Don't Mind Me....

Don’t mind me
I don’t really cry
I think it could be
Some dirt in my eye
I really should love
The purple hill
As the lone mourning dove
Croons its sad farewell

Don’t mind me
Or the rain on my cheek
Was the green maple tree
Not in bud last week?
Yet now she flaunts
A coat of red
As autumn taunts
In tears unshed

Don’t mind me
Or the mist on my face
Each fond memory
Finds a resting place
In tender folds
Somewhere within
A heart’s touch of gold
In a cold autumn rain

Don’t mind me
I don’t really cry
I think it could be
The deep blue of the sky
Reminded me of someone
I used to know…..
And yesterday can be
A long time ago

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Janet Martin

Dark.............

A moonless night is deeper still
Its silence so much darker
There is a hunger in its chill
And every tree’s a stranger
With dark skeletal fingertips
Reaching far away
Across a lawn of foreign shapes
Where children laugh by day

A moonless night is like the mind
When darkness creeps within
And unexpectedly we find
A cold sadness begin
As cruel and calloused fingertips
Claw at the weakest parts
And with its evil talon grips
The loneliest of hearts

But just as on a moonless night
We know the moon is there
Casting off her silver light
Behind the cloudy stare
As in the darkness of the mind.......
The Light will never dim
If we can leave our fear behind
And simply trust in Him

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Janet Martin

In Every Life........or A Little Rain

In every life a little rain
A little pain must be
In every life a lonesome wind
But by and by the breeze
In every life the Milky Way
Is just a distant gleam
In every life, oh darling
There’s the power of the dream

In every life the curtain drops
So let’s not waste a day
For none knows when the music stops
So live, laugh, love and pray
In every life farewell tears flow
I guess this is the rain
But darling, oh I know you know
I’d do it all again

In every life a little cold
A little summer too
And darling, if I must grow old
May I do it with you?
In every life a little rain
But darling, aren’t you glad
That we shall not have lived in vain
Oh, what a dance we’ve had


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Janet Martin



....a rainy day and oldies!!!
A lethal combination:)

September's Eve.....

You crept in early this eve; the night
A blanket of blue across the daylight
Stealthily exchanging in your subtle way
The gold fields of noon for meadows of grey
And only a brave little cricket or two
Were there to bid this day adieu

You are a silent and glorious thief
Chilling the summer heart with your grief
Yet stirring the soul with autumnal senses
A passion unbridled and void of defenses
I savor the blend of gentle and brusque
A lone spectator on the brink of dusk

Here in the stillness I sadly descry
The hem of sweet summer rustling by
I reach out to touch her silky train
The elusive essence of a misty rain
But she turned……once…..to smile at me
In empathetic sympathy

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Janet Martin

I Love You....

What does this really mean?
There’s the instant worship of seventeen
There’s a love that is kindled by beauty’s caress
In the rapture of youth and the Enchantress
There is love of innocence and fantasy
The perfect dream of what love will be…
The love that is fed by absence’ desire
Silent tears shed at a lonely fire
There is love of family, love of friends
And love to withstand all that this life sends
There’s the love of a mother, the love of a wife
The love of each other and the love of life
There is passion and sorrow and heart-wrenching bliss
There’s pain and hunger in an absent kiss
There is love penned in sonnets and poetry
Of love that was and that will be
There’s the loveliness of youth and the beauty of years
As fancy becomes truth in loves laughter and tears
I love you; sweet at the beginning, but sweeter my friend
If love remains true to the very end
After the wooing and after the strife
Love is the crown of an honorable life
I love you; now tell me, tell me true…
Aren’t you glad it ended with……..you?
Ah love, methinks you will ever be
Life’s sweetest, most anguishing mystery

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Janet Martin

Portraits of September

It’s coral dawn and magenta dusk
It’s arm of brawn and sigh of musk
Its ruddy fruit where blossoms fell
Shadows taunting from the dell
Azure noon and purple night
Ribbon of amber and green respite
Beneath a warm and slumbering sky
As clouds like ships go drifting by
Its dusty pink and muted hue
It is every shade of blue
It’s warm and sweet at four p.m.
Its perfect peace on twilight’s hem
Its mellow sorrow in a cup
Take the chalice and drink it up

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Janet Martin

These are portraits of my
September day…….
And evening.
I left for a walk when the sun was bright
But returned in the glow of a turquoise twilight

Until Rivers Run Dry.....

When I told you I’d love you till the rivers run dry
Or until no star twinkles in heavens vast eye
When I purposed within me to always be true
I had no concept of the words ‘I love you’

When love was a child it was carefree and blind
A beautiful wild flower kissed by the wind
We plucked its fair measure with careless delight
Enjoying its pleasure as a well-deserved right

But love cannot stay forever young
Sooner or later the raging tides come
And love must decide whether it will be true
Until rivers run dry and a lifetime is through

And then, only then will we truly know
If our love is enough for life’s ebb and flow
For love isn’t love at its very best
Until it is tried and has conquered the test

When I told you I’d love you till the rivers run dry
I say it again with a tear in my eye
For love is a river running wild and deep
And love is a promise I intend to keep

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Janet Martin

Almost Fall.....

Beautiful, dreamy dust-scented day
Sprawled ‘neath a blanket of purple and gray
Seduction of pleasure and melancholy
Intended for picnics and poetry
You tempt me to love you the best of all
No longer summer, you are ‘almost fall’

Caught in the drone of mid-afternoon haze
I revel in summer’s relinquishing ways
A dance between dawn, fanning ‘cross the sky
Ere she droops on the shoulder of the deep evening sigh
While earth dons her faded and weary shawl
Camouflaged, jaded and ‘almost fall’

Beautiful smoldering, tender torment
Lingering sadly in summer’s lament
Capsule of sweetness, you ravish and tease
While I taste a hint of farewell on the breeze
Lady in waiting, most stunning of all
Blue days of surrender in ‘almost fall’

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Janet Martin