-by
or was it just a far-fetched cry
of bitter love and loneliness
to fill internal emptiness
before we came to realize
more hope have we to touch the skies
than find within each others gaze
the magic of love's winsome ways.....
and dreams are but a hapless wave
to fill the cold and silent grave
Ah, rue the day I come to tell
that I cannot remember well...

J~

Invisible Hurricane...

By forces unseen
Ne’er beheld with the eye
Yet powerful as hurricane
Expelled in a sigh…
…is my love for you

J~

Thinking of everyone on the Eastern seaboard…be safe.

Joy Unrestrained

How oft the sadness of regret
Would bleed its vesture on my heart
Or paint its dark and sordid art
Across a day not broken yet

How oft its vengeance would remain
A visage, hidden and despised
Where hope lies flat, unrealized
In cold and unrelenting chains

Expectation’s pressing weight
Would push me hard into life’s dirt
Drowning passion in its hurt
Exchanging tenderness for hate...

...and peace would slip from my embrace
My joy be overcome with dread
But for redemption’s river shed
From Hands of sweet, atoning Grace

Janet~

Commandant

He marched ahead of me
barring every door
I was too afraid to retaliate
or even pound on the gate
freshly aware of my insecurity
I cowered on the floor
Subjected to the commandeer
Reliant on a single fortitude…
Fear

Janet~

Squanderer

Why wastest thou thy longing on a sigh
For minutes slipping to elusive past?
Why longest thou to hold a vapor fast?
Or lookest thou with low and dreamy eye
To swift-winged moments dashing by
Thus squandering present joy for shadows cast
No stagnant moment can there ever be
Nor was so small an hour that we should waste
Such treasure on closed lips devoid of taste
Or with eyes turned to past’s eternity
Be blinded to a stream of opportunity
Rushing to an ethereal sea in haste

Janet

To Mike…first crack at The Dare...
Am I vaguely close?

His Name...

What was his name?
He asked softly
As he caught the look of longing
In my eye
What was he like?

Oh, his gaze was as blue
As the azure sky
His smile was as fair
As summer sunshine
Time did not exist
In his pleasant arms
We could walk for miles
For the night was warm
We didn’t think about minutes
As we spent carefree hours
Wandering through oceans
Of nodding wild flowers
Pleasure was sitting
At the brink of dawn
Or simply strolling
Across dew-kissed lawn
I didn’t appreciate him
Nearly enough
Or spend my time thinking
Of it as love…


What was his name?
He heard my wistful sigh
As I replied simply
His name was…
July

The Hard Part Of Poetry

Yes, I admit
Rhyming is easy...

...bleeding from the heart
Isn't

Stretching thought
Is a grueling work-out

Undressing the mind
Is vulnerability
In its truest form

J~

Unspoken...

...Her sorrow bled,
Not in rivers of red
But in dark ink across the night
The tears she wept
By day were kept
In heartbeats out of sight
Life can slice
The same heart twice
Twice hearts can be broken
Her sorrow bled
Where ink-drops shed
Lost years of words unspoken

J~

Mere Observances

Moments are craftsmen of triumph or shame
I love the moment when I whisper your name

Memories are the fruits of victory or defeat
I have tasted both; both bittersweet

Heartache fills acres without leaving a mark
Heaven spills softly in your kiss in the dark

J~

Measure of a Mistake

Hush my dear child
And dry your eyes
It is not in our victories
That we become wise

But wisdom is oft found
With our mouth full of dirt
Our face to the ground
And our heart full of hurt

Hush, my dear one
And dry your eyes
Failure and experience
Help make us wise

Janet~

My mind wandered as we sharpened pencils,
made 'back-to-school' shopping lists...

Sweet Sorrow

I remember watching you…
…and Dad
I would study your faces
And I thought you were sad

Now I understand a little
Of what I perceived as sorrow
How swiftly this moment
Reaches for tomorrow

How soon the sun slips
From summer’s sky
Touching my lips
With a slow, sweet sigh

…and sometimes when they ask me
Why I am sad
I recall watching you
…and I don't feel so bad

Janet~

About-face...

…what was I thinking?
‘I do not ask for a lifetime with you…
But I desire a moment or two?’

My dear, I do not want simply a moment with you…
I want a lifetime…maybe two
For one lifetime can never be enough
When it comes to you and me and love…

J~

Spontaneity

I thought I heard you whisper
I’ve missed you
And I thought I heard myself answer
I miss you too
Then I heard you asking the question
Where were you off to?
And I heard her instant reply
Anywhere with you…

We could walk down-town if you want to
Or go for a slow country drive
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie
How about dinner at five?
We could climb the hill where we were last summer
Sit and enjoy the view
I don’t really have any one thing in mind
Just anywhere…anywhere with you

We could go fishing…or just do some kissin’
Down at the old covered bridge
Remember last summer …in a late early morning?
We could do what we did…
Maybe we should visit your mother
Really anything will do
As long as we’re with each other
…yes, I miss you too

J~

Misunderstood

He used to say
'Don't tell me you love me...show me'
She knows he meant well
But actions can often be misunderstood
And somewhere along the way
It became too hard to say
'I love you'

He used to say,
'don't bother with stuff,
Show me your love'
Thinking he was doing her a favor...
But somewhere along the way
something within her died...
No matter how hard she tried
She could never do enough
To say 'I love you'

Love is...
It is not something we 'do'
and yet it touches every act
if we are in love..
To love and to be in love
Not the same thing
She wonders sometimes
If it is possible
To be in love again...

He used to say
'Don't tell me you love me...show me'
She knows he meant well
But actions can often be misunderstood
And somewhere along the way
It became too hard to say
'I love you'

He used to say,
'don't bother with stuff,
Show me your love'
Thinking he was doing her a favor...

But This...

Today you lean heavily on my mind
In tumbled shades of blue and gray
And I’ll admit, sometimes I find
That I don’t know quite what to say
But this…I love you~

J~

As Summer Bows its Head...

As summer hangs
Its pensive head
With all its fragrant
Petals shed
As cow-slip falls
Into the brook
And violet fades
From shaded nook
As jonquil weeps
Its golden tear
Against white jasmine’s
Lily ear
As fair wild rose
And anemone
Lie withered on
The cold, gray stone
As wanton breezes
Strip the vine
Of clematis
And columbine
As muted purple
And golden rod
Lay their glory
On the sod
As every flower
On earth’s shore
Buds, then blooms
And is no more
So too is this
Wee life of man
We ought to bloom
While still we can

J~

Truth...

To live in denial does not change the truth
Or to claim there is no God
Does not free one of accountability
As his body is laid in the sod

We love darkness when our deeds are evil
Thinking its act none can find
God knows what we will do before it is done
A fool deceives his own mind

There are those who rebel against light
Because they have not understood
That God is compassion and mercy and love
He is Light and He is good

Since Eden this world was doomed to woe
The consequence of sin
But after this world we will go
To an eternity without end

To live in denial does not change the facts
In this life we are not doomed to loss
We can be saved, not by our own acts
But through blood shed upon a cross

To live in denial does not change the truth
All who live must die
Eternity’s destinies are only two
Hell below or heaven on high

Janet~



“There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths. Job 24:131


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it. John 1; 1-5

Maybe in Time...

Maybe in time
I will loosen my grip
And not rebel
As moments slip
Twixt you and I...

Maybe in time
I will turn the page
Without reluctance
For life's next stage
Where shadows lie

Maybe in time
I will release you a bit
But for now, I confess
I'm not ready yet
To say good-bye

Maybe in time
I will understand
And no longer tally
The miles on the sand
Twixt you and I...

J~

Symphony

There is a symphony
Born in the dusk
Swept through the linden-tree
And rows of corn husk
I cannot hear it
In the high-tide of noon
It waits for the midnight
And the lofty white moon

Scented with flowers
And rain-thickened breeze
It seeps from the bowers
Of August’s dark trees
Over dim meadows
Of shower-bent grass
Across dormant shadows
Its tender notes pass

August’s fair dawn
Is a gift to behold
Painting the lawn
In whispers of gold
But I choose the song
Of rich harmony
Dripping from the tongue
Of a midnight sea

There is a symphony
Drifting down a dark lane
Across wind-swept lea
After August’s rain
Dark blue-bells weep
On the pale anemone
I cannot sleep
So I listen…alone

Janet~

...and to think on most nights
I miss it!!

If Not For Prayer

Sometimes hours are so heavy
Much too heavy to bear
I would become discouraged
If not for prayer

Sometimes the music is silent
Nothing to soften the air
And I think I would give up
If not for prayer

Sometimes love is beautiful
And sometimes an ache we can’t share
With anyone but He
Who hears every prayer

Sometimes it seems we forget
We never escape His care
Hope indeed would be barren
If not for prayer

Janet~

Never Too Far

On nights like tonight, I must confess
You feel too far from me
As the hush of midnight strums the tress
Of rain-laden willow tree
And the darkness leans heavy and wet
Against the wooded rill
Obliterating the silhouette
Of tree or distant hill

On nights like tonight I hear your laughter
Waft on the fluid air
I feel the richness of its timbre
Soft and warm against my hair
And I wonder if you’re sleeping
Or perhaps under the power
Of a muse that is keeping
You awake in midnight’s hour

On nights like tonight, the curve of thought
Will not obey command
Conflict is a mortal lot
The heart unlike my hand
Which moves as I allow it
But somehow I find
It is much harder
To discipline the mind

On nights like tonight you wash over me
And I do not resist
Unlike a wave upon the sea
You hover in the mist
And I reach out to touch you
Trace the still and dampened air
Across distance I love you
And touch you with prayer

J~

A friend, according to miles, far, far away
Asked me tonight if I would pray
And I was so thankful to know miles and air
Can never out-distance the touch of a prayer.

It's A Rainy Day in August

It's a song of comforting melancholy
Washing the earth with a silver sea
Wind and rain in perfect harmony
A rainy day in August

J~

I wish I knew how to up-load the video here.
For some reason I cannot get it to work on this blog!
It was a song of pure exhilaration...but these pics will have to do:)

Out with the Gold, in with the Blue

Darling, wrap me in your cloak of moody blue today
I hear the words you spoke pour from skies tumbled and gray
There’s an essence in cool blue that warm gold cannot acquire
Stirring in me, thoughts of you, and longing and desire…

Darling, some prefer the sky of sun and azure blue
Flawless, perhaps save for a straggling billowy cloud or two
But there’ something ‘bout your glowering scowl that stirs the want in me
As your sullen fury howls across the field and sea

Darling, hold me in your touch of blue and stormy passion
Don’t withhold your gaze from me, undo me with an ocean
Pouring from the lowered hem of gray and misty blue
Soon sun’s gold will flower again…and steal my want of you

Darling, there’s a kindred spirit pouring from the sky
Rushing through me as I hear it; a song, a moan, a sigh
Darling, I'm comfortable in your arms of moody blue today
Your tears are soft, your breath is warm, you are not far away…

Janet Martin

I can’t help it…
I love rainy days.

Storm-tossed

Today as someone spoke your name

I felt the blood rush through my veins

Like the wind, a ruthless fiend

Lashing out across the land

I retrieved the things I’ve kept

From you…and wept

The wind may tear and claw and scream

At grassy stair and woodland stream

It may rush, with stormy tear

Across this vulnerable hemisphere

But it cannot reach the hidden part

Of you…rainbow in my heart

Today as raindrops lash the soil

And bar me from life’s sweeter toil

I look upon the picture of

Laughter, smiles, tears, love

A threshold of a thousand skies

With you…I hate good-byes

J~

He would be Fourteen...

He would be fourteen…
If he was here today
But three years ago
God helped him fly away
Above this morbid plain of woe
But oh, we still miss him so
…and we remember

He would be turning
From a boy to a man
But God with-drew him
Though we do not understand
Why he needed to go
We love and trust and miss him so…
…as we remember

In Memory of Josh Weber
Who would have turned fourteen yesterday.

Colin, Rhonda, Jordan, Makayla
In mid-July…on his birthday…
We remember with love and prayers.

Matt's verse He clung to...Psalm 46:1 (KJV) ” God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble “.

My verse I clung to..."For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.Isa.55:8

The Measure of Moments

Moments make all the difference in life
Not the miles or flying leaps…

A moment to touch you in a prayer, my love
A moment to ache, to need, to weep

It’s in moments that we become…
In moments of living and learning…and losing

Moments are not meaningless ticks of the clock
They become legacies; the fruit of our choosing

I do not ask for a lifetime with you
But I strongly desire a moment or two…

There is one moment out-standing above all others, for me
In the moment when I beheld my greatest need
...and I cried, 'Oh my Lord, I believe'...
That moment secured my hope...and eternity

J~

At The Mercy of Night's Beauty...

Tonight I’ll let it envelope me
With its pleasure and its pain
I’ll let its blue wash over me
Like a sudden summer rain
Tonight its arms may cradle me
I have never loved in vain…

Tonight I’ll beg the lonesome wind
To sing in low melancholy
Loosening all the ties that bind
Setting heart and spirit free
Leaving tiresome woes behind
In bitter-sweetest ecstasy

Tonight I’ll willingly succumb
To its keen and moody touch
Let it kiss my sorrows numb
Until they do not ache so much
Tonight I’ll feel kindly at home
In its wild and gentle clutch

Tonight I’ll let it whisper words
That I don’t seem to hear by day
Let it soothe the little hurts
In the arms of deep blue-gray
Tonight I’ll let it move the earth
Beneath me as it has its way

J~