The Way It Is......

Dawn draws the darkness out of the skies
Time steals the dream from the dreamer’s eyes
November rejects the sun’s warmest kiss
And I love you……..
That’s just the way it is

Children grow up and old people die
Today is tomorrow’s history
Pain is the flip-side of tender bliss
And I love you…………..
That’s just the way it is

New love is born; and some love fades away
Just as the morn slips into the day
Then day returns to night’s quietness
And I love you………..
That’s just the way it is

Time is a tender and torturous quadrille
Changing our scope with each turn of the wheel
Bittersweet slow-dance, moments I’ll miss
But I’ll always love you…..
That’s just the way it is

Janet~

All in a Day's Work

Pull out a drawer, dump out the blocks
Empty the colorful Kleenex box
Tip over the coffee, oh, what have I done?
There’s so much to do when you’re one

Sample the fruit, oh yes, every piece
Wash the window with my face
Tug at the flowers in beckoning bloom
There’s so much to do when you’re one

Master-mind that chair barricade
Climb over top of it or push it away
Dump out the snack, see? All done
There’s so much to do when you’re one

Tall folk lookin’ weary and not very charmed
I flash them my grin; they’re completely disarmed
Put toy in the vacuum vent, see? All gone
There’s so much to do when you’re one

Hide my shoes and pull off my socks
Look at the ‘moos’; find one in the toy box
Oh no, I feel a big nap comin’ on
Sure do get tired when you’re one

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Dedicated to the one-year-old
That I baby-sit

Cold Coffee.....

All that she asks for right now
Is just a corner of the sky
A little kiss upon her brow
From the breeze as it flits by
All she asks for is a book
A cup of coffee within reach
Perhaps the babble of a brook
Too much to wish for a whole beach
All she needs is one wee hour
Where vain duty is subdued
A little whisper from a flower
Oh, evasive solitude
Where did you go?
Oh yes, she knows……..
A little piece flew from this world
The day they told her ‘it’s a girl’
The little kiss upon her brow
Is given by her children now
The cup of coffee within reach
Grew cold; for Charlie found a leech
Her books have princes, trucks and trains
Instead of lovers and villains
The babble is from baby dear
The hours just somehow disappear……
Solitude is for all those others
Who have not yet become…..
Fathers and mothers

Janet~

Questions......

Will this earth be a better place?
Because its door-step I did grace
For a brief pittance of its span
Will there be a better man
Because of something I have done?
Or are these mere moments in a sun?
Will they miss me; will they weep?
Or whisper, at last she is asleep!

Janet~

Barricade......

Trees, you beautiful trees
Swaying in the morning breeze
Flowers, bright flowers, fit for a king
How you make a sad heart sing
Grass, green carpet of wanderlust
Covering acres and acres of dust
Hills, rolling hills, above rivers so blue
Sometimes I pause to gaze at you………………

………..wretched trees, wretched flowers
Wretched fields, wretched grass
Wretched breeze blowing
Over moments that pass
Wretched hills, wretched highway
Wretched water so blue
Wretched barricade
Between me and you

Janet~

Strong Enough............

I try not to,
But oh, my dear
Every now and then
I shed a tear
I'm blessed and I know it
But this time of year
I can't help but wish
That you were here
I try to be strong, love
But I guess you know
I'll never be strong enough
To let you go

Janet~

With Our Eyes.....

With tongue we speak, with hands we toil
With feet we walk and run
With lips we smile as we relive
Sweet moments in the sun
With arms we hold our loved ones close
With hearts we dearly love
With ears we hear the thunder roll
From darkened ports above
And with our eyes we see all this
And with our eyes we sleep
And with our eyes we shed our tears
Oh, with our eyes we weep
We weep for sorrow and for joy
In triumph or defeat
We weep in love and loneliness
A language bittersweet
We weep for loved ones out of reach
Or in life’s tug and pull
We weep in longing, loss and grief
Or when our cup is full
With hands we toil, with arms we hold
With lips we smile and kiss
With ears hear, with hearts we love
With minds we reminisce
But with our eyes we share our souls
The baring of the deep
With our eyes the ocean’s roll
Oh, with our eyes we weep

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Treasure...........

We cared once for things as these…………
The mighty ships, the wood of trees
Skyscrapers, bridges, the tower and plane
The high and the lowly, the quest for gain
We sought for answers, and meager delights
We worshipped; but One knows where we set those sights
We cared about beauty; the youthful and bold
Before cheeks were pallid and eyelids cold………..

Once, we strolled the golden sands
Controlled by duty and demands
Of great import these rulers then
We dreamed; revered the goals of men
Once, life held the master key
To hope and opportunity
We cared so much for much it seems
Yet all is naught as twilight gleams

We sought once for things called things
Believed in happiness of kings
If we could hoard of things, enough
And be the lord of all our stuff………..
How paltry now its measure lies
As we gaze upward at the skies
How futile, this brief earthly quest
If we believe earth holds life’s best

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin


What good is it for a man to gain the whole world,
Yet forfeit his own soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:36-37