In My Hurry

I never treasured you
As I should have
Or even recognized you
For whom you would be
….and now you are gone
I can never have you back
You will not return
So I can hold you again
The way you should be held….
To fully touch and taste you
I remember your scent
It taunts me now
You have become
The ache in my throat
The silent bleeding in my heart
I write of you
For you haunt me
In the misty morning
Or in the quiet low-light of the day
Or when the night is the color of you……
Intangible blue
Am I in love with you?
….or simply mourning the passing of myself
You have never changed
You are
And have always been
The past………
The irretrievable, untouchable past
Tomorrow, today’s raw, relentless wind
Will join you
As soft rain begins to fall

Janet~

Never let the moment
You hold slip away
Lest, while you’re not looking
It becomes
Yesterday

J~

Man..........

Between the tall buildings

The towers, sky-scrapers

Below the rewards of

Man’s greatest endeavors

There, at the base

Of grand architecture

Is the most amazing

And intricate creature

….man

Though buildings may draw

Grand admiration

And we stand in awe

At an artists creation

The inevitable remains

This is simply a street

Lined with structures

Of steel and concrete

But every last man

In all of the masses

Though he lingers admiringly

Or hurriedly passes

Is of equal value

In the Creators eyes

We are His workmanship

Bought with a price

……….blood

Buildings will crumble

There is nothing so grand

As to be immortal

Or above the command

Of One, who created

Not of stone or wood

But blew on the dust

And made flesh and blood

…..man

Concrete and steel

Will crumble and rust

Flesh and blood

Will return to dust

But within every man

And beyond our control

Dwells the immortal

The undying soul

Janet~

Architecture is such a pleasure

To behold

The completion

Of a great dream

But as I stood gazing in admiration

As crowd upon crowd rushed by

It suddenly struck me,

Every single person, in every single city

Or in the remotest corner of the earth

Never escapes the eyes of his Creator.

Architects dream, build, die

None of their work will remain eternally

But every man, woman, child, baby

Who breathes upon this earth

Will meet their Creator!

Hallelujah, He has also given to everyone

Living Hope

For the soul that will never die.

My Life.....

You were little once
Tiny enough to fit inside of me
Yet big enough to become
The best part of my life

Now, with casual indifferences
And mindless thank-you’s
You gather up my life
And walk away

Janet~

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~