Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Of Moments, Miles and Memories



Dream a Little Dream of Me



If we could rearrange moments and miles
And draw back yesterday from ether-blue
So we could bid careless farewells adieu
To kiss and cradle long those parting smiles
We would; but we cannot retrieve one sigh
Nor force into the bud the unfurled bloom
How swift the flower spills its fragrant plume
And bleeds its perfumed petals to the sky
Mingling with mortal merriment and tear
A flicker on this tiny blue-dot sphere

Passion and parting rend our inner deep
Moments melt into nothing, like the snow
An hour has no reins, its lilting flow
Shaping the miming memories we keep
The tempest of its echo stirs our tears
Yet there is no merit in looking back
Weeping for yester-years unyielding track
For even now this moment disappears
Leaving its little love-line on our face
And in our hearts a memory to trace

Moments of love, longing and loss converge
Future, present and past; they coalesce
To ravage our thought, keen and noiseless
Stealing our breath within their potent surge
Yet, thought is powerless to rearrange
The days that murmur twixt our cooling touch
As the expanse of moments, miles and such
Compile to shape the ache that comes with change
Sometimes I wish that I could shift those miles
To kiss and cradle long love’s farewell smiles

© Janet Martin

Take the time today, to kiss and cradle loved ones within reach
Tomorrow, today will be washed away like a footprint on the beach
And none of us can say who will be here; who will be gone
So take the time today to hold and kiss and cradle long…

J~




My Almost-Poem





Snuffed, like a candle by the weeping wind, your tendrils drift
Unchained, unwoven, melody of mist on silver sage
Un-etched in ink against a blotted page
Where do you rove, oh, dear and darling wisp?
The echo of a moment almost kissed

Have you found for yourself a home, sweet home?
Do you fly now; free as a kite with no string
Or did you plummet to the dirt like a bird with a broken wing?
Will you be a vagabond, forever to roam?
Are you happy; my dear, darling almost-poem?

I would have held and shaped you, sweet shadow-thought
But you slipped away beneath my glance
Melting to the brawny breeze, now you dance
Far from my touch; or have you perchance been caught
And by the pen of another poet, taught?

© Janet Martin

Life-song or Dirge?





This rain-song spilling over hill and plain
Or hissing beneath tires on the street
And gathering in puddles on the lane
To taunt the eager tread of childish feet
Is it the merry melody of May?
This canticle of silver eighth-note splurge
Heralding the dawn of a new day
Is it a life-song or celestial dirge?

Minute eclipses wash in moment-tides
From shore to shore; we live, laugh, love and learn
For who can see the brink where we collide
With mystic fathoms from which none return?
The flower lifts its cup to heaven’s draught
We lift our hands to partake of an hour
Before its filament dissolves to naught
Within the triumph of mute moment-power

Time is a drop tipped from a phantom grail
Its pier a grain of sand held in the clutch
Of ever-after’s infinite exhale
Where none escapes its everlasting touch
Who can translate the lilting doggerel
Of rain-song as it falls, a silver surge
Of pitter-patter greeting and farewell
Is it a life-song or a solemn dirge?

© Janet Martin

This morning the rain falls like a love-song…gentle and steady. For some of us it is merely a stanza in our life-song, for others a farewell dirge.

Live, laugh, love,
Dance in the rain,
For this day will never
Pass by again!

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14

Monday, May 27, 2013

Of Motives and Men





Lord, may our motive ever be
Not to out-do our fellowman
But simply, with humility
To be the very best we can

We all are creatures formed by You
Shaped differently yet much the same
Our motive in all that we do
Should be to glorify Your name

Forgive us Lord, if foolishly
We seek to gather praise of man
But help us to strive honestly
For You, to do the best we can

© Janet Martin


It seems track-and-field brings up the opportunity to speak of rejoicing with those who excel and if we happen to be one of those, then not to boast but to give God thanks for the ability.(the same applies academically, right?) In life's contests it really is about being the very best we can and then we have nothing to be ashamed of!
 I was so proud of Victoria as she graciously accepted mostly blue ribbons after 6 years of gleaning red. She has a class-mate who grew tall, lean and strong in the past year and this girl was beaming from ear to ear.

Rejoice with those who rejoice...even if there is a sting of disappointment.

Monday Morning in North America




 May we never forget those who fought/fight for freedom to enjoy  'a hard hat and a hammer'!


He grumbles that the food was cold
The price too high
And portions small
He fumbles for loose change
His cell phone rings
He takes the call

Outside the door the sunshine pools
In golden puddles
On the walk
The crossing guard waves from her post
A morning fixture
On the block

The laughter of a little child
And mother lingers
On the air
‘Fill ‘er up’ and ‘hey, what’s new’
‘My, how time flies’
Tongue’s common fare

We punch the clock to pay our bills
And marvel at
How swift kids grow
And no one thinks about a field
All lined with crosses
Row on row

© Janet Martin





Sunday, May 26, 2013

Of Perfect, Ordinary Days...





Years from now I won’t recall
How the sky draped, an azure shawl
Against the hills of emerald sweep
Or how a bud unfurled its deep
To grace the lowly lilac limb
With purple starlet diadem
In moments embraced near and dear
Against the back-drop of a tear

…or how the glimmer of an hour
Untwisted from time’s mystic bower
Pleased, teased, appeased thought’s hungry touch
Then slipped to naught within its clutch
Where filaments of this fine day
Like morning mist melted away
Anchored within gossamer glow
Where myriad forerunners go

And years from now I won’t recall
The tug as apple-blossoms fall
Pink fragments of an afternoon
Shaping Time’s soft, insistent tune
As love and longing’s harmony
Composes a sweet melody
Slipping into the silver haze
Of perfect, ordinary days

© Janet Martin



Saturday, May 25, 2013

We Will Never Be Alone



 

Wherever life may lead today
Through meadows plush or fields of stone
Though skies gleam gold or glower gray
We will never be alone

Autumn may snuff the boast of spring
Beneath Time’s weight of truth we groan
Yet in spite of what life may bring
We will never be alone

Though loneliness clenches our hearts
And pricks the core beneath our bone
Cling to the comfort Love imparts
For we will never be alone

What God has promised He will do
Dream-dust and tears are soon wind-blown
We cling to His word; it is true
And we will never be alone

© Janet Martin

Morning Celebration Song






Upon earth’s shores of sod we pause
To drink Hope’s wonder in
Dumbfounded in our thought because
Love cleanses our sin

Not love of mankind’s feeble schemes
But love coursing in red
The blood of Jesus Christ redeems
Where law and works fall dead

See how His grace unfolds the dawn
Then soon day’s breadth expires
The bud unfolds to sing its song
Then falls beneath wood-spires

The love of Jesus Christ our Lord
Flows infinite, eternal
From God to man freely out-poured
From Mystery supernal

For hatred, love; for our greed, hope
And for our sin redemption
We bow upon earth’s transient slope
In humble celebration

© Janet Martin

Amazing Grace