Venice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFl7L4j5bpM&feature=endscreen&NR=1
(this video sparked the following poem)

The architecture

In the nest of a dove

Is lovely to the spectator

That is in love…

We were lost in blue that day

Blue sky and blue sea

But all I really remember

Were your blue eyes watching me

There was sound all around

But we didn’t hear

As the gondoliers hailed each other

I felt your lips on my ear

And the wind swooping through the canal

Rousing rivulets of desire

As the sun fell, a molten ball

Melting across the water

While we glanced sympathetically

At stragglers on the pier

Lost in books and newspapers

Or envious stares...

The architecture

In the nest of a dove

Is breath-taking

To the spectator in love

We didn’t need Venice

To make us smile

But I think Venice needed us

Just for a little while…

J~

And Here We Dance...

She tilts her head

In delightful laughter

While words like Sicily and Rome

Roll off her lips

As if they were

Her summer homes

And so they have been

Held between fingertips

As she turns the pages

In a scene

Of people and marketplaces

Where she has stood on shaded terraces

To watch the sun set

Over rolling vineyards

He comes to her now

Against the cool blue

Mediterranean backdrop

But poetry is not enough

To bridge the ocean

Or the deserts

Between hunger and love

Though her throat is parched

With burning of necessity

She is sandwiched

Between tumbled Canadian sky

And golden bars of sunlight

Sprawled across umber fallow

In the encroaching eventide

They dance; Sinatra knows every word

To her thoughts

And eyes will always speak more openly

Than the ineptness of speech

As she feels his heartbeat

Against her chest

In mutual anguish

And tenderness

For imminent departure

Is surely love’s

Most passionate threshold

Nobody visits this lighthouse

It is too late and too cold

They have all night to dance

And say good-bye.

She closes the book...

The clock in the tower strikes nine

J~

Unwrapping Moments

She watches
Caught between the present
And the past
As her son’s awkward
Attempts at gift-wrapping
Bring laughter from us
And mumbling from him…
As he wraps
She unwraps
Moments
Stored sacredly
Where she can ponder them
In her heart
Moments being fashioned
Into memories
Even now
By hands
Caught somewhere between
A boy
And a man…

Janet~

It’s a tender-sweet stage…13.
The other night I asked him what was so funny
And his instant reply was unexpected…
“mom, guy humor”
And he never did tell me!

The verse below has been one of my favorites, for as long as I can remember..
Our hearts, the place we store our most cherished thoughts.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

Off the Cuff #3

http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2011/12/thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhursday-think-tank-78-off-cuff.html

Focus, she commanded
And tapped my head sharply with her pointer stick
I stared at the numbers blankly
And composed an answer, double-quick
How could I make her understand
My senses were merely blurred
By the alluring, blissful enchantment
Of this beautiful thing called a word?

Janet~

Off the Cuff #2

http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2011/12/thursday-think-tank-78-off-cuff.htmlhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Oh, yes they are free
They don’t cost you a dime
All they take from you
Is a small thing known as Time

Oh, yes they are free
This torturous chain
Of consonants and vowels
Life’s most pleasing pain

So if they should taunt
Grab them by their guile
And turn them into
Your personal style

Janet

Good Morning...

I feel you pressing into me
With warm translucent sigh
As fingertips, more sensed than seen
Brush slumber from the sky

You do not tap my window pane
Yet I know you are there
Whispering to me in the rain
And softening the air

You rouse me from unconsciousness
And yet you never speak
But kindly tug night’s blanket back
To smile against my cheek

I’ve never seen you quite like this
So I have one request
Before you slip into the mist
Help me to do my best


Janet

It is an unseasonably warm and rainy morning.

Slow Dancing to Life's Music

Barefoot and blue jeans
Does it get any better
Favorite music
My old, worn sweater
Little girl slipping
Her hand into mine
I turn to kiss her
But she’s grown up and gone
And the flip-side of loving
Is sweet memories
So I dance to life’s music
In faded blue jeans
As I recall what I love
And what I miss
Oh does it get any better than this?



Five o’clock shadow
Caressing my cheek
Darling, there are no words
Left to speak
Full moon reminding me
Of all that is not
And how much is missing
In all that I’ve got
And waiting is longer
Than than it used to be
But struggle makes us stronger
If love is the key
As hope fills the hollow
Of things that I miss
Oh, does it get any better than this?

Bare feet and blue jeans
Deep blue full moon night
Desire and duty
And dreaming take flight
My head on your shoulder
Your hand finding mine
Let’s slow dance, darling
I know we’ll be fine
For all that we have
Out-weighs what is not
Oh, what a beautiful
Love we have got
As you hold me closer
Dancing is bliss
Oh, does it get any better than this?

Janet~

To miss is to love...

Beneath the Same, White Moon

Beneath the dark umbrella of night
Silence is amplified
As sound becomes the keener sight
And thought a swift-winged ride

Beneath its wide seamless canopy
As present and past entwine
Thoughts of you keep me company
And oh, your company is fine

Beneath the backdrop of the dawn
Life's imminent history
I wonder where the years have gone
And what is yet to be

Beneath the pining of the dark
As whispers ache and bleed
My thought ignites a sudden spark
And longing becomes need

Beneath the same, still, silent sky
Beneath the same white moon
I wonder where you are tonight
And will you be home soon…


J~

I took the kids out for a final shopping trip last night..
It was special, fun.
The night was glorious and still after excitement was lulled to dreamland
and mother stood on the porch drinking in the night sky(and coffee)...
(there is a reason my blogs contain the word 'porch')
on its step I ponder, reflect, and for me thought bleeds in one medium...poetry;))
thus a short-lived resolve not to write for a while. If the break happens, it happens and if not then it was not meant to be
Blessings~

Christmas Poems

If the joy of Christmas

Were as brief as its date

I think it would be

A season to hate…

I love the delights

That Christmas imparts

But only because

Of His love in my heart

Jesus...

The celebration of hope in one Birth

Jesus…

Perfect gift of love sent to earth

Jesus…

A message time cannot restrain

To God

Be the glory forever, Amen

(first I had the word 'Christmas' instead of 'Jesus''

but Christmas is JESUS)

Cradle, cross and resurrection

This is my Christmas reflection…

Janet

Reason to Celebrate...

It’s not in the lights

The shortbread, fruitcake

It’s not in the special

Christmas cards that we make

Though each are their own gift

They would lose their delight

If God had not so loved us

On that first Christmas night

It’s not in the presents

Underneath the tree

Not in decorations

So lovely to see

The wonderful carols

Would not fill us with mirth

If God had not given

His Son to this earth

…and here IS the reason

We celebrate thus

God in His mercy

Gave His Son to us

So that all who believe

Will not perish in sin

But they will receive

Eternal life through Him

Janet

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

to those who are saying ...huh?:) I'm postponing my 'break'...a little;))

Merry Christmas!

I am taking a Christmas cyber-break!
But before I do I would like to take
A moment to wish you goodness and cheer
As we celebrate Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Janet Martin

God Bless you all
and may He be our reason
to celebrate this season!

I was planning on doing a live greeting but I can't figure out how to get it to work on here so this will have to do;)
Thank-you all, who visit, read and encourage.

Preparing for Christmas...(a note to self)

http://poeticbloomings2.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/be-prepared-prompt-33/

Poinsettia for the table

Bloom of festivity

Pretty little angel

To grace the Christmas tree

Lights and pretty candles

Lending their gentle glow

In tiny golden circles

Wee choirs in the snow

Cookies, cakes and puddings

In volumes quite obscene

Large and tiny presents

Wrapped in bright red and green

Songs extol the season

And malls the latest rave

Excuses become reason

As dollars become brave

Stress finds brand new victims

And cheer loses its mirth

All in the preparation

To celebrate His birth

Shopping lists extended

Beyond the budget’s creed

Holly, jolly merchants

Disguising greed as need

Christmas Eve descending

We brave the cold perhaps

To find within a chapel

A pew, where we collapse

My house sure looks amazing

The food, a work of art

Wouldn’t it be something

If this had been my heart?

Janet

Portions

Somehow, in spite of profusion of words

Silence remains stark; profound

We cannot dissuade unalterable truth

With the clang of syllabic sound

Somehow, though continents loom between

And geographically keep us apart

I hear the whisper of you deep within

And feel you against my heart

Somehow, by the rise and the setting of sun

We measure our portion of days

Darling, to love you I have only begun

Oh, let me count the ways

Somehow, life slips through the curtain of dusk

Its presence subtle and swift

Silence and distance and longing and love

Are portions of its tender gift

J~

Summation of Time

Time doles out the same amount

Of hours in a day to each of us

From generation to generation

It is not how much of it we have

But what we do with it

That will be our life’s summation

Twenty-four hours in a day

Three-hundred and sixty-five days per year

Save for that one in four

Why, in an age of modern conveniences

Do we seem to have less time

To spare, not more

Janet

Time

The moon climbs above the horizon

A stealthy, crimson eye

Pushing the remnants of evening

Into the dark, blue sky

I stand on earth’s silver palette

Night is frozen and vast

And it seems I can almost hear it

Present becoming past

The sky is a boundless portal

An ocean of infinite calm

Unfathomable to mortal

This speck in eternity’s palm

Here in the solace of midnight

Comfort and longing vie

To be the whisper of moonlight

Gleaming in my eye

Time is a thief of moments

Yet, time is a moment’s source

Hastening, ever hastening

Yet never a glimpse of its force

The moon climbs above the horizon

Translucent hand on Time’s clock

No man knows the day or the hour

When this cosmic time-piece will stop

Janet~

http://carryontuesdayprompt.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-our-inspiration-this-week-ive-taken.html

On Taking a Family Picture

When there is nothing very funny
Yet we find reason to snicker
If suddenly there seems to be
A sudden need to bicker
When insults freshly polished
Are muttered, hissed and hurled
As siblings are squeezed into
One square inch of the world
It must be family-picture-taking time

When father looks quite stern
And mother looks quite stressed
And we try to look quite proper
As we are quite primly dressed
When faces grow quite stiff
While smiles not quite freeze-dry
There really can only be
One valid reason why…
….family picture-taking-time

There are pinches, pokes and pushes
Then kicks and mother’s scolding
There are sighs and moans and groans
As our 'best smiles' we are holding
That turn out to be wasted
Because of an out-burst of laughter
Though we cannot remember
What was so funny after…
…family picture-taking time!

Okay, this is it,
Now every one POSE!
We all do our best…
One has their eyes closed!
One, two, three,
Let’s try again
‘a-w-w-w! I wasn’t ready
Sister’s being a pain!’
Oh, yes its family picture-taking-time

…so when father looks stern
And mother looks stressed
When we all try to look
Our very best
As we look at the camera
Smile and say ‘CHEESE!’
Tell me, this one is going to work
PL-E-E-E-A-SE!
Its family-picture-taking-time!

Take 70!

Janet…
Otherwise known as M-O-O-O-M!!!!

Yesterday I 'booked an appointment' with my family to be at home
so we can take a long over-due family picture...

p.s. I'm trying to pick one of the ump-teen photos to put into a card,
but one cannot edit eyes open,
or non-smiles into smiles or
add the rest of a person where it is cut off,
or un-cross eyes....the list goes on:)

My apologies to those of you who find photos hard to load...
This afternoon my internet is working but it is being very moody.

Once...

Because it is not in the measure

Of desire or despair

Or accumulation of

Fortune or faults

By which we are judged

When this clock halts…

And because I will never be able to reach

The point where I can

Justifiably throw stones

To hinder or hurt

Or forget that I too am

But a beggar clothed in dirt…

Or just because I cannot touch you

Does not mean that

I am unable to love you

Or meet you where

We can feel each other

In the arms of prayer…

Because this clock of life

Is wound but once

Never returning to yesterday

Or leaping to tomorrow

There is no need then

Either of its cares to borrow….

Because God will never

Discard me as hopeless

Or unworthy of His care

And because I need only to trust

From moment to moment

I can do what I must...

Because I cannot afford to squander

This gift wrapped in Time

I will choose only to love

You; for I have but a single chance

The clock of life

Is wound but once…

Janet~

http://carryontuesdayprompt.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-our-inspiration-this-week-ive-taken.html

Thoughts on Thoughts

You align your presence
to the curve of my thought
The force of an ocean
in a heartbeat, caught
somewhere between
my lips and my sigh
like a ship being swallowed
by the sea and the sky

***
Behind our eyes
Intricately designed
Is an infinite cell
Simply called a mind
And from it will flow
All manner of thought
Our action will show
What words do not

***

In every action
In every deed
Whether minute or mighty
Thought is its seed

***

Do we serve thought?
Or are we its master?
Thought is the forerunner
To success or disaster

***

I thought I knew a little
But with each passing year
The little bit I thought I knew
Has seemed to disappear

***

My thoughts are always more beautiful
With you in them

***

What is the measure
Of one little thought?
Coupled with action
I believe…quite a lot!

***

Who can know the power
Of the mind at all
By it man becomes great
And by it great men fall

***

The power of a man
Cannot be defined
By physical attributes
But the strength of the mind

***

Physical strength, no matter how fine
Is oft overcome by weakness of mind...

***

What are you thinking about today?

My thought had been to post one poem on thought but as I thought about thought more thoughts appeared;))

Janet

Someday Upon the Open Sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU&list=FLsqea52gOM17vOYBlwPVKvA&index=7&feature=plpp_video
(click on the wheel on your mouse to open the link to a wonderful song)


Someday upon the open sky
The sun and stars shall dim
As all God’s heavenly angels cry
Behold, behold your King
And from four corners of the earth
Each trembling knee will bend
To see the Child of lowly birth
On Heaven’s throne descend

Dare we to scoff and jeer and scorn
The One laid in a manger
For unto us a Child was born
That day to be our Savior
Someday upon the vaulted cloud
We will look up to see
That this is Jesus Christ the Lord
Love’s sacred Deity

Then the whole earth will turn to weep
At His pure holiness
But this true Shepherd knows His sheep
And they, the Shepherd’s voice
And those who long have waited for
The coming of their King
Will rise to meet their Shepherd Lord
And join the angels hymn

Janet Martin

I'm listening to the Christmas songs while doing housework.
Powerful messages in each one, words of hope and peace and joy and love.
Hallelujah!

Thank-you

Dear God,
I just want to thank you
For you have blessed me
With love I don't deserve
But in tender compassion
You pour it out
Keeping nothing in reserve...

Janet

The little boy I baby-sit saw this photo.
He said 'it looks like fire in the sky'.
Yes, it does,

Jes' Thinkin' (Edited Re-post)

There’s somethin’ ‘bout this time o’ year
It brings us thoughts of loved ones dear
An’ we start wishin’ they was near
As it tugs at our ol’ heart-strings
We hear their laughter echoin’
Their voices on the evenin’
Of good ol’ days rememberin’
An’ it tugs at our ol’ heart-strings

I’m not one to sit down an’ cry
But sometimes I git me some dirt in my eye
An’ when you aint lookin’ I quick wipe ‘em dry
As you tug on my ol’ heart-strings
There’s just somethin’ ‘bout this time o’ year
It gets me to wishin’ you was here
Instead of just in my thoughts I hold near
As you tug on my ol’ heart-strings

So iffen yore circle aint broken yet
I’m a-tellin’ ya’ now so ya’ don’t forget
Tell ‘em ya’ love ‘em an’ tell ‘em again
Til it tugs on yer ol’ heart-strings
‘Cause afore ya’ know it they’re gone from your door
An’ they’re not around to tell ‘em no more
An’ your gonna miss ‘em, yep, that’s for shore
As they tug on yer ol’ heart-strings

Janet~

A Lesson in Love

If love has taught me
Anything at all
It is patience.

I do not know
If all things come
To those who wait…

Perhaps, we merely
Exchange what we are
Waiting for

In hope’s that it will
Arrive before
It is too late.

Janet~

Poets Are We

A shy sort of lot
Bashful, but not weak
As we unfold thought
Too honest to speak
For it seems unbidden
Our hearts are stirred
By what is hidden
Within a word
As images leap
From innocent script
And life’s passion bleeds
From our fingertips

Are you lonely tonight
And dreaming of home?
Let love hold you tight
In the arms of a poem
Poets never sleep
We are hopelessly smitten
With an insatiable need
To write the unwritten
My dear, do not fret
Over what yesterday stole
To live in regret
Is blight to the soul

The poet is a weaver
Of cast-away string
A quiet believer
Of paper and ink
A poet is a lover
And you are my love
Around me you hover
Beneath and above
Within me you bask
Torment and beguile
I tip my flask
To your lips, and I smile

Janet~

While You Were Gone...

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/wednesday-poetry-prompts-156


While you were gone the ivy grew
To deck the garden wall
Where once I used to sit with you
And watch the shadows fall
And we would dream and we would sigh
And wish for things to come
But then you left without good-by
And now that girl is gone

While you were gone the laughing brook
Bled dry and flows with reeds
The old dirt path that once we took
Is overgrown with weeds
But I still see that secret place
Behind the old oak tree
Where first your soft lips brushed my face
And stirred the want in me

While you were gone my hope grew dim
And drifted to the sky
I learned that love is not a whim
And some tears never dry
While you were gone the years somehow
Wore out the garden gate
I see a woman standing now
Where once a girl would wait

Janet~

What Have We Done?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bO1CVPWRA&feature=relatedhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif


Another year is slowly closing its fist
On shadows of sorrow and joy reminisced
Deep in our soul stirs a bitter-sweet glow
As we view the goals of twelve short months ago

Have we accomplished those things we resolved?
Or have days somehow just compiled and evolved
Absorbing our moments of reason and rhyme
Caught in the current of a vapor called Time

Open your hand; tell me, what do you see?
A soft, gleaming seed; opportunity
And with this small gift we quench the ache
Of wondering what kind of difference we make

It takes but one moment to smile or to pray
Planting hope for tomorrow in someone’s life today
We cannot control circumstance; bad or good
All we can control is our attitude

Another year is slowly closing its fist
I will not gaze in dismay at my list
Of forgotten promises, failure, regret
I’ll look at the gift of this moment instead

Janet~

Sometimes as another year draws to a close
it is easy to become over-whelmed by the swift passage of time
and the accumulation of failure and unfulfilled hopes.

Wait in the Lord,
Be of good courage
And He will strengthen Your heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. Ps. 27:14

The Futility of Ink

How does one write a perfect poem of love?
Is just to state the obvious enough?
Or must I in all fairness ask some questions first?
Darling, what makes you hunger most, or thirst?
What do you notice at quick glance, is it my lips, my eyes?
Is your concern what lies between my ribs…or just my thighs?
Is it words or touching, love; that moves you to the core?
If I should die tonight, tell me, which one would you miss more?
For I think above anything I should like to write
The very perfect love poem, but I never get it quite…

Yet I would like to try to know the man behind your eyes
What you think when you’re alone; what spawns those sighs?
And what is it you ache for that you think you cannot tell?
What makes you feel like I just do not know you very well?
To write a perfect love poem, must I really know?
Or shall I simply close my eyes and let the ocean flow?
Ah, words are futile syllables with which to pen
This Thing which thrills, fulfills and torments men
To write a perfect love poem, darling, I cannot do
But oh, it is a perfect storm, and I love you

J~

Sitting Here Alone at Night and Thinking...

The moon lies hid in the breadth of the sky
The dark is a black, unrelenting veil
No shadows of tree or willow-limb sigh
The wind is a low and monotonous wail
The silence is thick and heavy and deep
Memories are quick and unwilling to sleep

The flames in the fireplace flit and dance
The clock marks the hour in strict, perfect stride
Somewhere a first love is taking its chance
And somewhere someone's final chance has died
I am neither; but caught up in the midst
Of apart, yet together; of what was and what is

Life is a battle of paltry decay
Gain is the backdrop of misery and death
Even the darkness is merely the prey
Of dawn; it melts in the light’s faintest breath
Hope is the whisper that pierces the night
Love is the Master that spurs us to fight

Here in the dark and the quiet, alone
Minutes and memories and musings compete
A flicker, a shadow, a breath, present gone
Until history and eternity meet
When that day will be not one soul can tell
But Time is the key to Heaven or Hell

Janet~

Let Them Come...

Let them come
A motionless motion
pushing to eternity’s palm
my present-tense
while I try to decipher
their infinite scope
whether past or beyond


let them come
in merciful half-breaths
moving failure and success
to archives inaccessible
lest I become discouraged
or proud
of feeble attempts at perfection

let them come
the medium drawing me ever
farther or closer to you
as I try to measure
them they disappear and I cannot know
how long
a moment is…

As You Whisper

Your lips brushing close to my ear
With secrets only you and I can hear
A surge of rare intimacy
Laced with passion
Rushes through me
As you whisper

It may be a sudden, casual thought
But then again, it may be not
As others glance at us curiously
My heart pauses
Momentarily
As you whisper

No hint escapes but the slightest smile
Darling, your whispers drive me wild
It doesn’t need to be much
I just like it when
Your lips almost touch
Me, as you whisper

J~

His Whispers

In white tissue paper and ribbons of blue
And whispers of mercy unfurled
In offerings of patience and grace ever new
He grants a fresh dawn to this world

In smiles of wee children and thoughts of a friend
In hands of compassionate care
God grants to this earth little whispers of Him
As we lift to Him humble prayer...

Janet~

This morning the earth looks like a gift
wrapped in blue and white...

Love Poem

It tugs at me with restless force
And strength I can’t explain
It fills me with fiery discourse
And bitter-sweetest pain

Vexation of the purest kind
A tempest wild and blue
And yet the thing that soothes my mind
…it is the thought of you

Love is a many splendored bloom
It is both rose and thorn
A gentle fragrance in the room
The heart within me, torn

Thus, I do not resist its pain
Or withhold any pleasure
In every heartbeat you remain
My everlasting treasure

J~

Saving Grace

http://magpiethttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifales.blogspot.com/

The stench is palpable
winter,
fish sandwiches,
coffee and sweat,
but the most over-powering element
in the crowded room
is not the smell
but the heavy pall
of loneliness
and tedium...
The back-to-work whistle,
their saving grace

Janet~

Jesus Christ Forever

Soon we shall lay aside this robe
Of weakness, flesh and want
Where all the sorrows of this globe
Cannot torment nor taunt
Then sickness, need and selfish gain
Return, as we, to dirt
With no more tears of grief or pain
To vex, dismay and hurt

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
This is the way of man
Doomed, as convicts to our lust
But for One greater plan
As Love descended from His throne
A babe in Bethlehem
To give His life and to atone
For all the sins of men

No greater gift will ever be
Than that first Christmas Day
When God gave to rebels as we
His precious Son to slay
But as He looked beyond His loss
It satisfied His favor
For He saw victory in the Cross
As Jesus became Savior

Come; gather ‘round this Christmas Day
Join in the celebration
For the Truth, the Life, the Way
Is free to every nation
Lift up your hearts in praise to Him
For none on earth can sever
Us from the Babe in Bethlehem
Jesus Christ forever

Janet Martin

New Year's Eve Party...for Two;)

http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

Vanilla-scented moments, smooth as silk
Melt on Time’s subtle trivet
Dripping over its crusted precipice
Without an inkling of thought
Mission completed
Fodder for genuflection
Air laden with desire
Amorous fantasies
Morphing reality...

...Somewhere a dog barks
As December becomes January
Unnoticed

J~

These Prayers are not Vanilla

http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

A light on a precipice high above life
My bark laden down with its cares
But my mission will not succumb to this strife
I’m kept by my dear mother’s prayers

It’s more than a subtle inkling of hope
More than an amorous poem
In foam-crusted tempest my vessel will cope
As my mother’s prayers lead me home

Faithful trivet in life’s testing flame
A glow in the chill of December
In my mind I hear her whisper my name
As I genuflect and remember

Janet Martin

Sunday Wordle words are; 1.December, 2.vanilla, 3.precipice, 4.subtle, 5. Inkling, 6. Bark, 7.crusted, 8.laden, 9.genuflect,10. mission, 11.amorous, 12. trivet

Okay, the title is a stretch, I admit…but I wanted to use vanilla!

I also had not quite used up all my light-house ideas from 'real-toads' this week so this is what decided my theme for the first crack at these words...

The Darkness of Winter

http://carryontuesdayprompt.blogspot.com/2011/1http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif2/carry-on-tuesday-134.html

The dark of winter
Creeps over daylight hours
Warm surf is a dream

Darkness of winter
Settles on desolate fields
Thought is a hunter

I find strange comfort
As the darkness of winter
Lures me to firelight


Janet~

Winter Masterpiece

Soundless, clouds of tumbling snowflakes
Deck earth’s passive, calm repose
Like a rush of ghostly children
Crowding from school’s far-flung doors
Silently their shrieking laughter
Clings to fences, field and face
Flood of mirth from heaven’s rafter
Wraps the earth in soft embrace

Maybe it’s the down of angels
Maybe it’s the kiss of God
Ten-thousand-thousand silver spangles
Crown the dull and dreary sod
Intricate, micro-perfection
Tracing lashes, cheeks and lips
Miracles with no direction
Brush earth’s out-stretched finger-tips

Earth, clad in shades of redemption
Resplendent, pristine work of art
Dazzling robe sent down from heaven
Picture of a blood-bought heart
Ten-thousand-thousand crystal whispers
Metaphor of boundless grace
Breathes a calm and holy splendor
Over winter’s master piece

Janet Martin

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Isa. 1:18

Unshakable Proof

http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2011/12/friday-picture-prompt-to-lighthouse.html

A Light-house

On a solid Rock

His Word

Won’t lead astray

Eternity will be

Our proof

That His Love

Is The Way

Janet Martin

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Torturous Tango

You don’t tell me what you’re thinking

And well, I guess I do the same

And I’m beginning to wonder

If this has turned into a game

You ask me how I am doing

I smile and say I’m just fine

I ask you what’s new in your world

And you hand me that worn-out line

“Oh, nothin’”

It’s a sad and a strange kind of two-step

A dull choreography

As words cover up the silence

Expanding between you and me

It’s a painful slow-motion tango

This dance that somehow we’ve begun

As you ask me what I am thinking

And I reply in monotone

“Oh, nothin’”

Empty words are like wall-paper

They simply cover up the truth

As we sit apart together

And speak of the weather, and food

Our eyes plead for a brave, new language

But somehow no one makes the first move

So we dance in the safety of habit

And ask each other what we want to do…

“Oh, nothin’”

Janet

Soul-song

http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2011/12/think-tank-thursday.html


If you listen
Well, I guess that
You won’t hear a thing
It’s another kind
Of language
Caught in whispers
Deep within
And I can feel my heartbeat
In a tender sort of pain
Its timbre, blue and bitter-sweet
Yet, warm as summer rain
I feel it rise within me
In a sweeping melody
As its tenure rushes through me
Like a storm on midnight’s sea
For its whisper is an ocean
Yet its ocean but a sigh
And its lone proof of existence
Is a teardrop in my eye
If you listen closely
Well, you still won’t hear a thing
But I can hear it clearly
In a montage deep within
Its lips upon my memory
And its voice against each breath
Its notes a sudden longing
And an aching in my chest
Not a flicker, not a murmur
Not a single, tiny trace
Of the orchestra within me
But the half-smile on my face

J~

What Were You Thinking?

What were you thinking
As you lay in that manger
While we crowded ‘round you
Amazed at Your birth?
What were You thinking
As you stepped out of Heaven
Knowing the reason
You were coming to earth?

What were You thinking
As angels were singing
Declaring to all
That a Savior is born?
There in that stable
While the heavens were ringing
What were you thinking
On that first Christmas morn?

Did you think as you lay there
Of a field named Golgotha?
Did you see a cruel cross
On a hill, Calvary?
There in the midst of
The cattle and oxen
What were you thinking
As the star shone brightly?

Ah yes, you were thinking
The thoughts that still held you
As you knelt, praying
In Gethsemane
Lord, you were thinking
Of lost sheep with no Shepherd
You were thinking of us, Lord
You were thinking of me

Janet Martin

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matt.1:21


Hey, I'm trying...a girl cannot go 'cold turkey', 'kay? I'm listening to Christmas music while doing my housework and sometimes the love that Jesus had/has! for us just blows me away!

Farewell, Dear Mother

While we bid farewell
To dear mother below
God opens His arms
And is smiling ‘hello’

While here we are weeping
But not without hope
The angels are singing
‘Welcome home, welcome home’

While sorrow is the
Tender-sweet lining of love
We know dear mother
Is with God up above

We bid our farewell
With peace flowing free
For mother, dear mother
Is where she longed to be

Janet

Written to Brent, Jan and family at the sudden passing of her mother.

Dear mother of sixteen children has found eternal rest.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

We put up the tree the other night. Emily, Melissa and Victoria are helping. Matt did too, but because he works at the neighbors barn on some evening, he had showered and was wearing his PJ'S and did NOT want his picture taken;))

'Daddy' says go ahead and put it up. Daddy's 'gone truckin'.

A Higher Goal

Breath by breath and step by step
Toward a Gate we’re going
How soon night swallows up the day
And death, life’s minute glowing
The remnants of another year
Are slipping into history
And what a-waits beyond this sphere
Is Hope’s beckoning mystery

The pathway to love’s higher goal
Is strewn with tears and groaning
But God, the keeper of our souls
Offers His Grace atoning
No plea unheard, no grief unseen
No need escapes his vision
As step by step and breath by breath
He guides us to His kingdom

Janet~

I simply cannot believe that we are turning the page to December already!
Posts may be a little more sporadic in the next few weeks...if I can figure out how to bottle the Muse:)) You poets out there will know what I mean.

May our hearts turn toward the real Reason for the Season! Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever! Heb. 13:8

I will be posting a few more photos perhaps, to give readers a glimpse into Canada Christmas, and the little corner of the earth that I call home.

Sonnet of Waning Even-tide

When daylight fades and twilight’s lids grow heavy
When sky and earth don night-time’s muffled shawl
When all the ships are harbored in the levee
Silence unmarred, save for the loon’s faint call
When dreary toil is laid aside til morning
When Home-fires soothe our petty wants and woes
When darkened limbs are stripped of spring’s adorning
Skeletal against the dim-lit half-moon glows
I sense upon night’s stealthy cusp, a warning
The portent of a quickly waning rose

Ah, life is but a swiftly fading flower
How fair the bud, still waiting to unfold
How brilliant is youth’s vibrant morning hour
How sweet the dream harbored in vision bold
How quickly now the bud becomes a blossom
Its glorious beauty cheers the hastening day
While in the hidden portals of love's bosom
Softly she lets the small dream sail away
Better than dreams, the golden fruit of wisdom
Better than youth, a crown of silver-gray

Where does the darkness go in dawn's returning?
Where does the spirit fly when bodies rest?
Where is the fortune now that steals our yearning?
What is the hope that burns within our chest?
Where is the One who rules Time's still transition
The seasons, days and tides that slip to naught
Where is the final object of our vision?
The gathering of treasure that we sought
Have we obtained love's ticket into Heaven
Or must we tell life's Giver we forgot?

Janet~

Morning at The Window or Windows...

http://vnesdolypoems.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/today-im-antisocihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifal/

a morning at the windows...
watching as the miraculous dawning
expands across the sky

nudging deflated shadows
back, beneath trees and awnings
I watch a lone bird fly

across the tinted canvas
that only God can claim
the trees, stark pencil-drawings

etched in perfect stillness
isn't it a shame
that we miss these perfect mornings

as we stare at Windows
instead of through them...?

Janet~

Inspired by Violet Nesdoly's poem today.

First Time for Everything...Limericks

http://poeticbloomings2.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/in-fohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrm-poet-the-limerick/


Once there was a girl named Janet
Who would hide behind words like cannot
But one day she tried
And fears logic defied
And awoke on a wonderful planet

Once there was a would-be poet
Who was far too frightened to show it
But poet’s are kind
And their love, softly blind
She’s met enough, now, to know it

Words are still free in recession
Penned in sweet, care-free confession
When asked, is it true?
We reply, it’s up to you
And return to the poet’s obsession

Janet~

Just People...

http://www.writerhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/2011-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-30


We’re just people…
Without God allowing it
There is nothing we can do
We’re just people
I am me
And you are you…
And we need each other
Oh, it’s true
Because when we need each other
It’s amazing what
‘Just people’ can do

When we put an arm around the grieving
Share with them a mutual tear
When we love without condemning
We draw bits of heaven near
When we walk a second mile
All alone and in the rain
Knowing somewhere angel’s smile
Because we share another’s pain
When we touch the little child
And sometimes let them lead the way
When we forgive and reconcile
When we pause a while to pray
When we give and no one sees
But the Father up above
When we get down on our knees
And sit with those who can’t stand up
When we seek the others best
Never thinking of our own
Knowing someone will be blessed
By the little love we’ve shown…
When we join hands in unity
And lay aside our strife
To be all that we can be
In this little thing called life
When we love the way God loves us
Never mind our shape or skin
When together we join forces
Then together we will win...


We’re just people
Yes, it’s true
I am me
And you are you
But we need each other
Oh, this is true
Then oh, it’s amazing
What ‘just people’ can do

Janet~

Today's Prompt: Against the odds