Holding On...

This time I will hold on
A little longer
Absorb every detail
Until I am stronger
With painstaking attention
I trace every part
Pondering it deeply
In my heart
The low-flung cloud
In tumbled sky
Reflects within
My restless eye
The pastureland
Weary and wasted
Stripped of freedom
Tried and tasted
The sighing of
Melancholy
Moaning above
A rain-swept lea
The warmth of August
On the wind
The warmth of you
Against my skin
The ticking of an afternoon
Full of love
And gone too soon
Over the hill
And far away
Into the fields
Of yesterday
This time I hold on
But in vain
This moment is gone…
…and will not pass again

Janet~

Beautiful You...

On some days
The sadness of loving you
Overwhelms me
To the point of absolute stillness

Tell me, please
Why does loving you
Have to be
So excruciatingly beautiful?

J~

Gathering Season...

We gather into our arms the purples and gold
Knowing too soon their petals will fold
To dust the avenues of the past
Where autumn’s deeper blues are cast…

We gather into our hearts the music of laughter
Childish voices drift to dim-lit rafters
Where starlight pins to the close of a day
The knowing that soon this too slips away…

We gather into our tears life’s joy and its sorrow
As we hold loved ones near; they may be gone tomorrow
We gather moments of invaluable worth
These are the greatest treasures on earth…

J~

It's Inevitable...

It’s inevitable…
We all say good-byes we would rather not say
And if we live long enough our hair will turn gray
We all must suffer the pain of defeat
To know that victory truly is sweet

It’s inevitable
We all are creatures of mutual need
And harvest is proof of planted seed
Anything at all that our hand has wrought
Was born in a cradle known as thought

It’s inevitable
Life is a journey; death is not the end
There’s one choice we make with which we must contend
After our last breath; as we cross a sea
Into the inevitable…eternity

J~

Wrong...

Maybe, when you heard the edge in my voice
Then you ran out and slammed the door
Maybe you were thinking, dear
I don’t love you anymore…

Maybe because I didn’t reply
When your words seemed a little strong
Maybe you thought my love would die…
…and maybe you were wrong

Just because a flower dies
Does not mean hope is done
And just because I close my eyes
Does not mean love is gone

…and just because we’ve lost a dream
Does not mean we should quit
Or if our eye has lost its gleam
Does not mean this is it

Maybe, when you think I’m not the same
As I was when we were young
And you’re thinking somehow you’re to blame
Well, maybe you are wrong

Maybe life molds and refines
In hands we would not choose
And we don’t understand sometimes
The methods God will use…

Maybe you saw a tear and thought I was sad…
When I heard that song
Maybe you thought it was you, my dear
…maybe you were wrong

Janet~

Still...

Against my will, the midnight fades
So warm and still and heaven-made
Come my love, we have until
The morning comes…against my will

Against my will time separates
Seconds, minutes, hours then days…
Year folding over year until
Our youth is gone, against my will

Against my will, time steals from me
The moments shaping history
Come my love, time won’t stand still
It gives…then takes, against my will

To everything a season comes
Spring to spring…so swiftly done
Come my love, let’s dance until
The 'we' is gone…against my will

J~
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: Eccles. 3:1

Taking Charge...

Sharp half-breath stops me in mid-step
I feel a slight trembling deep in the earth
Suddenly the air is a mixture of blue
And laughter and longing and you…

I’ve looked at this picture…how oft, I can’t tell
I know every curve, every line so well
Yet, still you can stop me as I’m passing by
Still I get caught in the spell of your eye…

You stare at me now from a twenty inch screen
But I am no girl of seventeen
And life has taught me a lesson or two
In spite of what pictures and memories can do…

Love does not envy, it does not keep score
And though I still love you like never before
The sea wipes away footprints as the hand does a tear...
A click of a key… and you disappear…

J~

Kiss...

Your skin is smooth and bronze and silk
Your sigh, is warm like honeyed milk
Your touch, is like the morning dew
And your eyes, like pools of blue
But your lips are sweetest bliss
And all I need is this…
Your kiss

Your smile, is like the morning light
As shadows fall into the night
I could sleep upon your arm
It is strong and kind and warm
But the best, I must confess
Is simply this…
Your kiss

I won’t forget your silhouette
Etched against the dusk
And how the air fell ‘round us there
Tinged with mist and musk
I’m not sure just why it is
But summer, how I love…
Your kiss

J~

The 'gathering season' has begun in earnest now...