A Beautiful Thing...50th Wedding Anniversary Poem

Somewhere between morning and night

And toil and sleep, shadow and sun

Between the give and take of life

A thing of beauty is begun

Love’s vows, pledged in the green of life

Are spoken on a dreamer’s strength

Til death do us part; husband and wife

Only God knows its breadth or length

Somewhere between laughter and song

The trial and tear, the calm, the storm

Somewhere, as year folds over year

A thing of beauty starts to form

Between midnight, breakfast toast crumbs

And suppertime and evening prayers

Love’s vows spoken, untried and young

Are being tempered by life’s cares

As bud slowly exposes bloom

A miracle above man’s power

Ah, so is love; the bride and groom

Must wait to see its fullest flower

But oh, as green gives way to gold

And gold to silver-haloed truth

As vows are more than words extolled

In fanciful day-dreams of youth…

…then we begin to see first-hand

This thing that faithfulness imparts

Of beauty unsurpassed, rare, grand

Not of the flesh, but of the heart

Somewhere within life’s highs and lows

Where two are one in God above

Youth’s bud reveals a perfect rose

The proven beauty of true love

© Janet Martin

Tomorrow my parents celebrate 50 years of marriage. Thank-you Mom and Dad and may God bless you with many more wonderful years!

Gone, Gone...

Gone, gone; the gold of summer’s morn

The green in half-grown fields of corn

Summer bows to Time’s common cost

Like brittle corn-stalk kissed by frost

Gone, gone; the hazy, lazy noon

Of cricket-song and locust croon

Ah, none can hide from the discourse

Of smooth and subtle moment-force

Gone, gone; the longer light of day

Before the dark tucks it away

The autumn wick gleams, short and sweet

In scattered sheaves beneath our feet

Gone, gone; sanguine sea-melodies

Where children weave dear memories

And mothers linger at the door

To hear it echoing once more

Gone, gone; the warm and winsome hour

No one usurps mute moment-pow’r

Soundless, autumn leaf-song is spilt

Where summer folds its floral quilt

© Janet Martin

Heavy frost this morning!

Moment-meekness

Lord, take this moment in my hand

Shape it to Your will

And when I do not understand

Yet whisper, peace, be still

Lord, take away my doubt and fear

And fix my thought on You

In spite of what I cannot see

Lord, gently walk me through

Help me to seek, not man's applause

But with humility

To give You glory; you are God

Immortal Deity 

Success; Lord, let it ever be

Not by the things I own

But by surrendering my all

To You and You alone

You ARE; Lord, there is none like You

Forgive my stubbornness

Teach me to meekly bow my will

Beneath Your holiness

© Janet Martin

Only Trust Him

I'm reading through Acts right now and these words struck me immensely...

 Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and died. Acts 12:23

Autumn is Here

Autumn is here; its leaf-song tear

Will soon adorn the meadowland

As Time employs double-edge joys

Of seasons scattered on the sand

Autumn is here; earth’s belvedere

Unveils rare canvasses of sod

As we behold, fold over fold

The awesome handiwork of God

Autumn is here; its hemisphere

A scarlet, bronze and umber tent

On frosted morn; the heart is torn

Twixt pleasure and farewell’s lament

Autumn is here; how swift a year

Is caught up in Time's tender rush

We turn our gaze to nature’s blaze

And praise the One who holds the brush

© Janet Martin

Of Midnight Tiptoes...

 

It struck me as I heard Emily tiptoe in last night, that in three weeks I will never hear that sound again...those sounds I have never given a second thought; 

and her belongings won't be draped on railings etc... ;)

Sometimes you come to me

Soft like a whisper

Hovering between hello and good-bye

Sometimes you clench the air

Raw and rebellious

Shaping the anguish that nurtures a sigh

Sometimes you comfort,

My thought like a pillow

Easing the void twixt what is and has been

But sometimes you torment

In debut renditions

The bittersweet sorrows of ‘never again’

Sometimes a tear holds

An ocean of longing

Though love has poured out its fathoms ten-fold

Darling, perhaps

This is simply life’s fortune

Of having and holding and growing old…

© Janet Martin

Remembering...

Sometimes we forget

That He who lights the day

Beholds each footstep that we take

And every word we say

Sometimes we forget

Before Time tuned earth’s sod

God WAS, IS and will ever be

In the beginning, God

Sometimes we forget

As doubt's vile demons roar

That God forgives our sin and then

Remembers it no more

Sometimes we forget

That disobedience

In spite of Love’s forgiveness yields

A bitter consequence

Sometimes we forget

That this is not the end

And soon this life will disappear

A vapor in the wind

Sometimes we forget

That God is God alone

And though the flesh is doomed to die

The soul lives on and on

© Janet Martin

 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
    and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring

 and the wheel broken at the well, 

 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Eccles. 12: 6-7

Without God

I could not face the day

Its sunshine or the rain

Without God’s love to lead the way

And bring me home again

I could not face the night

The darkness or its deep

Without God’s peace to whisper, child

I’ll keep thee while you sleep

I could not face this life

Its mountain or its sea

Without God’s grace to fill my want  

And gently comfort me

I could not face death's vale

But when that hour comes

I know that God will walk me through

And kindly lead me home

© Janet Martin

 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 

 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you; 

 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’ Num. 6:24-26

Of Cleansed Cups

The wind gathers mute moments spent

And it is foolish to lament

A season that has passed away

Or pine again for yesterday

Look! Look! Upon night’s waning main

God paints His patience once again

                                

The cup that claimed our innocence

And cradles action’s recompense

Would be our loathsome fear, but then

Because of grace does not condemn

The Hand that holds the universe

Cleanses this cup of Satan’s curse

Beyond this journey, moment-cast

The Prize we seek bids us hold fast

Though yesterdays accumulate

And pinnacles evaporate

Hope fills this chalice with fresh grains

The timeless grace of God remains

The winds gather mute moments spent

And we would drown in time’s lament

But for the grace of Calvary

And Faith in what we cannot see

Look! Look! God’s heaven fills with dawn

And kindly bids us journey on

© Janet Martin

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Isa. 43:25