Caught Looking......

What do you think about, dear little boy
Gazing off into the blue
Is it a dream of what you will be?
Or the things you are going to do?
I’m willing to bet in that far-off gaze
That you are not looking back
But looking ahead to your ‘glory days’
The future, a sparkling track

What do you think about, young woman, today
With that dreamy look in your eye
You look as if you could fly away
Like a beautiful butterfly
Is it young love whispering in the dream?
Fair hopes of what will be
Would you share the thoughts that silently gleam
But only you can see?

What do you think about, mother dear
Caught in sudden reverie
Are you looking ahead; oh when is that year
We begin to look back tenderly
What images drift before your eyes
In this momentary trance
Are you softly beginning to realize
How fleeting is this dance?

What do you think about, dear old man
As you sit in your rocking chair
Won’t you tell me if you can
Who it is that you see out there
Who is the voice in the echo that drifts
Over the hill and valley
Are you looking back…do you still look ahead?
I wonder what you see

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Janet Martin

So where exactly does it do the flip?.....
where we start to look back more often than we look ahead.

I Reckon......

I reckon there will always be
A thirst that can’t be filled
And I reckon the tranquility
Of the hours when daylight has stilled
Will always play a haunting tune
A sweet, sad melody
Rippling from the harvest moon
Across the land and sea

I reckon within every woman and man
Resides a trace of their youth
And I reckon we should still dream if we can
And never stop searching for truth
I reckon wisdom is life’s reward
When lessons are finally learned
I reckon we’ll never totally figure it out
Or get what we think we earned

I reckon there’s nothing new under the sun
Though there seems to be ‘news’ every day
I reckon that somewhere its all been done
By someone along the way
I reckon we’re never too old to learn
And never to young to try
I reckon there’s nothing we really own
Beneath the deep blue sky

I reckon freedom will never be free
Nor ever fully paid
I reckon we should live more thankfully
In this day the Lord has made
I reckon if we realized in full
How short this life will be
We'd care less for the temporal
In light of eternity

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Janet Martin

Education............

I learned how to crawl and I learned how to walk
I learned how to listen and I learned how to talk
I learned how to get up after a fall
I learned how to love without trying at all
I learned how to add, multiply and subtract
I learned how to read, how to write…..even act
I learned how to laugh and I learned how to cry
But I’m still learning how to say good-bye

~Janet~

Looking Back.........

We all have treaded that beaten path
The one we call ‘looking back’
As we silently gaze at the weathered maze
And the echoes along its track
Perhaps tis with tears we recall bygone years
Or with the trace of a smile
We hear the knell of that distant bell
Drifting across each mile

We recall the joy of a girl or a boy
The music of carefree laughter
Yet there’s nothing to say as it fades away
For we do not know until after
The years have met with cheer and regret
Then suddenly we realize
The undeniable truth; our childhood and youth
Are a faded paradise

So let’s cherish today; try to find a way
To make it the best it can be
Then as we look back across this track
To hear its melody
Though our hearts may ache they will not break
As its music stirs our mind
And we pause to look back across the track
Of moments we’ve left behind

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Janet Martin

Equality........

Today the cobalt wave
Which sweeps across the sky
Is hovering above
The lawn where carpets lie
The summer branch relinquishing
Her fair and leafy gown
No gain in distinguishing
The red leaf from the brown
They slumber now upon the grass
Where all the endless seasons pass………

Today the lonely grave
Lies still beneath a sky
Where heavens wind and wave
Each croons their lullaby
Human breath relinquishing
The ranks they held before
In death there’s no distinguishing
The rich man from the poor
They slumber now beneath the grass
Where all the endless seasons pass

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Janet Martin

Rich and poor have this in common,
The Lord is Maker of them all. Prov.22:2

Some Day.........

Some day someone will wander
Across this plot of grass
Perhaps they’ll stop and ponder
The years that quickly pass
They’ll say that they remember
So very long ago
How oft they used to come here
Then the memories start to flow
As they recount carefree hours
Spent romping on the lawn
How they used to pick the flowers
And they'll ask, ‘where has time gone?’
As they peek in through the windows
Hear the echo of a day
Gathered ‘round the kitchen table
In a childhood far away
They taste the milk and cookies
Of the distant faded years
Suddenly becoming vivid
In an eye now dimmed with tears
Oh, today the house is noisy
As they dash and yell and run
And the only thing important
Is the quest of having fun
While mother wipes the dishes
And the spills, footprints and tears
Yet silently she wishes
She could slow these speeding years
For she knows as she looks on them
In their tender hour of play
Far too soon their little freedom
Will have softly slipped away
And she wonders if they’ll wander
Someday across this grass
If perhaps they’ll pause to ponder
How the years so quickly pass…………

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Janet Martin

Incredible.........

Far beyond the reaches
Of the earthbound human mind
Is the One who guides and teaches
And without Him we are blind
For what is man? yet this great God
Who holds infinity
Within his palm; knows every thought
And cares for you and me

~Janet~

I believe......

I saw it today
In the trusting gaze
Of a young child’s eyes
I heard it today
In the aspirations of a lad
And the words of the elder; wise
I felt it today
Even as the wind moaned
Obdurate and bold
I touched it today
In the fragile bloom
Clad in frosty cold
I knew it today
As we tucked
The last threads of summer away.......
As long as the earth remains
There will be night and day
Summer and winter, sun and rain
In the heart that believes
Hope lives
I saw it today

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Janet Martin