Left-over

I pause; it filters through me
A sighing, low refrain
I let it warm and soothe me
The music of the rain
Filling the room around me
Like the breath of pending light
Without the weary cluttering
Of things to mar its flight

A calm and sweeping rhythm
This soulful melody
Quiets within its stirring
The ache inside of me
As longing turns soft pages
With a wise and tender glove
Crossing its final stages
Until all that’s left is…love

Janet Martin

Only

Only spring erases winter
Only love erases hate
Only time erases sorrow
Only night erases day
And only Jesus, only Jesus
Can wash the guilt of sin away

Janet Martin

The Truth About Lies

A tear may dim my down-cast eye
A sigh may whisper from my lips
A memory may flicker by
An echo from the shadow slips
Suddenly, but not for thee

I made a promise yesterday
And ne’er a flippant oath I take
But carefully each word I say
Lest I should wish my vow to break
Regretfully, but not for thee

And now I lay me down to sleep
Where I shall dream so peacefully
While all the solemn willows weep
And all their tears fall silently
With mine; but not for thee

Janet~

In Shades of Melancholy

As dusk-reddened spires fall into the sky-line
As silhouettes darken and vanish away
As deeper blue claims the purple horizon
Drawing a curtain o’er the remnant of day
I feel you in whispers of gray

The quiet bears the rush of a starless pavilion
It seems I can touch the rain-thickened breeze
And you; lingering just beyond my vision
Beneath the arc of gold willow trees
And a graveyard of memories

The night lays upon the air, heavy and moody
The air lays around me; motionless, blue
Wrapping me in its somnolent beauty
Holding me closer on its shoulder of dew
As a clock in the distance strikes two

Janet~

Without Word or Movement

A profusion of promise scatters the air
In lilac and blossom; cherry, apple and pear
The cantankerous gale taunts; its harshness subdued
As hill and vale flaunts a garment renewed

Without word or movement the earth is transformed
As fields cold and dormant are softened and warmed
Minute verdant nudges quiver; expand
Erupting in branches and sweeping the land

Without word or movement time re-arranges
Moment over moment, everything changes
Indiscernible aching brushes the earth
Giving and taking in the very same breath

Janet~

Unknown

Today lies before us in a vague and misty shroud
And there is not a mortal who can own
The mystery that is hidden in its shimmering, silver cloud
Looming before us as the great Unknown

We cannot know what may befall before the evening sun
We cannot see into the pending hour
But we can know who orchestrates each moment one by one
And we can trust His infallible power

The Unknown quivers in each heart-beat; in the quiet of the dawn
It trembles in each ripple on life’s sea
But there is One who knows it all who we can lean upon
Within his arms He holds infinity

Janet Martin

Vapor

Clenched fists cannot hold desire
Longing slips through fingers like sand
Tears fall in torrents but do not leave a river
Passion is a force elusive as the wind

Laughter and crying are flickering shadows
Painting blue hills of heaven and hurt
Loving and longing are mountains and meadows
Rising and falling like handfuls of dirt

Time is intangible yet fills every moment
Thought is unseen yet forms every deed
Love is a tender and turbulent torment
Life is an ocean of necessity and need

Clenched fists cannot hold our craving
Cupped palms cannot cradle a dream
Life is a vapor with eternal bearing
As moments like raindrops fall into its stream

Janet~

Song of the Willow Tree

The wind in a perpetual sigh
Tosses the willow trees
Rain falls from the sodden skies
Like aching memories
Tonight we share the sadness
Melding our unuttered needs
Whilst propriety of saneness
Drifts like dandelion seeds

There are no cold blue shadows
The whole earth, a darkened tomb
As yellow, painted meadows
Bow in mute, colorless gloom
And none can know the weighted tear
That threads the midnight hush
Hovering, a shapeless sphere
Upon a tender brush

Your name is dark with longing
In the iridescent glow
Of the raindrops softly strumming
An amorous tango
While night and rain and wanting
In discordant harmony
Play a song, lonesome and haunting
In the wind-tossed willow-tree

Janet~