Monday, October 28, 2013

Of Regret and Redemption





Every now and then
From some lost yesterday
I feel the haunting tug of things
That I let slip away

But all the could-have-beens
Pounding time’s frozen past
Cannot annul God’s grace that fills
This day soon memory-cast

Regret is but to die
To opportunity
And this new day is mercy’s
Patient gift to you and me

© Janet Martin

 Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.Ps. 27:14

Sunday, October 27, 2013

A New Chapter Begins...





Its script yet unfathomed
Its page yet unmarred
Its stories unwritten
Where dawn bathes the yard
And morning implores us
To rise; grasp our pen
Beckoning gently
To write once again

We taste Time’s free-fall
We sorrow; we laugh
Dawn fills the air
With its first paragraph
Beneath our fingers
And feet we employ
Ink-drops of anguish
And whispers of joy

Over earth’s concave
And crest; beaming bright
Syllables tumble
In morning’s first light
Grace breathes its bounty
And forgives our sins
We trust Time’s Giver
…a new chapter begins

© Janet Martin

Rob and Emily dropped in before heading to their new home last night and I thought to myself, thus a new chapter begins.


Saturday, October 26, 2013

Something Sweetly Haunting






There is something sweetly haunting ‘bout a snow that comes too soon
Argent innocence undaunted, slipping from an astral spoon
As it wraps earth’s golden autumn from a silver-broken cloud
Settling on rooftops and gardens in an unexpected shroud

There is something grandly mournful in snow slipping over leaf
Where soft whiteness blends with scarlet in a dazzling, muffled sheaf
And we tread with restless reverence a landscape strangely awed
By mute, majestic masterpieces from the hand of God

There is something keenly comforting in autumn’s early snow
Where hope immortal mingles with the grief of letting go
Life's moments fall like snowflakes on a morning almost noon
Oh, there’s something sweetly haunting ‘bout a snow that comes too soon

© Janet Martin

I looked outside when I woke up and said, ‘You have got to be kidding me!’ The world was white…and then soon we were out of electricity for a while.

 "God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend. "For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,' And to the downpour and the rain, 'Be strong.' "He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work. Job 37: 5-7

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Way of Love



When you leave
A little piece of me
Leaves too
For heart-strings
Cannot be untied
Like laces
on a shoe

When you leave
I cannot stay
Altogether here
For part of me
Will follow;
‘Tis the way
Of love, my dear

When you leave
I will not grieve
Forever
But I know
A part of me
Will always be
Wherever
You will go…

© Janet Martin

Rob and Emily have said their good-byes in Nova Scotia and are on their way home…my heart is with Cathy, (Rob’s Mom) and the rest of the family. Good-byes are hard!

The Way of Flowers...



After Emily's wedding we put the mums on the porch.. A few days ago our neighbor passed away. She was 94 and a lifetime lover of flowers! Her son stopped by to ask if they may use the mums in the hall at her funeral and I got to thinking,' that's the way of flowers...

They cheer our happiest
and saddest hours
That seems to be
The way of flowers.

Janet~

To My Cyber-friends...





We are not strangers
You and I, and yet
We’ve never spoken
Or even met

I would not recognize you
Anywhere
Though we’ve laughed and wept
Into the still air

One wields the pen
One holds the page
We are fellowmen
On a common stage

Though we've never met
 It's nice to think
We touch each other
Through the power of ink

© Janet Martin

Though we may never meet
I’d simply like to say
Thank-you to all who have passed by
My little porch today…

Though we may never speak
It is enough to know
That words and prayers reach anywhere
A little thought can go

J~


Thank-you to generations
Past and presently
Who have shared inspiration
So that others may read

Life's Letting Go...



It must be so
Life’s letting go
Torments and teases
Our clutch
I hold you near,
Somehow a year
Is fleeting
As a stranger’s touch

When we were young
Time pleased our tongue
In dreams beyond
Our innocence
We didn’t know
Life’s letting go
Falls in swift,
Keen deliverance

It must be so
The ebb and flow
Of moments yield
Both joy and woe
Gifting our reach
They gently teach
Us to hold on
While letting go…

© Janet Martin




There It Goes...





There they go
Ethereal flow
Expanding archives
Of joy and dismay
Zeniths of
Longing and love
Days of our lives
Falling away

See, from the mud
Spring’s new-born bud
Presses, unfolds
A thorn, a rose
See, how it falls
Time’s madrigals
From hold to hold
Its blooms disclose

Ah, there it goes
And no one knows
How near or far
Its breadth extends
Oh, little day
You slip away
Gold with the gray
The hour bends

It laughs and weeps
Flounders and leaps
This moment-tide
Sweeps us along
We touch and taste
Its eager haste
Then render to
The past, its song

© Janet Martin