Monday, January 30, 2012

To my Child...because of Grace


http://free-extras.com/images/the_holy_bible-2880.htm; image source

How do I teach you everything you need to know
Before time tugs you into its perpetual flow
And you sail away into the vast unknown
Without me
but not alone…

How do I reach beyond my mountain of failures
asking you to forgive ,as tears flow in silent rivers
down my face
and I would lie down, unable to continue
if not for grace…

How do I teach you, when I, still in the middle of learning
realize that even now as moments pass, there is no returning
to undo the done
but simply to breathe a new breath of grace,
to trust and carry on

All red and wrinkled you were placed in my arms; in my heart
forever, time and distance cannot pull us apart
so it is with love; and God will not spare
His grace to us
It is everywhere

How do I teach you to see Him in life’s twists and turns
as every fiber in my being yearns
for more time; But there will never be enough
time to empty earthen vessels
of this thing called love

And even as I hold you, I feel you slipping away
and there are so many things I cannot find the words to say
and so I pray for strength, wisdom, and oh,
how to tell you what is most important
before you go

How do I help you to see past my erring example, dear child
to the Perfect Example that will never fail; the divine Guide
He does not lead us wrong
and by His grace we trust
and we are strong

How do I teach you, my precious child, to live precariously
through Him, trusting blindly, loving fully,
forgiving freely
and knowing that in every unknown
you are not alone

How can I teach you that His Word is an ever-abiding
faultless beacon; the true Light when deciding
against the advice of the world
for it is base, self-seeking
and cold

How do I open my arms far enough to let you go
and yet folded permanently holding you close
…so close that I feel you everywhere
because of grace, God's grace
and prayer…

Janet~

inspired by: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/01/what-a-parent-wants-to-say-before-a-child-leaves/

Albino Sky


Albino heavens reach to earth
Blending with winter’s argent girth
No stark horizon-line revealed
To separate the sky from field

The sun, a wan and sickly orb
Cannot penetrate the robe
That spreads its colorless attire
Across a dormant atmosphere

The statue of a stalk or tree
Scribbled upon earth’s frozen sea
Is nature’s verdict indicating
Life beneath this pale shroud waiting

Transient scope of veiled illusion
Dull and tuneless inter-fusion
Frustrates mortal’s pleading eye
As earth amalgamates with sky

Janet Martin

Every so often in the winter we get a day
When earth and sky are exactly the same shade…

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Little Day


http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/


Where do you go and how little day?
Translucent feet touching earth’s fringe far away
as golden sun flames in a coral sea
Permeable moments of serenity
born, yet swift as a breath is exhaled
gone; frozen, impaled on history’s field
shocks decking a luminescent hill
Where anguish and ecstasy bond mutual soil
And a new day startles the dark’s solemn girth
In fresh potential of misery or mirth

Janet~

Saturday, January 28, 2012

The Little Brown Nest


Tucked in the crux of an old maple limb
A little brown cup built of mud and twigs,
Its only décor, little bits of string
Plucked from the grass or a wild-flower sprig
The little nest waits for the odes of Spring
And mother robin to come home again

Soon its dirt palm will be jeweled with blue
Though now an ice chamber for snowflakes to hide
Nature will smile; their dazzling rendezvous
Melting away beneath spring’s welcome tide
Fear not little robin; your nest still a-waits
For springtime to garnish its rusty old gates

Tucked in the crux of an old maple tree
The little brown cup weathers winter’s stiff gale
It has endured many a malady
And soon the threat of their boasting will pale
Then it will be filled with wee birdies to sing
Cheer-a-lee, cheer-a-lee to this wee nest and Spring

Janet~

We can only see this nest in the winter. It is concealed by leaves in every other season, but as autumn strips the tree bare we see...it is still there!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Baby's Lullaby


http://chestofbooks.com ~Picture source:


Hush little birdie
Asleep in your nest
Hush, little zephyr
Blowing from the west
Hush, little buttercup
Closing your mouth
Twilight is folding
East, west, north and south

Hush little puppy-dog
Children must sleep
High in the meadow
Doze wooly white sheep
Hush, little wind-chime
And hush, hurried feet
Baby is tired
And baby is sweet

Hush, little wave-lap
That kisses the shore
Soon you’ll be back
In the ocean once more
Hush, little fairy-land
Far, far away
Baby will visit you
Some other day

Hush-a-bye little girl
Hush, little boy
We’ll sail to dream-land
On moon-ships, ahoy
Hush little baby
And fly away, fly
Dreamland is waiting
In this lullaby

Janet~

Between the Betweens


Between all the hard moments
Of worry and stress
Between the thrills and the spills
…and loneliness
Between reaching and teaching
And stumbling along
I trace the lines to our favorite song
…and I sing

Between disappointment
And doing what’s right
Between early morning
And the stroke of midnight
I hear you whisper
Thoughts scrawled on the air
And it stirs within me
A wish and a prayer
…and I pray

Between the sensation
Of more than thin air
Creeping across the
Dark blue atmosphere
Between moments without you
I press to the dream
For the moment that comes
Between all the betweens
…and I smile

J~

How Does One Pass a Snow Day?

Sonnet of Winter (re-post)


Reluctant, defeated, autumn succumbs
To winter’s purposed and powerful grip
Stealthily sleek, silver silencing numbs
The ends of our noses and fingertips
Harshly the wind rakes its talons of steel
Over the cusp of the leafy-fringed ponds
Somewhere up yonder it touches a wheel
Showering the earth with quadrillion diamonds
Winter ah, winter, the predisposed foe
Open your pockets and bring on the snow

Pull out your mittens and dust off your sled
Bundle your babies in jackets of fleece
Starry-eyed children with cheeks painted red
Shrieking and rolling in winter’s release
Frosty the snowman returns to his post
Corn pipe and blue scarf to ward off the chill
Miniature angels in unnumbered hosts
Cover the rooftop and valley and hill
Tumbling and twirling and spiraling down
Winter returns in her star-studded gown


Spring, summer, autumn, green, azure and gold
Planting and pruning and gathering in
Winter is white bringing with the sharp cold
A season of rest and of quieting
Gather your loved ones around the warm hearth
Kinder is love when the fretting winds blow
Winter is keeping the seed in the earth
Tucking its bed with a blanket of snow
Its days are as numbered as all other things
Winter; the glorious harbinger of spring

Janet Martin

Today has the air of a first snowfall...and its the end of January!