Farewell April 2014

Our wearied optimism reaches past this cold, gray day

Spring charms that we envisioned have been pinned on sleeves of May

For April did not flatter us with honey-golden guile

But scattered flurries where we dreamed of daffodil-drenched isle

April unleashes her farewell in phlegmatic downpour

We do not mourn her passing as we haste her through the door   

For our misconception of a bonny green-eyed lass

Has waned; and now to merry May we lift hope’s polished glass

Dear April, please do not consider us vulgar or rude

We do not want to shoulder long this morose attitude

But oh, the farmer hungers for the thrill of furrow-dust

How long must we be patient, pleading for anointed trust?

The gardener is waiting with perfection planted dream

The poet pines for music of dusk’s amethyst requiem

The lad inside the window wonders when the rain will end

While mother murmurs prayers and platitudes to be patient

Farewell then, fretting shower where the flower waits to bloom

May waits to strum the hour with froth-cloth of petal plume

We wait to till earth’s thoroughfare and plant its field once more

But first we kindly usher April out through Time’s back door

© Janet Martin

After the storms in the central/southern states the past few days (thoughts and prayers are with you) it seems trite to even almost grumble or be negative but this April/ winter and spring so far has broken numerous records NOT on the sunny, warm side. We had one or two truly warm, pleasant days in April; not enough to dry fields and allow farmers to plant at all! Still, God is in control and we do not want to question His order…

Come, Come where Blossoms Bloom

Come, see where blossoms bloom

 (click link to see gorgeous blossom)

Come, see where blossoms bloom

Before the sweet of fruit

And leaf returns to root

Hope spills its half-bud plume

Come, stroll where dreaming roof

Is fraught with fragrant flow’r

Before the bleeding bow’r

Bends low with harvest-proof

…and here we, arm in arm

‘neath virgin canopy

Of what is yet to be

Taste youth in all its charm

Come, come where blossoms bloom

Too soon the fruit will fall

Its musky madrigal

Filling thought’s holding-room

© Janet Martin

Perfectly Blue

PAD Challenge Two-for-two Tues; Write a realism poem Write a magical poem

That magical moment

Clear out of the blue

When my heart skips a beat

At the thought of you

Jolt to reality

…bittersweet bliss

The grand realization

Of what no longer is

Tick-tock proof tango

Perfectly blue

One part me

The other part

You~

© Janet Martin

Caught in the Becoming of You...

PAD Challenge two-for-two-Tues:

• Write a realism poem. A poem that is rooted in the real world. Or…
• Write a magical poem. A poem that incorporates magical or fantastical elements

No abracadabra will bring you to me

No wand can rearrange history

Nor can I fold with a wink of my eye

Miles gaping cold between you and I

No spell can force from your lips thought unheard

Laughter and love are not tricked into word

Black-scarlet cape, the illusionist’s cloak

Cannot obliterate horrors we spoke

Night is a deep velvet hat, but the years

Cannot reverse where its dark disappears

Thought-blood of sorrow is not red, but blue

Its potent river unscathed by voodoo

You are unreachable, no hex or charm

No metamorphosis manifests form

Ethereal harbor of mystic appeal

Time’s transformation from real to surreal

I’ve never touched you and yet you become

My every whisper and deed I have done

Darling, you tease me with echoes; your kiss

Ravaging eons of what no longer is

I cannot gather you nor hypnotize

That which is bent on streamlining your sighs

Yet here in my hand your threads tremble, gold-gray

Waiting to weave your corpus; Yesterday

© Janet Martin

Matrix of Memories

Poured into the mold of Moment

Supple season-serenade

Tick-tock shell; ethereal advent

Of a memory being made

Trip and tumble, wander, squander

Dredging deeps and skimming surf

Touch and treasure, moment-measure

Time's touch-down on transient turf

Wish and wonder, pray and ponder

Free-fall from a fount of air

Sip and savor, Mercy’s favor

Spills and fills in half-breath fare

Drip and dangle, silver spangle

Garnishing laughter and tears

Sanguine sorrow none can borrow

Brushing bygones into years

Poured into a mold of Moment

Sacred, soundless sparkles sift

Matrix of tender-sweet torment

Where a life of memories drift

© Janet Martin

I was out putting cages around pink peony-points peeping through the earth:)! 

Suddenly an over-whelming sense of bittersweet washed over me as I recalled tugging them out, tossing them on a pile, tasting tears of letting go as I was re-living moments of summer, wedding, life etc...

Settling Matters

 PAD Challenge day 28: write a 'settle' poem

Sun settles twixt shadows

Dew settles on grass

Thought settles on matters

That soon too shall pass

Want settles on nothing

Dust settles on sod

Where rain settles dust

Hope settles on God

Love settles on others

Lust settles on Self

Time settles in pages

On history’s shelf

Sea settles twixt shorelines

Hen settles on brood

Trust settles on something

Not yet understood

Kiss settles on lips, love

Hearts settle on chance

Alone love, we hunger

Together we dance

© Janet Martin

Beneath the Leaning Sky

PAD Challenge day 28: Write a settled poem

When morning strikes her match

Beneath the leaning sky

It seems to me we almost catch

A twinkle in God’s eye

For Goodness is not cupped

In midnight’s yearning deep

And where dusk’s settled verdicts supped

Now virgin hours leap

Beneath the leaning sky

Where morning’s yesterday

Delighted and bereaved our sighs

Grace kindly lights our way

And from God’s vaulted thought

Beyond mortal mind-grasp

He sweeps our yesterday to naught

And settles it as Past

It seems to me we catch

A glimpse of paradise

As Mercy unfetters a latch

In dungeon-darkened skies

The dust of practice runs

Has settled; on Time’s shore

Pardon bestows another dawn

Like none ever before

A twinkle in God’s eye

Hope’s hallelujah spills

From ebony to gilt reply

Across celestial rills

Benevolence delights

The air as midnight-chains

Dissolve; God settles Mercy’s sights

Where time and hope remains

© Janet Martin

Where Dark and Light Collide

PAD Challenge day 27: write a monster poem

You slink between whispers

And hide beneath pillows

Tireless fiend, you torment and impose

Ill-favored presence

Wherever the essence

Of faith-flicker falters; you flaunt grim unknowns

You mock and scorn

Where Hope, tear-stained and torn

Clutches a candle and kisses dark seas

Devious fraud

As your sickle, a god

Unto the wicked, draws faith to its knees

Skeletal carcass

Wherever the dark is

Here, in your glory you unleash your breath

Pitiless reaper

And merciless schemer

Gathering souls for a harvest of death

  

We could not chance

Morrow’s imminence

Save for One greater to comfort and cheer

In vain you lash

Seething where demons thrash

For Faith in God grounded is greater than fear

© Janet Martin