In Umber Deep...Or Digging Up Bones #2

Poetics Aside Prompt:Write a deep poem. The deep end of the pool. Six feet deep. Archaeology. Whatever you write, just dig deep.

While I sleep

Somewhere beneath

The shade of memory

In that dark deep

Pulses the seed

Of my descendant’s tree

So it goes

A moments flows

From one into another

The little girl

With bouncing curl

Too soon becomes a mother

The earth reclaims

All but our names

The soul is never buried

And while we sleep

In umber deep

Our soul to God is carried

© Janet Martin

Across the road from us there is a historical site: a plot of grave-markers dating back to the mid-1800's.

Digging Up Bones

Poetics Aside Prompt:Write a deep poem. The deep end of the pool. Six feet deep. Archaeology. Whatever you write, just dig deep.

Past surface urges

And weary-worn hours

Past the excuses that rob me of time

Past empty splurges

And hope’s tattered flowers

Past lines of poetry weaving their rhyme

Past murmured denial

And tear-caressed midnights

Past all the promises hammered for naught

Past hope’s soft smile

Compassionate lamp-light

There you remain; deep, deep in my thought

J~

 

My Thanksgiving

Not in a pious, perfect prayer

Or in words of propriety

But in each day of joy or care

Lord, let my thanksgiving be

Not in a season set apart

Or for a festive, gaudy show

But by the measure of my heart

Lord, let my thanksgiving flow

Not just because I know I should

Will I choose a blessing to tell

But because you are great and good

Lord, let my thanksgiving swell

© Janet Martin

The 'What if' ABC's

What if, instead of

Assuming and

Begrudging and

Criticizing and

Doubting and

Envying and

Fault-finding and

Gossiping and

Hating and

Insulting and

Judging and

Knocking and

Lusting and

Meddling and

Nagging and

Obsessing and

Pointing and

Quarreling and

Ranting and

Slighting and

Tearing down and

Unpleasantness and

Violence and

War and

X-cessivness and

Yelling and

Zero-patience…

…we just loved?

© Janet Martin

Of Under-estimations

From our soiled and sullied state

Beneath complaint we fume and fuss

And often under-estimate

The love our Father has for us

The good we take quite willingly

But blame Him when the wind blows ill

Not understanding His mercy

Nor perfect love that tunes His will

Beneath life’s toil and trouble weight

Of passion, pain, perplexity

Sometimes we under-estimate

Our Father’s love for you and me

© Janet Martin

The Gift of What Used to Be...

 

When loved ones have stepped far beyond our touch

We hold within our hearts their memory

And though we miss them and love them so much

We cherish the gift of what used to be

© Janet Martin~

Thank-you TUG, for inspiring these thoughts and reminders.

Paradise Haiku

Poetics Aside Prompt: Write a paradise poem. What is your idea of paradise? Is it a person, place, or thing? Maybe it is an idea which changes like weather changes. Is it simple or complex? It can be what ever you want it to be. Create your own paradise! Perhaps it is even paradise lost.

 

in your arms, darling

is love's simple paradise

wanting nothing more

in your eyes, darling

trembles the needing of me

this is paradise

in your kiss, darling

weightless bliss dissolves our want

footholds fall away

J~

Thank-you Lord

Thank-you Lord, glad morning conquers

The restrictions of the deep

Where the blush of dawn’s awakening

Bleeds across the gleaming sweep

Of moments rendered to the harvest

As our stumbling follies plead

For your grace to fill our fumbling

And Your mercy for our need

Thank-you Lord, our vague perception

Cannot grasp your utter worth

Yet we see splendor’s reflection

Fill the seasons of the earth

And we bow in humble wonder

At the miracles imbued

Within each picture-frame of nature

In the storm; the solitude

Thank-you Lord, music of heaven

Spills across the universe

Where our mortal being suffers

In the vale of Adam’s curse

But, we do not suffer hopeless

Holy love flings wide the door

Where your goodness and your mercy

In abundant rivers pour

Thank-you Lord, you do not leave us

To the wages we have earned

But in love, Lord You receive us

We, who Your perfection spurned

For our feeble understanding

Cannot know Your holy will

Yet, in spite of our confusion

Thank-you Lord, You love us still

© Janet Martin

...as I listened to this wonderful composition, I could not contain my praise!

Thank-you Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate today. May it be a season not of calendar-number but of the heart.