Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Spring's Come-back



*Now that the winter’s gone
The earth renews its zest
Flaunting her floral gown
Of fragrant blossom-dress

The rigor of its chill
Softens on zephyr-tongue
As over wood and hill
Rolls April’s luring song

Come; fling aside your woe
And winter’s binding shroud
The violet rivers flow
Beneath spring’s little cloud

Come; lay aside your grief
The heart cannot resist
The tide of budding leaf
And daffodil, sun-kissed

Now that the winter’s o’er
We dare to dream anew
To plant and hope once more
On spring’s fresh avenue

© Janet Martin
Written for-
NaPoWriMo giving us permission today to steal a line from a favorite poem...
and for Poetic Bloomings: Prompt; Making a Comeback~

The Spring

 *Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful spring.
The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May.
Now all things smile; only my love doth lour;
Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
Her heart congeal'd, and makes her pity cold.
The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
Into the stall, doth now securely lie
In open fields; and love no more is made
By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
Under a sycamore, and all things keep
Time with the season; only she doth carry
June in her eyes, in her heart January. 

Thomas Carew




   


Tough Guys




Some ‘tough guys’ bench-press 400lbs
…and polish their biceps and six-packs
With baby oil

Some ‘tough guys’ rope bulls
Ride bucking broncos
While wearing large leather Stetson hats

Some ‘tough guys’ lie in trenches
Some dig them
And some fly F-22 Raptors over them

Some ‘tough guys’
Keep us safe
With a gun on their hip
And the law on their side

Some ‘tough guys’
Open people’s chests
And fix their hearts

…but the toughest of them all
Folds her fragile hands
over leather-bound Hope
and prays…
for her own child
and other mother's children
whoever and
wherever
they are

© Janet Martin

Confessions~




I run my fingers
Over your rugged lines
I am taken by your beauty
You grow more beautiful with time
Oh, I will not blush
For I am shamelessly in love with you
And in the sacred midnight hush
I know
You love me too

J~


Mr. Willow



I never told anyone
That I gave you a name
And you always reached for me
Whenever I came

As you read my thoughts
You would nod and sigh
At night in my bed
I heard your lullaby

You would listen patiently
When no one else would
And I never doubted
That you understood

© Janet Martin

Poetics Aside Prompt: Trees/forest

The Parable of Trees



Poetics Aside Prompt: Tree or Forest

In winter you're a barren twig
In spring a new-born flower
In summer-time a cool retreat
And in the fall...a shower

Winter, a crown of pristine white
In spring, a floral cutie
Your summer-gown, chartreuse delight
But autumn; oh, ravishing beauty

I have fallen in love once
A thousand times each season
Oh mighty tree, for you ensconce
The whole of Nature's reason

There is a season for all life
The bud, the bloom; surrender
Yet, here we earn in living's strife
The crown of wisdom's splendor

Janet Martin

Subliminal...




Our understanding at best, O God
Is inadequate and trite
On our own each breath a fraud
And every moment, night

Our perception without Your Spirit
Is blinded ignorance
And Death, O death, how I would fear it
But for deliverance

Your mercy, hope and love fulfills
Your changeless eye of grace
The tempter wears ten-thousand ills
Deceiving human race

Our understanding will ever be
Only what God imbues
Therefore but by His grace go we
On earth-bound avenues

Beyond these briefest stance of Time
Our eyes will see anew
As we behold Love, pure, sublime
Oh God, as we see you

© Janet Martin

Behold the Lamb of God
which takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliot

Shadow-art~

Tonight
your shadow
lies twixt
quill
and parchment
where thought
cannot transfer
from ink
to
poetry
so tonight
I will settle
for you and me...
...un-penned
unspoken
unshared
simply shadow art
upon my heart~

J~

Monday, April 9, 2012

The Unknown


Image Source:  abstract.desktopnexus.com

The unknown; an inevitable strait
All voyages pass through
There is no one who can escape
This ethereal avenue

We stand upon life’s open deck
And sail the roving sea
Only our Captain can predict
What the Unknown will be

Fear not the waves beneath the calm
Fear not the stormy gale
The Captain holds within His palm
The ocean and the sail

© Janet Martin

Hi Sasha:) I told you so...


Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You them me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.