A Girl with a Brother...

A girl with a brother is lucky, I say

He teases and taunts her in love’s sibling way

But deep down beneath his vexing boyish jeer

He would defend her with every last tear

A girl with a brother learns as they cavort

The thrill of a rival in matter of sport

She learns how to shoot, swing a bat and throw

A girl with a brother is lucky, I know

A girl with a brother learns how to play rough

While teaching him how to be gentle and tough

A girl with a brother is lucky, ‘tis true

But I say the brother is quite lucky too

© Janet Martin

Mercy's Darling

May, are you heaven in earth-tenured guise?
You drive hills mad with emerald-gilded gown
For surely you wear earth's coveted crown
Beneath the awning of pure, azure skies

May, you tease woodlands all giddy with green
Baptizing breezes in jubilant hope
Of freshly-turned sod and bloom-dappled slope
Tonic of lilac and honeyed sunbeam

May, mercy's darling of dreams undefiled
Rambling on ripples of chattering brook
Dancing in dens of forget-me-not nook
Kissing earth's gardens and driving them wild

Janet~

Night-sounds

Languid and low is the sigh of your presence

Ethereal echo of days left behind

Memory, oh, tis a bittersweet essence

Rising and falling upon the night wind

Lilting with laughter and moaning with mourning

Hushed rush of moments quilling the night air

Sweet ever-after; the aureate adorning

Of thought’s tender turmoil; desire, despair

Drenching the darkness with yesterday’s dances

Slow-motion quadrille of passion and pain

Silent and stunning, intangible tempest

Of moments that we know will not pass again

© Janet Martin

Salvation

  

Image Source

There simple plea for our prayers was this…‘For peace and salvation to be known on the streets of Karachi.’

Salvation definition: 

1. Deliverance from sin and its consequences. 

2. Preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin or loss.

Synonyms: rescue, saving, deliverance, redemption, escape

Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Salvation; precious, perfect gift

Secured for all on Calvary

Through the pure blood of Jesus Christ

He died to set the sinner free

Salvation; we are not condemned

Oh, what a blessing to receive

For our sin His offering

And Life to all who will believe

Salvation; precious, perfect peace

His promises none can erase

What He has said will surely be

We are redeemed; saved by His grace

Salvation; is there anything

Greater than this; eternal life?

Would we exchange His blood-bought gift

To drink the cup of carnal strife?

Salvation; blessed hope for all

Death has no power o’er the grave

Salvation breaks the curse of sin

Man’s doomed and wretched soul to save

Salvation; nothing can annul

The words of Jesus as He died

It is finished; paid in full

Through His blood we are justified

© Janet Martin

  

Of Fantasies and Faith

What images tenderly shape

Our hopeful fantasy?

Who fills their sound?

Who writes the words

Whispered intimately?

What forms the hope spurring us on

In pursuit of love’s quest?

Who do we strive for

Ere the sun

Spills pink against the west?

How quick the envelope of dusk

Seals in its tinted clutch

The threads weaving

Our memories

Where thought alone can touch

…and soon the unknowns of this day

Flicker eternally

Where Time unfolds

Its mystic gray

In colored memory

Lord, take my unborn fantasies

Mortal beneath divine

And give me faith

To trust you when

Your shades differ from mine

© Janet Martin

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isa. 55:8

Grace-moments

Don’t grieve that it’s gone, wonder that it was.
Laugh that you lived and dance that you dared.
Inhale that it happened — and it was grace.  Ann Voskamp a Holy Experience

...and so, that is what we do
slipping new seasons over our shoulders
like the earth wears spring, then summer,
fall then winter, 
snow after the dew...
moments melded by God's grace
into laugh lines on our faces
and memories that the heart embraces
as thought re-traces 
where feet cannot go

...for the heart is a harbor 
from which dreams set sail
or come home to anchor
 in time's shifting swell 
so we ought to live fully 
in each moment because
soon it will simply be
what once was...

J~

My kids birthdays make me a little sentimental:)

On Holding...

 Happy 15th Birthday, Matthew

I will not hold you back

Though it seems I might try

When every fiber in my being

Aches with days gone by

Life is a forward track

Into the great unknown

And oh, I will not hold you back

Dear son of almost-grown

The days of rocking chairs

And storybooks and such

I know they are still there

For memories to touch

And sometimes late at night

When the whole world is black

Against my heart I hold you tight

But I won’t hold you back

Life is a forward march

And love learns to let go

Even while I  hold you close

As prayers and moments flow

And though sometimes I trace

The shadows of the past

I wish for you God’s richest grace

I will not hold you back

© Janet Martin

What Mothers Count

We do not count the messes they make

Or the pieces of laundry we wash and fold

The sleepless nights when they are wee

These are the scores that are never told

No, we do not count the meals we prepare

The miles we walk from fridge to stove

Or the prayers we weep when we cannot sleep

As our hearts ache with the hard side of love

We do not count our scolding and sighs

Trips to the dentist, to school, to town

And we do not care to tally mistakes

Lord knows we make enough of our own

But we count our blessings in kisses and hugs

In ‘I love you, Mom and then, ‘I love you too’

We count the hours until they are home

As years sparkle softly into the vast blue

© Janet Martin