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

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

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

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