In Autumn's Song...........

Long blue shadow
Sprawls across the yard
Smoke curling aimlessly
Creates a lower cloud
Beneath iron gray shutters
Encasing the distant crag
As leaves chase each other
In an endless game of tag
In autumn’s song

The shadow of October's lintel
Holds an invisible brush
Painting the cheeks of children
With an invigorating blush
As they dash through the carpet
Of yester’s pleasant shade
Its rustling mantle
Laughs beneath their feet
In autumn’s song

The cold wind sets
The clinging leaf to quivering
And every blade of grass
Huddles low, silent and shivering
As a thousand little whispers
Murmur ‘mongst the withered flower
The aroma of a hearty supper
Warms the the darkened hour
In autumn’s song

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Janet Martin

Beginnings..........

The cool fall dusk settles at our feet
With a hint of wood-smoke in the air
Mingled with the heady scent of leaves
And fields returning a vacant stare
Where just a month or two ago
Oceans of emerald, tan and gold
Shimmered, but tonight there is no ebb and flow
Of rippling wheat fields, only cold…….

……bare dirt, with here and there a bird
Scavenging for summer’s last remain
And in the far-off reaches of the earth
Somewhere……
…………summer begins again

~Janet Martin~

Touching Him......

She could not reach him there
But she could hear his laughter
In the cool slumbering air
She could not look into his eyes
But sometimes she could see them
In the blue of the skies
She could not hold his hand
As she did in the summer
When they raced ‘cross the sand
No, she could not reach him there
So she tenderly covered him
In a blanket of prayer

~Janet~

Make-up......

All the concealer,
All the foundation,
All the cover-up
All the rouge
Blush
Glitter
Liner
Eye-shadow
Lip-stick
Polish
Dye
Highlights
Botox
Injections
Surgery
Cannot cover up
Who we really are
Or do a single thing
To make one beautiful

~Janet~

A Tiny Relenting......

I fell in love today
The blue and gold afternoon
Swept me away
And little by little
I began to relent
To the shove of the wind
To the sweet-musky scent
As the leaves turned in circles
At my reluctant feet
And the chill in the purple
Shadows bid me retreat
Back to the puddle of sun on the grass
Where I lay like a child
And watched the low gray clouds pass……
I returned to the bed of fair summer bloom
Wilted and dead, void of fragrant perfume
And the sudden sorrow tugged
Like a tear in my eye
And the weight in my throat
Made me think I might cry
If I had not fallen in love today
When the blue and gold afternoon
Swept me away

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Janet Martin

Marriage..........

I think like a woman
And you think like a man
And somewhere in the middle
We must meet if we can
..and if we do not
Instead of wedlock
We get dead lock……..
Marriage, it seems to me
Is not really marriage until
Consummation is the unity
Of body and of will


~Janet~

Soon.............

Soon the last leaf will have fallen
And soon all the red will be gone
Soon all the birds that are calling
To fairer domains will have flown
Soon misty hills of gray-purple
Will gleam with a silver hue
And our foot-steps will soon be muffled
On a snow-covered avenue

Soon the sound of your laughter
Will begin to fade away
Up past the star-studded rafter
And into the clouds of gray
As we vainly try to remember
Your smile, your voice, its tone
The cold bleak wind of November
Weeps on a cold grave stone

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Janet Martin

Dreamer's Yard

We laughed that day, and walked for miles
On the deserted railway track
Which now they’ve taken away in the name of progress
And with it, a piece of the past
A trail of silent paradise
Meandering ‘neath layered skies
Through fields of blissful solitude
Along the fringe of deep dark wood
Earth's heaven scented with tar and rust
Heat waves shimmering from the rocks and dust
We walked its weather-beaten path
Where daisies smiled and blue days laughed
And young girls dreamed; but in rash disregard
They stripped away the dreamer’s yard

Janet Martin
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