Somewhere In-between....or simply Middle-age

I stood there once....
Poised on the edge of a shapeless future
Staring the unknown straight in the eye
Fearless, in the power of a dream
Walking, as it were
Through perfect pastures
Where realities were dwarfed by ideals

I remember now....
Wistfully straining to resurrect forgotten ideals
Trying to remember how I used to feel
Before dreams and realities coalesced
Before I turned to see time falling away
Like melting snow or darkness
On a murmuring field

Janet~

Too Far Away....

I wish that I’d be gifted
With the perfect words to say
I wish that I could touch you
You’re too far away
I wish that I could take back
The things that I regret
But, it seems I cannot
Nor can I walk ahead
I simply have this moment
I hold within my grip
In it I make my choices
Before they softly slip
Into the dim-lit shadows
Of silent retrospect
I hear their distant echoes
As I pause to reflect……..

Oh, I wish that I’d be gifted
With the perfect words to say
I wish that I could touch you
You’re too far away………..

Janet~

The Duet

Its melody is intertwined
Deep in the heart of me
One part quietly resigned
As time’s swift hand I see
The other part is holding on
I will not let go yet
I’ll kiss the little freckled cheek
And brush the tousled head

The melody plays on and on
Beckoning me to dance
To its harmony I’m drawn
A mournful dissonance
Bringing a soft smile to my lips
A teardrop to my eye
As in its tune the minute slips
Into the by and by

It strikes each little purposed note
In somnolent discord
I help her find her boots, her coat
In songs without a word
The rising, falling harmony
Across the hours flowing
Life’s bitter-sweetest melody
…….watching my children growing

Janet~

He paused in the doorway, shifting his back-pack.
“So, Mom, what are you going to do today?”
I told him……..
“Good-by mom, I love you”
He is growing up.
The old saying goes like this,
‘How a son treats his mother, he will treat his wife’
I’ve lived long enough to see the half-truth in those words.
Now I teach the child: God, without You it would be too hard for me.

How is it that our greatest joys can also be our deepest sadnesses?

Clandestine Meeting

Fancy meeting you here
I was turning to leave
When someone called to me
And there you were

You show up in the most unexpected places
Easily, you slip
Into the eyes and lips
Of other people's faces

There is nothing bashful in your stance
And you know what my answer will be
Even before you ask me
'Shall we dance'?

Why do you have to be so....nice?
I've never met anyone like you
It's funny, what a memory can do.....
And how willingly we pay its price

Yes, fancy meeting you tonight
I was really just out to get some air
But you seem to show up everywhere
Somehow you always get it right

Janet~

Gossip at the Corner Store.....

On and on her chatter flows
Only she hears it as prose
‘Oh, did you hear of this and that?
And isn’t Charlie getting fat?
I hear Mrs. Brown is pregnant again
I think this must be number ten’
She drops her tone a notch or two
‘Tell me, do you think it’s true?’
…….draws her brows into a frown
‘They say he has a mistress in town
And have you heard; his oldest son
Is really nothing but a bum
He sleeps till noon, is what I’ve heard
Why that is quite simply absurd
They say their daughter is a hussy too
And I'm inclined to think it's true
Her boyfriend has a wild tattoo
Rumor has it, she does too
Her pierced nose tilted in the air
Some kind of purple streak in her hair
She struts as if she owns the world
I’d be ashamed if that were my girl
I feel sorry for Mrs. Brown
She can’t know what’s up or down
Ever so busy and pregnant again
Why would anybody want ten??!!!!
I should take her a cake, I guess
For goodness sake, her house was a mess
That last time I dropped in by surprise
My, you should have seen the look in her eyes
But she took the clothes off a chair for me
And asked if I’d like a cup of tea
Of course, I didn’t want to be rude
So I said okay, it was surprisingly good!
Considering I hear she’s an awful cook
You’d never know it, by the way she looks!
Oh, I’ll take two dozen eggs, that should be enough
I’ll send Jake by later for the rest of my stuff
Well, I better be on my way
So much, so much to do today…….


…….and Mrs. Brown could finally move
from the aisle in which she was standing……

Janet~

Chapters

Even now, in the frigid low-light of the day
Though I cling tenaciously, they slip away
As the moon in soft, translucent glow
Spreads her charcoal art-work on the snow
Even now, these tranquil moments spend
Their one brief gasp, to begin and swiftly end
These chapters

The ocean appears a formidable and fearless force
It ebbs and flows, it shifts and rolls and roars
But mightier still, as from the shore I gaze
Is time’s unaltered will, the reckless speeding of my days
I cannot stop the wave though I protest and plead
Nor can I seal the grave of history’s insatiable need
Of chapters

What can I do but smile and weep, hold on, let go
The things I keep are like the shadows on the snow
Perfect in the moment they are cast
A precious, silent memory when they’ve passed
But we turn back the pages now and then
Silent musings written without pen
These chapters


Janet~

Beyond Her Reach

Somewhere the white waves wash away
The ambling footprints of the day
Somewhere the kindness of a man
Warms the heart of his woman
Somewhere the seed of true surrender
Yields a bloom of peace so tender
Somewhere the purple twilight glows
Softening the restless breeze that blows
Somewhere the child is rocked to sleep
As angels loving vigil keep
Somewhere the wavering melody
Of midnight sets the new day free
Somewhere, somewhere beyond the blue
Rests every precious thought of you

Janet~

A Longing in her Eyes.........

You come to me
A memory
A sudden catching in my throat
And I inhale
Your soft appeal
Like the scent of last year’s coat
Your stale perfume
Permeates the room
I press my face to the window
But all I see
Is a willow tree
And its silent, swaying shadow

Janet~