Thursday, April 26, 2012

In 'not-so-loving' memory of Gwen



 Poetics Aside asks us to write an animal poem.

Her name was Gwen
She was black and white
And how she would smile
In devilish delight
As the little ‘milk-maid’
Would splash and slide
Through grass and weeds
And fresh-made ‘pies’
No shout or slap
Would alter her gait
As she looked back and laughed
At the little milk-maid

Co’ boss, co’ boss,
My sing-song plea
Seemed to be lost
On ‘her royalty’
In old rubber-boots
Two sizes too small
The milk-maid would beg
And the milk-maid would call
Co’ boss, co’ boss
Won’t you hurry please?
With a toss of her head
Gwen would pause ‘neath the trees

They say there is 'one'
In every crowd
And Gwen wore that title
Sedately and proud
A yell and a poke
And a slap on the rump
Did not even cause
Her ‘royalty’ to jump
Through the gate at last
Prodded into place
Gwen lifts her muddy tail
And slaps my face

Janet Martin

This was back in the day when dairy cows were turned to pasture
and for a while it was my job at 5:00 p.m to help bring in the cows, tie them up,
assemble the 'milkers' and after supper...milking.
Gwen and I were arch-enemies...I did not like her and she did not like me!
...oh! and 'muddy tail' was the polite description... it was more like manure-drenched
at milking time if she lay in the stall and let her tail drag in the gutter! Ah, good times:)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

He Makes Us Beautiful



Bruised and battered,
Disappointed,
Riddled with
Discouragement
Dreams are shattered
Tears anoint
The ragged fringe
Of hope’s garment
But in spite
Of our failure
Jesus makes us beautiful
As we raise hope
To His window
And His Light shines
Through the holes

© Janet Martin

The Daily Bread ‘Thought’ today is…
God doesn’t remove all of our imperfections
But he makes us beautiful by shining through them

Ephemeral Farewell


See the Beam from yonder portals
How its bleeding colors splay
Lifting hearts of weary mortals
At the waning notes of day
See it flood the earth in purple
As He draws the lucent scrim
In deft moments, smooth and subtle
Over present growing dim

Light divine, Celestial Ocean
Drawing to its shore our eyes
Turning thought from earth to heaven
From this toil to paradise
See the glimmer of a Kingdom
As the twilight cools our brow
See the lowlight ‘neath the curtain
Etch the skyline in its glow

Hear the cooling vespers murmur
Rising in dust-fragrant dew
Serenading the departure
Of another stanza through
Sweet the fading sonnet lingers
Dangling from the crescent moon
Feel it trickle through your fingers
Soft, ephemeral farewell tune

© Janet Martin

My 'Every-day Heaven'



It waits for tender touches
Of loving care
The begging of Duty
Hangs on the air
I gaze at the mountains
Of mundane spoil
Shaping my moments
Of prayer and of toil
As I thank God above
For all He has given
In the clutter of love
My every-day ‘heaven’

© Janet Martin

…trying to ‘spruce up’ the place a little and get some major cleaning done for some up-coming events we are hosting…the question... How much, how soon? Cleaning can be un-done very quickly here!

Imminent Mystery




Gazing toward the sky-line
I wonder what lies beyond…
…beyond the curve, the dip, the bend
That everlasting yawn
Yet, though I push toward it
I never reach its crest
But remain in the epicenter
Of north, south, east and west
So I’ll drink in the green and the purple
Of spring’s temporal diadem
Embracing the imminent mystery
Of the moment I am in

© Janet Martin

His Glory Days



Poetics Aside Prompt: Write about a sport

He recalls his glory days
Bleachers packed with cheering fans
He could do no wrong
Five is a great age

Janet~

 (the little guy I baby-sit is five, a little timid
but he knows when he is playing hockey,
HE IS A STAR in all the eyes that matter;)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Love Poemlets




Love makes beautiful
The drab and the plain
It makes worthwhile
The thankless and mundane

***

As deep as the longing in the Groom
to lift His Bride's veil
may our love ever be
then it cannot fail

***

It is impossible
to love the Lord
yet live in disobedience
to His Word

***

We love, yet we stumble
but this truth remains
God's love through forgiveness
removes every stain

***

Love can be strongest
In the frailest beings
As they accept and receive
All they are unable to give…

***

The Future
Our dreams
Never quite turn out
How we envisioned
But love, oh love
Teaches us how to adapt

***

Love:
A seed
A stem
A bud
A bloom
A forever flower…if watered

***

Love does not pick and choose
It reaches to all
For love loves every creature
Whether great or small

***

If you have been touched by love
Then you have been touched by God

***

Love took dust
And formed a man
Love gave it living breath
Love bled in red
Conquering
The curse of sin and death

***

For the love of poetry
Sometimes I ignore Duty
For the love of family
Sometimes I ignore
The poetry of ink
To taste the poetry
Of love~

**

Love is patient
Love is kind
It does not envy
Nor does it remind
Others of how they have failed
Love does not seek
In others, perfection
But true love mirrors
Perfection’s reflection
Of hands to timber nailed

***

Love is a bloom
It must be nourished
With tender and watchful eyes
If disregarded
Then, what once flourished
Withers and shrivels and dies

***

Love, oh love
Life’s beautiful lament
Perplexing in its pleasure and pain
Love, oh love
Bittersweet torment
But never, oh never in vain

***

I have been blessed
To taste life’s best
A beautiful good-bye

***

Is love a noun 
or a verb 
to you?
Love must first be a verb
to become a noun
no...love cannot be a verb
until it is a noun...
...HUH?

***

Love: its resources are never depleted
An infinite well that never runs dry
It grows in the giving, it cannot be hoarded
and only when kept, will it shrivel and die

***

Sometimes its easy to confuse the depth of love
By the measure of our comfort
when most often its measure is proven
through discomfort

***

The fullness of love
will never be known
until we bow before
God on His throne

***

Wipe those teardrops from your eye
Embrace life's richest pain
For in love there is never good-bye
Only, 'until we meet again'

© Janet Martin

Image Source: http://worlldinformation.blogspot.ca/2012/04/love-quotes.html

I Do Not Know...




Poetics Aside Prompt: Write a love poem or an anti-love poem.

I do not know
How to write of love…
…this double-edged thought
Of wonderment and faith
Oh love, the fulfillment
Of mortal torment
Yet ever the longing
and thirst beneath
our holding on
And our release
A gripping storm
Yet, rock-solid peace
In the ‘going beyond’
When nobody knows
But One
As we suffer long
Love’s highs and its lows
Leaving the heart ragged
With disbelief
Of humble gratitude
And earth-shattering grief

© Janet Martin