Intangible Obsessions

The intangible obsessions of the mind

Grasp at the tenure of time’s thinning air

There is nothing in its filament we find

To soothe our anguish, longing or despair

To want is but to waste our granted lot

A trampling of life’s bloom into the dust

How bitter is the gall of selfish thought

As we consume the draught of tainted lust

To pant and chase the fathoms of the wind

Is but to clutch the fabric of a sigh

The intangible obsessions of the mind

Are boundless as the reaches of the sky

To open wide the eye within our thought

To see what grace and love and life have lent

Will stir us to desire what we’ve got

And fill the void of futile discontent

© Janet Martin

I Pray

When my heart is heavy as I plead for the lost

Indifferent or ignorant of denial’s great cost

When unfathomed reaches of eternity weigh

Against love’s gripping sorrow

I pray

And I pray

Oh, God let your grace remain yet one more day

When guilty fear seeks to persuade me of lies

Insisting that His blood cannot pay sin’s full price

When doubt and oppression in dark oceans sway

I cry out to His Spirit as

I pray

And I pray

Oh God let Your grace carry me all the way

When I seem too small for the load I must bear

As I stumble and fall beneath love’s weight of care

When hope, help and Heaven seem far, far away

From earth’s vale of living

I pray

And I pray

Oh God, for Your grace is sufficient each day

© Janet Martin

Wayfaring Wanderer

Oh, wayfaring wanderer

Drifter unchained

No arm has withheld you

No hand has restrained

No shackle has bound you

No fence, rampart, wall

Has ever dissuaded

Or slowed you at all

There is no barrier

That you cannot scale

No ocean or heaven

That you cannot sail

You daredevil drifter

As free as the wind

But  far more precarious

For you are

A mind

© Janet Martin

Without a Word

When midnight’s sky is somber; bare

When summer’s good-by fills the air

When the limp shroud of yesterday

Drifts like a cloud, far and away

When the breeze dies and all is still

Save for the sighs as willows will

When scent of rain and memories

Drip from the raven-colored trees

And naught but cricket-song is heard

The silence speaks without a word

Janet~

Unforceable Forces

One cannot force

Passion

Or a dream

Or love

But if we love

We dream

With passion

© Janet Martin

These Are The Days of Grass

These are the days of grass

We shall not pass

This way again

Time does not refund one hour

To loiter in the balmy bower

Of youth’s hungry, untried dreams

Nor dare, with boundless virgin power

The lust of it’s untested schemes

For Time, life’s ever-wizened teacher

Corrals our brazen scope

Offering us today for living

And for tomorrow,

Simply hope

© Janet Martin 

It seems these days if I need to know something

all I need to do is ask my kids...ah, sweet youth, the age of answers:)

Sapling

Young sapling, we must nourish thee

For someday thou wilt be a tree

And if thou wouldst bear worthy fruits

We must establish wholesome roots

If we provide soft sand for thee

Life’s storms will toss you to the sea

Lord, teach us how to nurture best

This tree, so it may stand life’s test

© Janet Martin

 Psalms 1: 1-3

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,  
 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

A Moment's Worth

To pine or fret for what is not

Is simply wasting what we've got

A moment tarries, but a wink

Before it hastens o'er the brink

Into the intangible flow

Of history's mortal bliss or woe

The triumph of its centuries

Played out in moments such as these

Janet Martin

Here's to Summer

Gentle yet vivid

Waves of realization

Split the blue-gold tinted day

As summer drifts

Though umber limbs

Away, away

Fix me a Long Island iced tea

With an extra slice of lime

I sense an insidious mock in the breeze

It rattles the tinny wind-chime

Gentle, yet vivid

Autumn’s preludes

Tremble upon the tip

Of summer’s hour

Softly dwindling

In Time’s bravest grip

Fix me another Long Island iced tea

We’ll toast the summer-time

Thank-you waiter for making it three

Just in the nick of lime

Janet Martin~

Sunday Whirl

Scarred Souvenirs

In a perfect world

One could return

To the unmarred and unscarred

For which we yearn

But this world is not perfect

Betrayal’s art

Brands its scars

Upon a heart

In a perfect world

We would forget

And never be haunted

By rage or regret

But this world is not perfect

Though we choose to forgive

Scars are reminders

As long as we live

In a perfect world

Love's souvenirs

Would not be tarnished

Or stained with tears

But this world is not perfect

So we learn to dance

In the arms of hope

And 'second chance'

Janet~

August Friday Thoughts

May I never be the reason

My children cannot see

Jesus; because they are unable

To see Him shining through me

***

Abide with me

I cannot see

Without Thy faithful Light

Each step I take

Is no mistake

If I walk in Thy might

Abide with me

The enemy

Seeks souls doubting and weak

Faith’s mustard seed

Is all I need

To reach the mountain’s peak

***

Dare to be different

Do not count the cost

Lest we drift in a crowd

That is blind, base and lost

Dare to be different

Like Daniel of old

Lest we reach the Judgment

With only fool’s gold

***

Train up a child

In the way he should go

It’s much harder to train

An adult, you know

***

Before your thought

Spills into a word

Make sure its lot

Is fit to be heard

***

Why standest thou jealously gazing

Into thy neighbor’s field?

Take heed, thou slothful servant

Lest envy taints thy yield

***

If we rejoice when they rejoice

And weep when they must weep

Then we will be the kind of friend

Our friends desire to keep

***

Farther along on this journey of life

We cannot know what a-waits

But this; beyond love’s tender strife

Gleam Heaven’s shining gates

***

Deeper than the stains of sin

Flows love’s amazing grace

Hallelujah, what a Savior

Suffered in our place

***

 The earthly rags

Of love’s humility

Are leading

To the riches of

A heavenly garment

Janet Martin~

 Let us not become weary in doing good, 

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Gal. 6:9

August's Farewell Song

August plays its farewell lay

In chords of minor key

It ripples in the willow-sway

A wistful melody

August plays its parting hymn

In golden-petal tears

As summer’s strain begins to dim

Before it disappears

August plays its farewell song

A dusty-sweet caress

In notes wrought by the cricket-throng

And vesper-spangled tress

August plays its farewell tune

In sultry-somber sigh

It drifts across the languid noon

In preludes to good-bye

© Janet Martin

On this summer's final August week-end, can you hear it?

A Little Child Shall Lead Them

They smooth away the furrow on the brow

With carefree chatter as they dream and smile

There’s something ‘bout a little girl or boy

That makes the journey here worth every mile

Unburdened by the weight of things unseen

Untroubled by worry and its great waste

Undaunted, they splash in life’s moment-stream

Unaware of its relentless haste

There’s something ‘bout a little boy or girl

And as their laughter drifts upon the hours

An elixir of divine wonderment

Fills the air with butterflies and flowers

‘Unless our faith becomes as one of these’

We cannot enter into Heaven’s joy

‘A little child shall lead them’ Jesus, please

Teach to trust you as a little girl or boy

© Janet Martin

She has no idea how often she teaches me...

I'm sure God smiles, as we hold a new baby

wondering how we are going to teach them...

It felt  like a literal 'miles of dishes' last night
and nobody home but Victoria, who never uttered one
word of complaint, but simply 'did what needed to be done'
Suddenly I was not quite so weary anymore

 

Vision

If we would catch one fleeting glimpse of Him

Nothing but the shadow of His glory and His might

We would bend harder to the humble task at hand

And seek more earnestly His given command

We would loathe the wrong and love the right

If we would catch but one fleeting glimpse of Him

If we would see Him walking across the field

With the Reaper’s sickle in His out-stretched reach

We would bow, forsaking all fickle earthly ties

Trembling beneath the gaze of loving, holy eyes

We would run to seek His law to teach

If we would see Him walking across the field

If we would see the table in Heaven’s Banquet Hall

We would not desire the secret crumbs we crave

But eat the Bread and drink the Cup of His suffering

Knowing that all earthly loss is heaven’s rejoicing

And we would not fear a cold and lonely grave

If we could see the table in Heaven’s Banquet Hall

If we, for one brief twinkle of the eye

Could behold but a fleeting glimpse of Him

The measure of this world could never begin to hold

Anything more desirable than Him in silver or gold

Its lure would instantaneously grow feeble and dim

If we could behold but one fleeting glimpse of Him

© Janet Martin

  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.

For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil. 

Eccles. 12:13-14

Peaches on my Mind

Like the nectar of peach

Let it run from my chin

A smile on my taste buds

Sweet satisfaction

May I savor each morsel

And not waste one drip

Of this beautiful moment

On my fingertip

***

 Peach-coral dawn climbs into the blue

Mist-laden valleys don a silver-pink hue

Breath-taking mercy swings wide morning’s gate

Lessons of faith and forgiveness a-wait

Trust in the Lord, His love does not fail

Soon the dark night will again draw its veil

And dusk will descend in a peach-coral sea

One day nearer to eternity

***

I’m thinking the fruit

That hung within Eve’s reach

To tempt her so

Was a sun-warmed peach

***

 Soon the peach sweetness of summer will fade

I sense a dusky-blue gaze

Whispering in the willow-wind shade

Lingering in deep, late-day haze

Hints of departure rush to the shore

Of late summer’s less crowded beach

I sense the creaking of a door

Still somewhere beyond our reach

Summer will last a few hours more

I savor another peach

© Janet Martin

Yesterday was 'beach day'...
Today it is 'peach day'!
Tomorrow...who knows, but One!

Being Us

It is not easy

Being us

The drum we hear

Though oft perceived

Is more often misunderstood

Yet we are drawn

Not of ourselves

To the path of its beat

And I ask only this

God, guide our feet

It’s not easy

Being us

We battle

Not so much with others

As with ourselves

Born as shy soloists

Struggling to harmonize

And join the melody

Of God’s

Beautiful choir

It’s not easy

Being us

My dearest daughter

A mother cannot always choose

What her child receives

So just  continue being 'beautiful you'…and sing

Returning to the Giver

The gifts He allows

Humbly, from us

To Him

© Janet Martin

Happy 18^th Birthday, Melissa 

Love, Mom

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6

Sonnet of Farewell

The aching twist of ‘knowing’ hovers low

Against the languid mellow yellow day

Over the hill a breath of moments flow

Stealing another gasp of life away

Bloom by falling bloom the moments pass

One lonely cricket serenades the hour

As August surges swiftly through its glass

Laden with tears of summer’s faded flow’r

I shed my own; Time’s unrelenting pace

Plucks summer’s thinning shroud from my embrace

***

The solo cricket-lay is amplified

Into the hush its chirping cantos swell   

Filling the shadow-lengthened countryside

With affirmation of summer’s farewell

Where latent hints of gold and scarlet brood

Beneath the placid flush of sighing green

Too soon the gale will howl through rustling wood

Stripping the petal-garb from nature’s queen

I too feel stripped: Time is a brute uncouth

It snatches up the remnant of my youth

***

Breath by breath and tick by ticking tock

The fullest hour shrinks and disappears

The rigid order of Time’s austere clock

Expands its swift demise to days and years

The goldenrod replaces daffodil

But soon it drops its gaudy, burnished plume

Surrendering to autumn’s painted chill

Thus seasons file across earth’s living-room

I too surrender; pleading with Time is vain

And if it wills, summer will come again

© Janet Martin

Thoughts and sounds of the day and evening...

Of Other Loves

Sometimes when I try to hate you

Up to my elbows in duty

You overtake me completely

By your innocent beauty

Sometimes, when I try to ignore you

And wipe away your taunt

You stroll before my firm employ

 Languid, nonchalant

Sometimes, when our eyes meet

And you fill every thought

I still pretend that I don’t care

Neither one tittle nor jot

But then, oh then sometimes I know

It is no use to fight

Ah pen, poetry, I love you so

…and I write

and I write

and I write

© Janet Martin

Evening Vesper

It tips against the evening sky

The edge of Time and all its girth

A crimson-tinted lullaby

In breathless nuance bathes the earth

The progress of man’s centuries

Lies mute ‘neath Eden’s unmarred dome

As Heaven spills its mysteries

In foreshadows of things to come

Man cannot blemish heaven’s floor

The thief of hours cannot steal

The brush from He who holds the Door

Through which vague shades of glory peal

It fingers twilight’s solitude

In pure and unrestrained caress

A timeless masterpiece renewed

In sundry tones of awesomeness

The sheaves of harvest deck the sod

As just and unjust taste its fare

The wondrous handiwork of God

Spills freely on the evening air

Unto its breadth we lift our eyes

A glorious and gilded scrim

Twixt toil and tears and Paradise

We behold whispers of Him

© Janet Martin

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.  
 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
    It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 
 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Psalms 19:1-6
 

A Request

His mercy is new every morning....

Throughout this day Lord, help us say

Only kind and gentle things

May our hearts trust You, Oh God

As we face what this new day brings

And if the eventide should splay

Once more across the land and sea

And the wee hours we call today

Deepen and fold to history

May we have served with willing hands

And offered You a servant’s heart

Then as the twilight sweeps earth’s sands

Oh, may we know we did our part

© Janet Martin

Dance to the Music

Dance to the music God gives you

A montage of moments is brief

Soon its lay will drift away

A whisper on autumn’s leaf

List’ to the melody playing

And do not ignore its worth

Tomorrow’s sorrows are waiting

To strip the lip of its mirth

The music of this life is fleeting

We see not the end of its song

But we hear drums repeating

Eternity is long

…is long…is long…is long…

© Janet Martin



Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Psalms 96: 1

Pilot Me...a Morning Prayer

Before I step upon the runway

Of the day that lies ahead

Before my footsteps touch the tarmac

Of life’s little hope’s and dread

Father Captain, keep this vessel

I would drift if not for Thee

Keep me in the way of truth and love

Oh Jesus, Savior pilot me

Raise my eyes above life’s worries

Carry me on wings of trust

This is but a tiny journey

Soon our labor-pains of dust

Will pass and we will be delivered

From life’s storms and fickle fray

Jesus Savior, guide this vessel

Lest I drift and lose my way

Keep my eyes upon the gleaming

Of One true and faithful Light

Shield me from vague imitations

Teach me what is true and right

Now, as I touch down on the tarmac

Of this day and what will be

Father Captain, lead this vessel

Jesus, Savior pilot me

© Janet Martin

The Lord's Prayer Words

(traditional)

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

Untraceable

You leave no trace or footprint

No bloom is crushed in your wake

But I know you are here; I can feel it, my dear

In every breath I take

The dew-gilded dawn remains flawless

Its pristine slope bears no mark

But I feel near as you come to me, dear

Out of the thinning dark

Where do you come from and how, love?

Do you tiptoe, fly or leap?

I know you are here, for your whisper, my dear

Draws me from out of my sleep

But you leave no trace or footprint

Oh beautiful memory

I hold you my dear, in a smile and a tear

As softly you come to me

If you could see into my heart, love

Where memories wander and such

Then it would be clear, there is no spot, my dear

That your memory does not touch

© Janet Martin~

Simply... People

Some wear threads of satin and silk

While some wear plain, meager cloth

Some sip fine wine while others gulp milk

But God is the God of both

Some speak with cultured refinement

Some say ‘you is’ and y’all

But I’ve come to the conclusion

We’re simply people; that’s all

Some strut across earth’s grand stages

While others cheer, shout and applaud

Some serve in deep, hidden places

Where nobody sees…but God

Some hunt for food in the jungle

While others feast every day

With people serving people

It’s always been this way

God made both servant and master

Rich, poor and in-between

He does not love one o’er another

And none are misplaced or unseen

Then, when this little life is over

We all pass through one common door

So we ought always to love one another

For we are simply people; nothing more

© Janet Martin

 There is neither Jew nor Greek, 

slave nor free, 

male nor female, 

for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Gal. 3:28