Life Song

I have heard it in the still of the midnight
Strummed by a wandering breeze
Or from you breathing softly
As you sleep next to me

I have heard it in the laughter of children
As Daddy return’s from his toil
I have heard it in utter silence
As a seed pushes through the soil

Where love is stronger than judgment
I’ve heard its melody
Or as I turn a brittle page
Of ancient poetry

In the clutter of every-day living
In a moment of undeserved grace
I've heard it rise from life's ruins
To kiss a tear-stained face

I’ve heard it in the hollow of longing
In midnight’s quietness
A song of life and living
And quiet thankfulness

Janet~

By the Time You Read This...

By the time you read this
Midnight will have swept
Another day to the past
While morning is hovering
A silver-white thread
Beneath the night’s charcoal mast

By the time you read this
We all will have stepped
One day closer to eternity
Even now ever surely
A moment has crept
From present to history

By the time you read this
You and I will have slept
Closely or oceans apart
Moments move on
Without thought or respect
But you, love, remain in my heart

J~

After Closing Time

Akin to the still of a graveyard
Is the deserted market-place
The stands, like squat, faceless statutes
Stare silently into space
A stray leaf scuttles up the street
As if to amplify
The emptiness where mobs of feet
By day, go rushing by

Come, buy your apples, trinkets, bling
Come, buy yourself a treat
We’ve got the best of everything
Our prices won’t be beat
The merchants and the barterers
Each seek the sweeter deal
Bargain and antique hunters
Looking for a steal

The square, a sea of splendor
The scowl, the gleam, the smile
They drift between each vendor
And up and down each aisle
Until the shroud of twilight
Signifies its close
The humble merchant smiles tonight
And buys his wife a rose

Akin to the still of the graveyard
Is the deserted market-place
The hawker and the merchant gone
Leaving no shred or trace
Of all the hustling, bustling throng
That shuffled past its ware
Nothing but a stray leaf scuttling along
On a bare and empty square

Janet~

Still We Come

Still we come
Each in our own fashion
To bow before
The Lord of all creation
Still we come
To kneel beside the manger
But to us
Praise God, He is no Stranger
Yet, still we ask
What can we bring that pleases
Such love as this
This One that we call Jesus

Still we come
To marvel at the wonder
Of God’s own Son
As babe within a manger
Still we come
In human imperfection
To bow before
Our Life and Resurrection
Oh lift your voice
This is the King of Glory
Sing and rejoice
This is Love’s perfect story

Still we come
Fraught with sin’s vile diseases
For there is none
That cannot come to Jesus
In wonderment
Drawn by His vast compassion
To love beyond
Man’s earth-dimmed comprehension
Still we come
To bow before our Savior
Man’s common bond
Is Jesus Christ forever

Janet Martin


This was inspired by the little guys I baby-sit...
It was the Nativity Scene, not the tree, that captured their wonder...

(I did not notice that they had combined both sets until after the picture, oh well:)

Perfect Awakening

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/2011-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-29

The correspondence of finger-tips

Is surely love’s sweetest language

Teasing me from passive dreaming

To the soft awareness of you

Touching me

Wherever in the world you are

J~

Today's Prompt: a day poem

or a night poem...ah, the endless possibilities:)

Bedtime Stories

We travel the world

She and I

Her bed is a vessel

That can sail or fly

We swim with mermaids

And walk on the moon

We are the sailors

Of a magic pontoon

We march out of Egypt

‘neath Moses command

We race on the beaches

Of tropical sand

We eat at the King’s table

Or sleep in a box

With the three little bears

We meet Goldilocks

We are the cowboys

The ruffians, the queen

We pick grapes in Sicily

Rove Ireland’s greens

We shiver with pioneers

And suffer their woes

We live in a palace

And wear the queen’s clothes

We brave the storms

And the pirates at sea

We swing from the stars

And land in Chile

We cry with the orphans

Sing with the Von Trapps

We explore with Tom Sawyer

In an acorn, take naps

And we simply can’t wait

For our next thrilling trip

To the past or the future

On our white, linen ship

As we travel the world

From our cozy, warm nook

A mother, a girl

And a story-book

Janet~

Unshared Story

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/2011-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-28


On the week-end when no one was looking
You were so nice to me
But back to school Monday, held things more important
Like popularity

We lived on the north side
And I assumed that was why
You gave yourself a license
To laugh; I tried not to cry

Age and time bestow maturity
We move past the resentment and pain
I saw you yesterday; and instantly
I knew that scars remain…

Janet

Today's Prompt: -----Story

She said, 'My Name is Hope'

She said, ‘My name is Hope’
And then I knew
Hope is an angel
Five years old
With perfect black dread-locks
And I told her
Hope is beautiful
As her smile
Parted the heavy clouds...

Once, new-born perfection
Grasped my little finger
And heaven was warm
With soft silky hair
And a wee baby’s cry
Tonight, in his awkward drawn-out hug
I knew perfection has many layers
And love is thirteen years old
And nearly a man

Once, you whispered to me ‘just believe’
And I was afraid but I said ‘yes’
And then I knew
That God is a poet
Yet, I will never know why
He chooses to pour
The Perfection of His grace
In ten-thousand thousand
Kisses on my face

J~