Friday, June 15, 2012

Mother to Mother




Tis a universal bond
We share with each other
A non-scripted empathy
Mother to mother

This bond is tempered
With blood, prayer and tears
It threads across oceans
And borders and years

It clutches our pulses
We know each other
Through the beautiful angst
Of being a mother

Mutual devotion
Bent on love’s greater good
As we share the bond
Of motherhood

Tis a common bond
We understand each other
In a universal kinship
Mother to mother

© Janet Martin

To June




You,
of seamless azure awning
and clover-dappled field
Of wild-flower spawning
in copious yield
You,
of ravishing verdance
in opulent jade
sprawled on a landscape
of sunlight and shade

You,
who rolls out summer’s carpet
in splendor supreme
and ten-thousand textures
And palettes of green
You,
Stage to the a capella
mourning dove minuet
Maestro to the sparrow
and meadow-lark duet

You,
of strawberry indulgence
and bronze, barefoot bliss
Of back-wood rendezvous
and lingering kiss
You,
who flings open
the coveted door
to earth’s glorious garden  
and summer-sweet shore
...we love you

© Janet Martin



Labor-pains




When they tell us it’s over
It’s a girl; it’s a boy
We are about to discover
As virgin joy
Washes our faces
Our new daughter or son
That it will never be over
It has just begun

The labor of love
The ebb and flow
Of white-knuckle clinging
And letting go
Is a sacred experience
Simple word cannot grasp
We teach them to fly
While we cradle and clasp

I close my eyes now
As I strain to recall
The curve of your face
When you were so small
And all those thought pictures
I sealed in my heart
Have somehow grown blurry
In love’s ceaseless art

I trace you again; hungrily
Time is a foe
Pulling you from me
But I’ll never let go
For holding is not
A physical grip
I hold you even
As from my arms you slip

The call of life
Is like no other
It tugs love’s off-spring
From the arms of a mother
And this is the way
It surely must be
We cannot remain
On our mother’s knee

Yes, when they tell us it’s over
Childbirth’s groaning and pain
We are about to discover
It never will be again
For this travail of agony
And heart-wrenching bliss
Is a life-long embrace
Of love’s farewell kiss

© Janet Martin




Thursday, June 14, 2012

Elusive Attribute


Image Source:  quotespicture.org
 
If we try to possess it
It is instantly gone
This special attribute
God’s grace shines upon

Those who achieve it
Kindly, gently show it
But the reason they have it
Is because they do not know it

Most beautiful, are they
Of all humanity
Because God’s grace shines upon
Humility

© Janet Martin


But he gives more grace. Therefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. James 4:6

Thursday Thoughts on Prayer


Through valleys
Over mountains
And oceans of air
I reach out
To touch you
With my prayer


Wherever you go
My dear daughter and son
I want you to know
You can never outrun
My prayers for you~

Chase your dream
If you must
Place your will
And your trust
In a prayer

My thoughts keep returning to you today
So I fold you against my heart and I pray

A prayer is more than wishful thinking
More than a fretting tear
A prayer is the stair to the doorway of heaven
Straight to our Father’s ear

These are not just words I say
When I lift my thoughts and pray
These are petitions of trust
Rising from a shell of dust
But in this shell He placed His worth
When I received my second birth

Boldly yet humbly we commune
With He who graces earth with June

How fearful would be
This thing called Day
If God did not hear
Us when we pray

There is no such thing
if we earnestly groan
as a prayer too unworthy
to touch His throne

Yes, no, wait
God’s answers to prayer
Are never late

J~

If you read this...I prayed for you today.

Often I whisper a prayer for you
-those who pause here; and I pray
that whoever and wherever
in life you may be
that God will bless you today

 God bless~

 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you. Isa. 26:3


Life's Journey Sonnets




When failure grips the hearts ragged edges
When murderous words have mangled their mark
When grievance builds adamantine hedges
And snuffs from life’s glimmer its lusty spark
When sorrow, heartbreak, and disappointment
Plague with discouragement each in-drawn breath
When temptation threatens discontentment
And we grow weary to the point of death
Still, there is simply one thing we can do
Trust God, step by step to carry us through

***

It is not ours to give up and quit
Life’s moments come from God’s grace, not from man
We cannot escape what He has deemed fit
Nor can a man reconstruct Master-plans
But it is ours to forgive and forget
Though oft yet we err and stumble and fall
Wisdom is gleaned from the hand of regret
Grace without patience is no grace at all
It is God who gives and who takes away
It is ours to live, love, to watch and pray

***

When heart-linings bleed with love’s agony
When distance is mapped by unspoken thought
When faith is the mile that we cannot see
As all the things hoped for seem endlessly sought
Still, even then we cannot lay it down
This weight that besets us with torment and grief
Tis he who endures that will win the crown
And so we cry, ‘God, help my unbelief’
This is life’s journey, to be strong in the Lord
Rich is the inheritance of reward

 © Janet Martin

 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Tim. 2:3 KJV

It was so much fun to watch the Stanley Cup celebration's and rejoice with them after all the hard work, set-backs, etc.

It makes me think of life...to win we cannot quit.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Permanent Luggage


When children leave home
They leave most of their 'stuff' behind
But what they carry with them
They carry in their mind

And no matter where life takes them
Or where on earth they roam
The luggage they will carry
Are their memories of home

Janet~

Memories...luggage we cannot easily discard.
Make today a good one.
J~

The Journey of a Moment





From moments
to memories...
God, remind us of this
so it will be a pleasure
to reminisce

From moments
to memories
God, open our eyes
to the value of moments
so we may be wise

From moments
to memories
Both joy and regret
God help us remember
But teach us to forget...

Janet Martin~

If we refuse to redeem time wisely
It is possible
for breadth of thistledown
to crush us...


Memories




They adorn phantom stages
They breathe on night’s breeze
Turning invisible pages
Into memories
 
As we weep on a coffin
I thank God for these
For they comfort us often
They are memories

Parting can be heart-rending
But through grief’s agonies
We have the tender blessing
Of memories

Now we hold a moment
How precious are these
Seeds; for they grow into
Memories


© Janet Martin

Let's make today
a good memory!

Counting Lessons



We could count our sorrows
But tell me, what would we gain?
For the blessing of tomorrow
Often sprouts within the rain

So we should count our blessings
For we cannot really know
The depth of their conception
Or the Stream from whence they flow

© Janet Martin

The sun smiles in puddle-mirrors


After a Rainy Night in June...




The woods, veiled  in the distance
Crowns the border of the land
The earth; refreshed and glistening
‘Neath the Giver’s gracious hand
Where pastures, parched and pleading
Longed for nectar, pure, divine
Emerald fields ripple with promise
Replenished by heaven’s wine

The heart, veiled with the body
And the body, fresh from sleep
Have relinquished yester’ sorrow
For it is not ours to keep
But the hour pleads with Promise
And we dare not dance in vain
So we drink the Spirit’s nectar
Replenished by holy rain

The border of the hour
Is a phantom consciousness
Yet we recognize the Power
Whereby it is lent to us
The known, veiled in the distance
By a mist of vast unknown
Draws our hearts from fear’s resistance
To the footstool of His throne

© Janet Martin

His Word to the believer
Is what rain is to the earth

This is the day the Lord has made,
Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Ps. 118:24  


Rainy Night in June



Tonight the screen is heavy
with  warm,silver tears of June
The wind weeps; melancholy
a low and mournful tune
over the darkened pasture
and through my rain-swept heart
where I hold you to me, darling
while we are far apart

Tonight the sky is a hollow
without border, base or breadth
Its blackness seems to swallow
The wee, winsome drop of earth
Tonight I cannot hold back
the tears that fall like rain
And so I hold you closer
Until we will meet again

I feel your soothing whisper
Cool the longing on my skin
I hear our tumbled music
Soothe the aching deep within
I taste our salty teardrops
As they sweep thought's vague rampart
Oh, who knew that an ocean
Could be held within a heart?

J~

Thank-you for Calvary



Jesus said, “It is finished.” John 19:30

When I think of my weakness
And how lost I would be
I cry thank-you Jesus
For Calvary
When I think of my wretchedness
And my vast need
I cry thank-you Jesus
For Calvary
When doubt and despair
Seek to over-whelm me
I cry thank-you Jesus
For Calvary
When I see myself
Bound for eternity
I cry thank-you Jesus
For Calvary

© Janet Martin
 When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 1 Cor. 11: 24-26

Right on Time




You guide the seed on the wind, Lord
You see the place where it rests
Give us discernment of mind, Lord
Help us to plant our best

You teach the seed how to grow, Lord
We simply water and wait
There is much we do not know, Lord
But we know you are never late

© Janet Martin

Perfect Order




The vibrant bloom is drooping
And my pulse is charged with grief
As I see the quiet workings
Of a stealthy, subtle thief
As sure as spring turns into summer
And the summer turns to fall
Is the fair and fleeting favor
Of life’s youthful madrigal

Soon its eager glow is ravaged
By the pilferage of time
Soon the bud of blossomed beauty
Succumbs to the season’s rhyme
And the flower weeps its petals
Back to earth from whence it came
Leaving nothing but its memory
And the whisper of its name

Yes, the vibrant bloom is drooping
Man cannot dissuade the course
Or design of nature’s order
Nor the Hand beneath its force
To everything there is a season
And a time for every plan
We cannot thwart God’s perfect reason
For we are simply…man

© Janet Martin

I noticed that the peonies are beginning to die and something akin to grief stirred in me to realize another year of peonies is quickly passing...


Isa.55:8-13 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
  and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”





Monday, June 11, 2012

Equality's Behoovement




All flesh and blood is equal
In the eyes of its Creator
There is no person lesser
Nor is anybody greater
The filament by which we’re formed
From Adam has not varied
Dust we are; to dust returned
As lifeless shrouds are buried

And if all flesh is equal then
Does it not thus behoove us
To love fully our fellowmen
Before Time’s Hand removes us
Dust we are; to dust returned
A humble proclamation
Befitting us for but one thing
Love, without reservation

© Janet Martin

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Romans 12:3 NAS

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Phil. 2:3 KJV

Flesh and Blood Compassion



When flesh and blood lies bleeding
Farewell thoughts against the sky
Away, away from loved ones
They weep out their last good-bye

When freedom’s price is blood-bought
With a brother, daughter, son
Our grief is universal
And our teardrops flow as one

When freedom’s charge is gathered
Again…again… again
We see, not nation or color
But simply women, men

With flesh and blood compassion
We plead out to God above
To comfort those who sorrow
For the ones they dearly love

When freedom’s price is blood-bought
Charted ramparts disappear
For in death we all are kindred
And our sorrow is a tear

© Janet Martin

Written in memory of four French soldiers killed yesterday in Afghanistan

My tears and prayers are for civilian victims as well.



Hello Megan. First, sorry for my english, I'm French. I often come to your blog because I like so much your tags and stationery (thank you so much for sharing them with us), and tonight I happened to see that post for Memorial Day. Yesterday, 4 french soldiers died in Afghanistan (I hope your poem is also for other countries fighting for freedom and not only the US). My brother, who is in the military, will be there in a few weeks, so thank you for that post. Thank you for sharing this also.
Louise

Thank you for sharing with us all ~ and impacting lives around the world...

How We Love Thee



Where wild phlox crawls in purple rivers
And azure seas of noon-tide gleam
On green fields rolling to forever
Beneath the sun’s coronal beam
Where butter-cups gold-vessel splendor
Pools on bluffs, on banks and hills
And our shadows, long and slender
On the twilight hour spills

Where the willow’s wanton weeping
Tunes the midnight’s moody moan
Where December’s stream lay sleeping
Now it laughs on mud and stones
Where the strain of sunset vesper
Lingers on the trembled hush
As the stain of heaven’s grandeur
Falls in mercy from its brush

Where the nail-hook says ‘gone fishing’
For these drawn-out days are small
Soon the summer heart is wishing
For the hours preceding fall
Where the heart is humbly happy
As the bumbling, tumbling bee
Imbibed with heady lupine-nectar
Fairest June, how we love thee

© Janet Martin





Like Water...




The truth is
A little like
Water
We cannot
Dilute
Dissolve
Or drown it 

Janet~

Poetic Bloomings Prompt: Water

The Intangible Corrosion


There are finger-tips
Not of skin
But oh…the touch

There are kisses
Not of lips
But oh…the desire

There are wanderings
Not of footprints
But oh…the destinies

There are oceans
Not of water
But oh…the drowning

J~ 
 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor. 10:12

Of What Remains




Sometimes when the sky is full of night
and the wind slumbers
high in the poplar trees
where the song of soft summer rain
haggles the leaves by day…

Sometimes, when the moon is swallowed in blackness
as earth and sky coalesce
in inky nothingness
save for the thickening quiet
blanketing the hour…

Sometimes, when longing could swallow an ocean
and emptiness is full of aching
and aching is full of emptiness
save for a the echo
of what could have been...

Sometimes, then I weep for gladness
and the love of double-edges
for surely fulfillment and need
are the enduring offerings
of what remains

I remember

J~

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Days of Grass



As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.Ps. 103:15


Man’s days are as grass
Soon its labor and lust
Returns once more
To coffers of dust

Man’s days are as grass
How fickle the bloom
Soon it decays
In earth’s vast tomb

Man’s days are as grass
But not the soul
It never dies
Though eternities roll

Of Water...



It fills the tear that stings the eye
In raw, unkempt emotion
It weeps in mercy from the sky
And forms the turquoise ocean

It cheers dull nooks in laughing brooks
It crushes as it rushes
Its nectar drips on parted lips
On twilight ponds it blushes

It drenches parched, drought-stricken lands
It floods, it flows and gurgles
It mirrors heaven’s vast expanse
And cools the sluggish turtles

It trickles, seeps, it drowns, it pools
Baptizes re-born sinners
It lures young lads from woes like school
To fish and dream till dinner

It gleams like silver, polished glass
On winter’s frozen shallows
It sparkles on dew-dazzled grass
And tames the dusty fallows

From cups it spills, in rip-tides kills
Too much or none; disaster
In midnight rain its soft refrain
Evokes passion's grandmaster

How cold the grave beneath its wave
But as the sun gets hotter
We tip the jug to fill our mug
And thank the Lord for water, water, water...

© Janet Martin

Written for Poetic Bloomings Prompt: Water, water everywhere





A Few Sunday Morning Thoughts




Who can tally
The measure of a moment
The fool sees nothing
The wise man,
Everything

It is hard to love
On paper

I laid my thought against the air
Soon it was swallowed by the hour
I laid my thought into a prayer
It rests now in God’s perfect power

It is hard to wait
Without faith

No path is so bitter
As the one of resentment
No lap is sweeter
Than that of contentment 

It is hard to
swallow longing

He who envies
Forgets to live
He who is happy
Learns to forgive

It is hard
To hold fast to the right
But it is possible
With His Word as our Light

Are you weary and weighed down with care?
Jesus says, ‘Come,’ do you hear Him?
He may not remove the burdens we bear
But He gives us strength to endure them

 Patience is a hard-fought virtue
it's battle can only be won
as we learn to become second
and make others number one

Beware of Things
They help us forget
The Living Truth
And a crossed stained red

Why do we seek to compromise?
A fleeting gasp
Is earth's pleasure and strife
Eternity swallows ten-thousand skies

Janet~







Saturday, June 9, 2012

Seize Yours




Seize this Moment
Squeeze it
Twist it
Wring it
Taste it
No, savor
Every vapor
Before it fades away
Wasted
Un-tasted
A shovel of naught
But what could have been
Had action met thought
So seize this moment
It is all we can clasp
Not past
Nor future
But one transient gasp
Threaded to the next
Of valor
Or victory
Or passion perplexed
Of present to history
Weaving a lifetime
From cradle to grave
Oh, seize this moment
It is all that we have

© Janet Martin


Moment of Potential




When all my numbered days have fled
Beyond the sweeping sky
And I awake
Not in my bed
But in the by and by
Then it will be too late for me
To love my fellowman
Now is life’s lone opportunity
To do the best I can

We do not live in ages spent
Nor in the mystic morrow
Now is the moment God has lent
To bear life’s joy and sorrow
We dare not pine, with backward glance
To past’s resolute span
Now is love’s rare, redeeming chance
To do the best we can

© Janet Martin

Seize this moment...it is all we have

Easy Street




It would have been easy
To let despair steal
The rest of the dream not taken
It’s hard sometimes
To know what is real
And where we are sadly mistaken

It would have been easy
To let doubt creep in
Subtle as night on the roses
And miss the sound
Of a door opening
As another behind us closes

It would have been easy
To let defeat fall
Not daring to challenge its candor
It would have been easy
To do nothing at all
But look back and forever wonder...

© Janet Martin  

Friday, June 8, 2012

These Past Twenty Years...

Emily asked me the other day what I think about motherhood and can I believe I've been one for almost twenty years...It got me to thinking...

I ponder them slowly, these past twenty years
For they have been like no other
They warned me back then, how fast time disappears
…the day I became a mother

I ponder them tenderly, these past twenty years
Of fulfillment as deep as my yearning
Of mustard-seed faith to combat mammoth fears
Of teaching midst all of my learning

I ponder them deeply, these past twenty years
The paradox of love’s mystic measure
The beautiful agony of laughter and tears
The wonder of life’s painful pleasure

I ponder them thankfully, these past twenty years
So glad that God never forgot me
Gently admonished, through my own scolding and cheers
At how much my children have taught me

© Janet Martin




I Saw Heaven Smile Today...


 Emily, first Birthday.

Emily, 20th Birthday

I saw Heaven smile today
As angels breathed upon my way
For Heaven’s smiles are sent, I think
In little bundles, soft and pink
Perfection, lent to trembling arms
From holy hands above
Yes, Heaven sends its wondrous charms
In babies dear to love

Today I held her tiny hand
And I began to understand
A strange new love, so rare and strong
As I held hands that knew no wrong
Nothing else on this old earth
Could touch it by a mile
For at the moment of her birth
I saw Heaven smile

Yes, I saw Heaven smile today
As pain and anguish fell away
And I know what perfection is
As I caress it with a kiss
For clasped against my awe-struck heart
In form of new-born child
The windows up above me parted
And I saw Heaven smile

© Janet Martin

Written for Emily when she was a baby....20 years ago (did a bit of editing)

Passion and the Fruits Thereof



Tis a plethora of passions that makes people tick
Be they words or numbers or a hook on a stick
Be it fallow acres waiting to be plowed
Or studying the whims in the mind of a cloud

Someone invented those dear alarm clocks
The curve on the base of a chair so it rocks
A toilet that flushes, better winter tires
And for the technician, multi-colored wires

Whatever we touch in an ocean of things
Is the fruit of a thought that’s been given its wings
Of nuts and bolts, metal, fabric, or wood
Someone declared, ah yes, this is good….(yes, even plastic)

God bless the seeker who chases his dream
Teach us to regard it with thankful esteem
And preserve the pleasure of its delight
Not by addiction, but healthy appetite

Tis a plethora of passions that stirs creature souls
The seed of fulfillment, the setting of goals
Born of inner thirst, need or desperation
The whisper of Passion is the bud of creation

© Janet Martin

This poem was inspired by a number of moments…
Wandering though the mall looking at all the ‘stuff’ and wondering …why?
Mulling over a comment someone made yesterday about an up-coming generation of stupidity because kids are ‘glued to some gadget and they don’t read anymore’…not true for all but WAY too many!
And this morning I suddenly wondered who invented the ANNOYING sound of an alarm clock!
By the way, I love you, you dear person who invented the coffee-perk.


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Twilight Soliloquy




I love the way the evening lies
Contented ‘neath the folding skies
And all the memories we have made
Slumber now in history’s shade

I love the cerulean sweep
Luring the eye to lofty deep
And how my thought’s soliloquy
Is amplified on twilight’s knee

I love the roll of evergreen
Meeting the soul of heaven’s gleam
How tugs of love and longing clench
That aching void Time cannot quench

I love eve’s lofty out-stretched palm
Urging our bustling haste to calm
And listen to the vespers sigh
In anthems falling from the sky

I love the way the evening lies
Beneath celestial lullabies
As twilight's tucks night’s edges down
Against the landscapes silver gown

© Janet Martin