Immaculate Embellishments

 When my son heard me hit the snooze button this morning he came into my room and said, 'Mom, you might not want to do that or you'll miss an amazing sun-rise'. I was in the yard  in 30 seconds flat!...this is a pale reprint of the 'real deal'. My cheapy-camera cannot pick up the deep reds of sunrises or sunsets. Yes, the sun-rise was AWESOME!...thank-you, Matthew:)

The colors of His brush

Ten-thousand shades imbue

As waking pastures blush

With heaven-tinted dew

The mien of earthly boast

Falls dumbly on the hour

As whispers of His uttermost

Rends midnight’s muted bower

‘Neath mercy’s vaulted flame

Another day of grace

Forgives our sordid shame

And spills from His embrace

He stirs within our hearts

The zeal to carry on

As His consummate art

Embellishes the dawn

We lift our calloused gaze

Soundless, His paintbrush moves

As His immaculate blaze

Our vain ineptness proves

The rush of heaven-seas

Astounds earth's hill and rill

The grace of centuries

Compels us to be still

© Janet Martin

He could simply probe the day into being without wondrous measure

but He spills His glory for mankind's humble pleasure...
and as reminders that this is not an isolated globe
We reach with thankfulness to touch His robe.

We Shall Endure

The Hand that paints upon the air

Keeps us in His tender care.

My eyes fill with tears

As my thoughts fill with prayer

The unknown with its fear

Threatens doubt and despair

But we have His promises

To comfort; reassure

And there by His goodness

We shall endure

To win or succeed

We cannot succumb

To thoughts of defeat

Though our spirit grows numb

Our God is infallible

And we are secure

In Him; All-powerful

We shall endure

My heart fills with hope

As my thoughts fill with Him

When we cannot cope

And our vision grows dim

We lift our petitions

To Love perfect; pure

Then, by His will and wisdom

We shall endure

Nothing is impossible

To God; He beholds

And works our trouble

Into mysteries of gold

We see only glimpses

But we know for sure

That as God is our witness

We shall endure

© Janet Martin

Written for my dear friends far away who need our prayers desperately…

…for their protection I cannot reveal their names, location or specific needs, but God knows.

Please pray for them, that they may be granted wisdom and safety as they face vast Unknowns.

Invisible Poetry

I write your whispers on a page

Where only thought can see

The master-piece arrangements

Of love’s perfect poetry

I keep your secret sentiments

Within my tender tear

In scripts of un-penned poetry

Where only thought can hear

I share your silent sorrow

In slow-motion reveal  

On tidal-waves of poetry

Where only thought can feel

I wrap your sigh around me
An iridescent glow
Of poetry and passion
Where only thought can know

J~

The Art of Preservation

You trickle through my thought; a soothing sigh

A gold leaf etched against the azure sky

Before it falls in soft, soundless descent

To sleep upon the grass, peaceful, content

And there you rest in strongholds of my heart

Where we will never, ever be
Apart

Miles sweep the landscape; highways, hills and trees

Nature's paintbrush creating breath-taking boundaries

But thought ignores the  visual ramparts of the flesh

As it implores;  love, loss, longing enmesh

Their tenure in the fabric of the heart

Where will never, ever be
Apart

J~

Perspective...

There are things in life I quite despise

In which others find delight

Attitude shapes perspective

in life’s peculiarities

that are neither wrong

nor right

© Janet Martin

You should have heard them!

They were having a grand old time

In the tree I LOATHE,

It’s demise has been on our to-do list

for a year! But ‘the wood-cutter’ is hardly ever here!

As I 'clicked' the photo they rose in unison and flew away...chatter, chatter, chatter:)

Of Dew-drops, Threads and other Transient Miracles

This can be read as individual sonnets or as one entire poem

We cannot place a cup beneath Time’s spout

To garner moments dripping to the air

September swoons; its triumph and despair

A taste of bitter sweetness in the mouth

Of what has passed, what is and what will be

Desire and dismay; dissonant blend

As we are torn twixt beginning and end

A soulful song of clashing symmetry

Who can foretell a season’s destiny

Of tender greeting and tearful farewell?

Love’s blissful joy is sorrow’s infancy

The nucleus of autumn’s parting knell

A bud cannot be hastened into flower

Nor bloom beyond its brief allotted hour

***

Soundless, the leaf-note drops from choirs spent

Silent the foot-falls of a summer pass

Yet, there is not a drop within the glass

We lift to snare its transient filament

The cup of grief and gladness overflows

Its wine pressed from life’s fair and finest field

Bravely we drink its blood and honey yield   

Clenching its agonies; the thorn, the rose

We cannot choose; the beggar or the king

What life imbues beyond our meager touch

The vanity of man can never clutch

The Power holding Time’s elusive string

But common flesh treads humble common sod

Where everything is nothing without God

***

The grasp of life’s profound fragility

Demands a keen awareness of the thread

That separates the living from the dead

Translucent strand holding eternity

September’s dew lays heavy on earth’s brow

Its dazzling shroud a brief and transient sheath

As Time inhales its gleam with eager breath

And we inhale the startling gasp of Now

This pulsing path will never reimburse

One moment of its pleasure or its pain

Thus, we absorb its tender-sweet refrain

Within its plaintive music we immerse

Our senses; faith and fear conflict, align

In this brief foot in front of foot design

***

The Storehouse of Time’s portioned mysteries

Dispersed in moment-drops upon this sphere

Sparkling in our laughter and our tear

Is but a microscopic speck of centuries

Our feeble minds can never comprehend

The brevity of this four-season glance

Though three-score years and ten we dream and dance

Or four score years and more; its wink will end

As summer folds into the arms of fall

And youth progresses into middle-age

To contemplate life’s turning of the page

With hastened disregard for summer’s call

We recognize anew life’s Higher Pow’r

For Time is but the dew on Heaven’s flow’r

© Janet Martin

A Daybreak Hymn of Hope...Sonnet of Fair Morning

Oh, praise the sacred Hand that rends the veil

And does not leave us pining in the dark

But pours His lavish grace from mercy’s Grail

To pierce the night with Hope’s expanding spark

Lift up with gladness your worship to Him

Lest stones cry out to sing His ardent praise

Oh feel the pulse of midnight growing dim

The thickened gloom dissolves beneath His gaze

The Oracle of Deity imparts

His wonderment of Light to fainting hearts

Lift up the feeble measure of your faith

He imbues doleful shadows with His pow’r

As yesterday, a whilom, lifeless wraith

Can never force its fear upon the hour

But virgin Hope expels the dismal deep

In canvases of morning, pure, unmarred

Oh, hear the tender Shepherd call His sheep

The Door into His fold is never barred

And if we listen we can hear His voice

Above the ceaseless clamoring of choice  

This thorn and thistle, toil and trial span

Is but a zephyr-gasp upon earth’s plain

No test is borne uncommon unto man

Yet Hope prevails in spite of grief and pain

A new Dawn waits; its glory is the Son

Earth’s daybreak but a whisper of His might

Soon our little sojourn here is done

And death is but the gateway to His Light

We point our faces to a better home

As Heaven breathes to earth ‘Shalom, Shalom’

© Janet Martin

Once More the Daylight Fades Away...

Once more the daylight fades away

With darkness overtaken

The canvas where we gently lay

Our dreams until we waken

The hidden hope of things to come

Must bide until tomorrow

As night becomes the stepping-stone

To gladness or to sorrow

This day has ceased; its cloak forlorn

Is claimed by subtle fingers

They hover now to wake the morn

Where deepened onyx lingers

The highs and lows, the smiles and woes

Of trial and error tumbles

Go now where every hour goes

In slipping swirls and stumbles

The solace of night’s tranquil grace

The aura of surrender

Enfolds us in a calm embrace

And whispers soft and tender

Once more the daylight fades away

Beneath the raven tresses

On the horizon waits the day

Which now the night caresses

© Janet Martin