Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Satisfied




When my head’s full of words
With a pen in my hand
When my Muse is stirred
In evening’s dark strand
When the sky laughs its colors
From lips of gray-blue
And I forget trouble
Distracted by you
When my heart’s full of dreaming
And my heads full of rhymes
And I break all the statutes
Of meter and time
And the words just keep pouring
From my fingertips
Like the sun in the morning
Or the smile on my lips
When I feel like flying
With two feet on the ground
And I hear you near me
In the night’s quiet sound
When the sorrow and sadness
Of life disappears
Wrapped in the music
Of an old poet’s tears
And I feel the warmth
Of your sigh on my skin
And I hear the longing
Of you on the wind
When seeing is nothing
And blindness is sight
As faith guides me onward
Through shadow and light
When paper and passion
And pleasure collide
To meet for a moment
In briefest delight
Then is the heartbeat
Of love’s tender bliss
The having and holding
Of what was and what is
As I hold your closer
And I draw you home
With nothing but paper
A pen and a poem

J~

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Perfect


There’s nothing like love’s tender kisses
Warm against a cold, dark night
There’s nothing like a quickened heart-beat
In the softened candle-light
There’s nothing like intimate whispers
When the world lies fast asleep
There’s nothing like the quiet knowing
Promises were meant to keep

There’s nothing quite as truly lovely
As two people, lost in love
There’s nothing that is quite as lonely
As the thought of what once was
There’s nothing quite as pure and perfect
In this little walk of strife
Than finding ‘mongst the countless masses
A soul mate to share your life

J~

Summer Heart


Sometimes, on nights like tonight
In the rain, no longer a warm splatter of kisses
But a mass of hissing serpents
Lashing 'gainst my window-pane,
I find myself unable
To teach my heart simple words
Like good-bye, letting go or trust

Sometimes, on nights like tonight
As daylight dissolves an hour too soon
In dark blue fingers of twilight
Raking across the weeping sky
I find myself
Reaching into the wet darkness
Against the obvious

Sometimes, on nights like tonight
As reasoning unravels without constraint
In echoes of desperation
Across the deepening farewell
I find myself
Returning to the moment
Of having and holding and us

J~

Gratitude


Against the blue and frosted slope

I see a somber throng

Like matadors robbed of their cloaks

Or minstrels with no song

A thickened sort of quiet lies

Against the rugged cusp

Where winds, like stiff-starched orderlies

Have stripped sweet summer’s lust

And up into the vaulted sky

I hear the murmur of good-bye


Against the ruby thread of dawn

I see a silhouette

A lonesome sort of picture drawn

In frames of sorrow, yet

A battle-song of beauty moans

From thorns without their bloom

In dark and muted undertones

It warms earth’s stricken tomb

As petal-tear of flow’r and leaf

Imbrues the sphere with nature’s grief


Against the tumult of the heart

A tender peace resides

For as in seasons of the earth

God’s faithfulness abides

When life is rich with vibrant bloom

Or stripped of mortal cheer

He whispers in the aching gloom

To tell us He is near

And over autumn’s garb subdued

We breathe a prayer of gratitude

Janet Martin


The landscape shivers in the still of dawn,

Naked and stark as summer’s final chapter decks the frosty ground…

A sad beauty prevails…

It tugs the spectator’s heart in equal forces of joy and grief

Ah, tis true as the old poet said, ‘there is a flower in every leaf’

Monday, October 24, 2011

Puzzled


For all of your words

Only one dims my eye

I guess I never heard

When you said good-bye

For all of the promises

You breathed in my ear

There is no sign of them

Now, but a tear

For all of the moments

I clench in my fist

I’m drawn to the one

I must have missed…

J~

Method of Madness


We string them together

Dark wood,

Gray stone

Sparkling jewel,

Winsome charm,

Wine-red ruby,

Lustrous pearl

Violet amethyst,

Obsidian swirl

Dazzling diamond

Copper, brass,

The teardrop

And sapphire

Tempered glass

We string them together

The sunshine and rain

Notes of life, love,

Of pleasure and pain

Sometimes harsh, bone-chilling

Sometimes smooth and warm

And when it’s all said and done

We have…

…a poem

J~

Whispers of Him


A spangle of daisies

On springs meadow-land

A breeze, slow and lazy

Across the white sand

A breath-taking canvas

As daylight grows dim

Yet, still mankind glimpses

But whispers of Him


The glory of nature

Contained in a seed

The strength of man’s stature

Dependent on bread

As rain from the heavens

Turns bare fallow green

Mankind is given

Soft whispers of Him


Infinite resplendence

Extended in space

Nothing but Providence

To keep it in place

And on the blue circle

A wee baby’s birth

Whispers of an angel

Descending to earth


Hurricane lashing

On vulnerable shores

As dark seas come crashing

Through earth’s fragile doors

Rainbows of promise

A tiny bird sings

And yet mankind glimpses

But whispers of Him


The ring of a hammer

The flash of a sword

The insolent clamor

For the death of our Lord

The cry of redemption

As His breath grows dim

And still mankind glimpses

But whispers of Him


Janet Martin


Each season in life reminds me of His whispers...


Job 26: 14 says...

'And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!'

Enlightened?


As seasons sweep earth’s scattered shores

And time begins and ends its wars

As history knocks upon our doors

What have we learned?


Are we, who live earth’s latter years

Are we much wiser than our peers?

Have we gained wisdom by their tears?

What have we learned?


As mothers, sweethearts, lovers cry

As newborn babies live, to die

As hatred calls and we reply

What have we learned?


Through all the badges, medals earned

Through building bridges, once we burned

As history’s vivid proof returns

What have we learned?


Through all earth’s battles, won or lost

In pages tallying its cost

With great technology, our boast

What have we learned?


Today we have the luxury

Of unprecedented technology

How wise, how wise we ought to be

What have we learned?



Janet Martin~


Inspired in part, by last night's 60 minutes broadcast on the life of Steve Jobs.

His analysis of life- 'we come alone, we leave alone. Everything between those two points

no longer matters'. quoted loosely...the sadness of his words gripped my thoughts. I can't forget it.



He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21