Sleepless..........

Tonight, as you lie down to sleep
Pray tell, what are your thoughts
Do you ask God your soul to keep?
And if sleep should be hard-sought
Who is the one you think about?
Where do your memories stray?
Is it to someone close to you?
Or someone far away
And as you think about this one
Does a smile tease your sigh?
Or does your heart feel like a stone
As you try not to cry?
Tonight, as you lie down to rest
Oh, who will cross your mind?
Is it those who love you best?
Or one you’ve left behind?

Janet~

Serenaded............

Tonight you’ve come to sing to me
A sad and lonesome melody
Not sung by wind or barren limb
Not sung by her nor else by him
The notes that drift across the moon
Bear a melancholy tune
It brings a teardrop to my throat
Yet comforts me within its note
I’ve never heard a song like this
Bittersweet and tender bliss
High, then low the baton falls
In its flow an echo calls
From the faint, far-folded mist
I am serenaded, kissed
As the evening fades away
In a grand, soundless display
Like a phantom symphony
Silence; how you sing to me

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Janet Martin

November's Garden.....

A garden full of nothing…..
It used to be in bloom
She’d bask where nature’s passion
Shed her glory in full bloom
But that was before cold fingers
Stripped the last brave buds away
Still…..she comes and lingers
In the silence cold and gray
As she hears the tender echo
Of a summer passing by
And a little jolt of sorrow
Brings the teardrop to her eye
In a garden full of nothing
Where the flowers used to grow
Where the children loved to wander
And the laughing winds would blow
Where the blue eyes of September
Smiled a sweet and lazy sigh……..
Ah, the garden of November
Is a soulful lullaby

Janet~

They Found Him

He was eighteen
He thought he would run
Into the grand world
To have some fun
Away from the do’s and the don’ts, reprimands
Ah, freedom where no one could restrain his hands
But he forgot about one crucial thing………….
His mother’s prayers……..
And they found him
Every day wherever he would go
He was never alone, you know
Oh yes he was young, and yes, he could run
But there was one thing
He had not counted on
His mother’s prayers
Would not leave him alone
Run fast my child, run far, anywhere
You will never be able to out-run a prayer


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Janet Martin

Before You.........

She can never go back to who she was before……
Before hands shaped her and molded her into who she is now
She can never go back…nor would she choose to
For then she would not have known you………….

She can never go back to the beginning again
Before your words became part of her frame
Or before you gave to her a new point of view
She can never go back to……...before you

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Janet Martin

Life Lessons..........

Oh, do you remember when you cried all night
As you watched your red balloon disappear out of sight
Into the sky a little red dot
Until nothing remained…….but hope

Oh , do you remember the time you cried
At the song ‘good morning, beautiful’ because you hated it
We chuckled at your out-raged, five-year-old voice
As you taught us about….. difference and choice

Do you remember the chocolate pudding all over your face?
As you told me you didn’t even have one tiny taste
While I tried not to laugh at those big eyes of blue
And I had to teach you about…….truth

Do you remember the time we took a little drive?
Because someone needed to apologize
There is never a good time for unkindness
And we both learned a little about…..forgiveness

So many life lessons, so much to learn
While we teach our children, God teaches us in return
Laughter and tears, both are gifts from above
As God teaches us….about love

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Janet Martin

And I Love You.....

My dear, I fear tonight the wind is low and bold
Its song a moody serenade, blue, foreboding, cold
I should be discouraged as I hear its plaintive tune
But I am still quite happy….. for I love you

My dear, tonight the clouds release a flood of iron tears
Each one could represent one of a thousand fears
I suppose I should be saddened and feel a little blue
But, my dear, I cannot, for I love you

My dear, tonight I am here and you are miles from me
But the same rain falls on you dear, from the same gray sea
The same wind moans the same sad song, yes, it is true
The road, my dear is not too long….and I love you

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Janet Martin

The Trouble With Truth....

I can dance all around it and try to avoid it
Invent lies to take its place
But no matter how clever the ruse or endeavor
It eventually stares me in the face................

I can rearrange it and constantly change it
Re-phrase every sentence I write
But I may as well face it instead of erase it
For the truth visits me every night

I could write prose as sweet as a rose
With never a thorn or a tear
But what good are lies, just a fickle disguise
Until the truth re-appears

I can dance all around it and try to confound it
But I have learned in the end
I will still need to face it for naught can replace it............
And truth is both foe and friend..................

Janet~