On Acceptance...

We may fight with denial

Life’s immutable facts

And suffer them bitterly

Or we can stand tall

Admit and accept

Life’s imperfect things that must be

We cannot escape

What God allows

And if we fight stubbornly

We cannot improve

The here and now

By what we refuse to see

Acceptance of weakness

Is not an excuse

For mindless apathy

But it is the first step

We must choose

To find hope’s possibility

© Janet Martin

Are you brave enough to say it?

Those first words toward making our worst our best…

To say ‘I accept the fact that…

I am sick…

I am addicted to….

I am an alcoholic…

I am not in love with my spouse…

I am angry because…

I am jealous…

I am greedy…

I am afraid…

I am depressed…

God, I am weak…help me

Dearest Memory

A table is just a table

A humble plank of wood

When it has been cleared of dishes

And every crumb of food

But oh, if you could borrow

My mind’s eye for a while

To play back what I’m viewing

I know that you would smile

Is there a memory dearer

Or a song with sweeter sound

Than a table set for dinner

With a family gathered 'round?

© Janet Martin

This was pre-lunch, before the dessert did a landslide;)) and I forgot to take anymore pictures
because we were having a good time;(

Swiftly, Silently

 

The rush of the seasons

Makes nary a sound

Yet, suddenly spring is upon us

Be careful. Lest slowly you turn around

To see autumn’s sweeping chorus

A gathering of bread,

A labor of spoil

The swift, silent night of slumber

Live well thy moment

Of pleasure and toil

for each of man’s days has a number

Janet~
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalms 90:12http://bible.cc/psalms/90-12.htm

Long After...

This…

Would be nothing more

Than cold, clinking silver and china

But the anticipation

Of what lays in store

I can think of nothing finer

Than the gathering

Of family,

A circle of friends

Sharing the food and the laughter

For even though

All special times must end

The memories still cheer us

Long after

Janet

My mother and sisters are coming to lunch!

Moment-streams

Image Source:http://blackoaknaturalist.blogspot.ca/2010/03/rivers-of-flowers-on-table-mountain.html 

Beneath the umbrella

Of sunlight or star

Of noon, mellow yellow

Or moon, faint and far

The moment-streams trickle

Across centuries

And what we put in them

Are Time’s legacies

Beneath azure canopy

Or midnight’s sweet dream

Rivers of primrose

And anemone gleam

Only to wither

As all nature must

Back to its birthplace

In cradles of dust

Beneath tumbled portals

Of cloud-schooner fleet

Is the journey of mortals

And the moments we meet

Above this umbrella

Of undefined scope

Is the end or all moments

…and man’s living Hope

© Janet Martin

Taking Chances

A heart, a heart

Such a fragile thing

A risk to give away

And yet we share

It bit by bit

In pieces,

Every day

A heart, a heart

Such a tender thing

Once broken,

Never quite the same

But we cannot love

And keep hearts intact

So we love

And love again

A heart, a heart

Such a treasure-chest

And oh,

What riches it holds

The memory of whispers

And smiles; a kiss

More priceless

Than rivers of gold

A heart, a heart

It comes apart

But oh,

Time heals again

So live and laugh

And love

…and lose

We never love in vain

J~

Of Deathly Silences

If we flung down our pens

Would anyone care

If beckoning whispers

Remained a-drift on the air?

Would it be missed

Those words never penned?

Would the wind be content

To be nothing but wind?

No low-flung melody,

Or cantankerous tone

No moody company

When we are alone

And all of the music

Which poets have sought

Would simply remain

In a casket of thought

If we flung down our pens

Would anyone care?

As agony drifts

On the tear-spangled air
And all of our want
And all of our need
Would endlessly taunt
And never would bleed
From hearts to fingers-tips
And from finger to page
From page to soft lips
on a distant stage
But the air would remain
A tightly-sealed hold
Of deathly silences
Hungry and cold

© Janet Martin

I just finished reading mike's interview on Poetic Bloomings,

and Laurie's interview on Poet's United,

 and it struck me how poet's and poetry

 are so vastly different yet hold a kindred distinction!

Poem-lets on The Unknown...

Image source:  longpauses.com

We cannot see the Unknown

It looms, dark and large

But we are not alone

And God is in charge

 ***

What lies ahead?

We cannot tell

But with God at the lead

It will be well

***

The unknown persists

An unyielding sky

But mankind exists

Beneath God's watchful eye

***

My faith is scarce

Half a mustard seed

But God knows and cares

For every need

***

The Unknown presides

But one thing I know

God’s Presence abides

Wherever I go

© Janet Martin

Psalms 139

4 Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain...

 ²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.