Dear Yester- Girl...

Sometimes I wonder who you are

You seem different

Not at all like you used to be

Are you me?

Or just someone I used to know?

I’d ask you in for a visit

To get to know you better

Coffee, is it?

Or have you switched to tea?

You never can tell, these days

Sometimes I wonder who you are

And I want to know you better

But you keep inching toward the door

And all I can do is watch you go

...or do you even exist anymore?

Have you left for good, dear girl?

Being a woman is fine

But I must confess, I miss you

Dear, carefree, laughing

Yester-girl of mine

© Janet Martin

Poetics Aside PAD Prompt: Visitor

...and sometimes I wear a Cape

Image Source:  dannys-angel.deviantart.com

I must not neglect

To don this cape each day

It helps me rise above

Come whatever may

Within this cape I sense

A glorious super-power

A genuine defense

In life’s most troubled hour

One day I rose without it

Despair and fear loomed tall

Then suddenly I heard it

A Super-power call

I felt Him wrap about me

No ephemeral thing

But, a cloth that’s kindred

To the angel’s wing

The unbelieving call it

Fantasy on dead air

The believer whispers humbly

And simply calls it Prayer

© Janet Martin

Poetic Bloomings prompt; ..and sometimes I wear a cape

A Triolet: Not Yours to Keep

Give it back to the world

That whisper in your soul

Is a banner, waiting to be unfurled

Give it back to the world

For when fear’s clenched fist is uncurled

Hope urges bravery to its goal

Give it back to the world

That whisper in your soul

© Janet Martin

Inspired by a quote read here

No man should be shamefaced through his work, to give back to the world a portion of its lost heart. — Louise Bogan 1897-1970 American Poet

Comunicating to Self

Hey you

Yes, you

there in the mirror

STOP, taking yourself

so seriously

and just

live for the love of it.

Does the sun grumble

because it is too hot

or the sky long for substance

that it is not

Or does the dandelion covet

a shade other than gold

Or, does the oak tree sigh

because it is gnarled and old

I think not!

But they live fully

in their own skin

and never beyond

the moment they’re in

© Janet Martin

Poetics Aside PAD Challenge; Communicating

PAD Callenge: Communicating

I don’t care what you say, my dear

But just stay

Here,

With your breath on my hair

and your lips 'gainst my ear

It’s not so much the words you speak

as the rush of your scent and such

While wild crazy nothings brush my cheek

I melt beneath their touch

J~

Poetics Aside PAD Challenge

An Interview with You, my Love

You slip your fingers intimately

Through mine

For you know what I am thinking

By the hint of a smile

In the darkness

Between us

Is it an inch

Or ten-thousand miles?

Is there a difference?

For when it comes to love…

…to you,

There are no empty spaces

They are full of love

And  thoughts

Of love

The greater the distance then,

The greater the love,

But no,

For I love you completely

And in its completeness

There can be no increase

Or decrease

Simply

Love

J~

A Prayer...

You have searched me oh Lord and you know me

My shameful, vile innermost thought

But You love me still in spite of my ill

And cover my guilt with your blood

I cannot flee from Your presence

Though sadly, I admit that I’ve tried

When my guilt and my shame burdened me with self-blame

You placed Your grace o’er my pride

Lord, give me a heart of discernment

So I may hold fast to the right

Teach me your way and help me to obey

For You are the Way, Truth and Light

© Janet Martin

Psalm 139

John 14

Winter's Farewell Tear

Image source:  theshadeshop.blogspot.com

They fall tonight, like desperate tears

A pleading dance of woe 

Until the violet disappears

'neath frazzled flakes of snow

And all the verdure of first spring

Is blanketed in white

As winter, with a final fling

Muffles the countryside

The tender face of new-born leaf  

Shivers upon the limb

As overtures of winter grief

Falls on kind ears of spring

‘Be gone, ye fretting tide of chill

Each season hath its day

And though I bid to thee no ill

I cannot bid thee stay’

They fall tonight, the frozen tears

Of unrequited love

For none can halt the flow of years

That rolls from ports above

Beneath the snow the violet sleeps

At dawn the sun will smile

And melt the coat that winter weeps

Upon springs emerald isle

© Janet Martin

Winter made a desperate attempt to return last night,

Only to melt away in the morning sun