Ontario Spring...

 This is a taste of Ontario spring in the past 5 days...

Ontario spring is a moody, blue thing

Rain-drop and snowflake and gray monotone

Laughing and weeping we smile then we groan

Wondering when she will finally stay

Ontario spring is a frolicsome fling

Of violet purple and daffodil gold

Sassy-sweet zephyrs cajole and unfold

Blossom from bud-let in sun-beam sashay

Ontario spring is both beggar and king

Wheedling though tresses, distressed, mute and brown

Inauguration to green-gilded crown

Vexing, perplexing and playing her game

Ontario spring, vivacious vixen

Teasing and pleasing until one day

Her last moody pleasure has drifted away

And we do not care by what measure she came

© Janet Martin

More...

(this is my favorite commercial on TV right now...) It got me to thinking...

If this is all that there would be

The sun melting against the sea

In ruby-rendered rhapsody

How futile were its glory

And if the mountains coral-kissed

Or dell swathed in soft silver mist

Were preludes to death’s vast abyss

How vain would be love’s story

If pleasantries and ecstasies

Of babies bouncing on our knees

Or midnight moonlight melodies

Would be life’s utmost splendor

And if the loved ones we embrace

And all their memories we trace

Would be the pinnacle of grace

How trite its touch so tender

If all the best life could suggest

Would fill time’s scope from east to west

To satisfy the heart’s request

Yet holds no consolation

To comfort us in parting’s pain

Before that final mystic main

That we must cross as pulses wane

How crass this brief elation

The crux of hope and joy and love

Is not a mortal dust-shaped glove

Slipped over souls; nay, One above

Has sealed beyond earth’s garden

Of whispers where sun meets the sea

In golden-ruby rhapsody

More than this glimpse of what will be

If we have claimed His pardon

© Janet Martin

 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:3

But This We Know...

So little do we really know

Of He who makes the seed to grow

Drawing a garden from the mud

And fragrant flowers from a bud

So little can we ever tell

Of He who stands twixt heav’n and hell

Pleading in patient mercy-flood

For all to be washed in His blood

So little do we know of Him

Who, as the dirge of dusk grows dim

Abides in darkness as in light

And nothing blots us from His sight

So little can we understand

Of He who holds us in His hand

Though fiends of sin and hell assail

His love is sure and will not fail

So little can we ever grasp

Of eons beyond Time’s swift gasp

But this we know; His Word is sure

And in His love we are secure

© Janet Martin

Our thoughts and prayers are with those in Boston.

Two for Two Tuesday

PAD Challenge:
Today’s prompt is a Two-for-Tuesday prompt. Here are your options:

• Write a possible poem.
• Write an impossible poem.

It is possible

In a plethora of words

To say nothing

And it is possible to say

Everything

With nothing

But a

Smile

***

It is possible

To hastily

Busily,

Breathlessly

Waste

A lifetime

Serving self

***

It is possible

To serve Him

Fully

With a cup of

Water

Offered in

His name

***

It is impossible

To serve

God of heaven

and

gods of leaven

***

It is impossible

To love

Others

Too much

Or never need

The tender touch

Of others loving

Us

***

It is impossible

Though some may debate

To say we love

Yet harbor hate

***

It is impossible

To love others

Without listening

How can we love

Yet turn a deaf ear

Or blind eye

To tear-drops

Glistening?

© Janet Martin

Do We Hear Him?

Do we hear Him whisper in raindrops free-falling?

Do we hear His promise parting dormant deep?

As up from dawn’s ebony, ether horizon

Mercy and goodness in grace-fathoms sweep

Have we heard Him move in mute midnight’s vain groping?

Oh, have we listened to His tender tones

Soothing the silence where heartache and hoping

Shapes into prayer our raw, anguished groans?

Do we hear Him murmur in poplar-tree tresses

Or sigh in the sway of a willow at noon?

Oh, have we felt Him in sun-beam caresses

Brushing the chill from winter’s farewell swoon?

His power thunders from sprouts in a garden

His whisper rocks the foundations of earth

*Tetelestai seals our eternal pardon

Filling us with His love’s blood-purchased worth

Do we hear His utterance shatter fear’s dungeon

Or blot from the darkness despair’s troubled tear?

Soundless and boundless, I AM's declaration

Cradles the universe, oh, do we hear?

© Janet Martin

This morning I was constantly, calmly reminding Matthew that he needs to hurry because it’s almost bus-time. He continued to celebrate and cheer as he scanned the score-board. “Reimers had a shut-out. (Toronto Maple Leaf’s goalie) The blue-jays won!”

…a few minutes later, THE BUS! I keep reminding him that I mean what I say even when I am not using my ‘loud voice’.

The Truth abides whether shouted or whispered. Are we listening?

'Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' John 14:6

*Greek for ‘It is finished’.

'They Grow Up Fast' (Rob and Emily are Engaged!)

 Rob and Emily are engaged! Emily is our oldest daughter. They are engaged to be married on Oct. 12 2013.

I took this photo last night right after they told us!

a Mother's thoughts the morning after...

Back then I didn’t know

Eternities were so short

‘They grow up fast’ other mothers said

And I nodded, kissing your newborn fingers

Curled tightly around this new

Mother-finger of mine

Glad there was an eternity

Twixt then and now

‘They grow up fast’ other mothers said

And I blinked back the tears

As you climbed on the bus,

And we both waved vigorously

I, so glad that between Kindergarten

And Commencement

Spread an eternity

‘They grow up fast’

Commencement; years past

While tears shape a mother’s

Joy-drenched grief

Because there are no eternities on earth

Only gasps

They grow up fast

…and you laugh

High on love and dreams

As you show us your ring

And you teach us new words

Like ‘plan a wedding’

And you think six months

Is an eternity

© Janet Martin

All her Dad can say is 'I'm not ready for this!' (though he is happy for her/them)
Are any of us ever truly ready?
Congratulations and God bless you, Robyn and Emily.
Love, Mom and Dad

Precious Agony

They cannot see

How

Translucently

Its tender pieces are strewn

Like perfumed petals

Decking the grass

On a sunny afternoon

And they cannot feel

Time's soft breeze steal

With caresses

Part by part

The ever-expanding

Ever-decreasing

Pieces

Of a mother’s heart

© Janet Martin

Image source; pinterest

Infestation Poem

PAD Challenge: For today’s prompt, write an infested poem. There are many different infestations–from physical infestations to infestations of the heart and soul.

The world is infested

miserably

with a little worm called

me! me! Me!

Imagine how much 

good we could do

if we fought 'me'

with you! you! You!

Janet Martin

Things done for me
Dies with 'me'
things done for others
lives in eternally!

 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.Matt; 25:40