Friday, July 4, 2014

Wayfarer's Wonderment





Oh, do not rush me so
For past yon distant slope
A sense of newness spreads its glow
In God-breathed shades of hope

And I must pause a bit
To drink its wonder in
A gift indeed it is to sit
And see the day begin

Earth, like a polished cup
Brims with Time’s newborn best
And we, its creatures thus lift up
To God, praise and request

…for He saw fit once more
To breathe upon the dark
to light the wick that lights the shore
Where wayfarers embark

And in this light we see
 A sweep of land, sea, sky
God’s handiwork of poetry
Stunning our mortal eye

Yet what we cannot see
Is greater, dearer far
To know He cares for you and me
No matter who we are

Faith, hope and trust agree
We do not understand
The moaning, groaning filigree
That fills His holy hand

Yet in the end we know
Or, at the least we should
To those who truly love Him so
All things work out for good

So, do not rush me, clock
For I must sit a bit
To have a tender morning-talk
With He who ordained it

© Janet Martin

Happy Independence Day to our American neighbors.

 Also,our thoughts and prayers are with our 'farming-neighbors' in Manitoba.  and our fellow-wayfarers in the Ukraine.




Trust is merely another word until it is needed!


Thursday, July 3, 2014

Of July





Cloud-tumbled fallow shifts, billows above
Green ripple of earth’s supple sea
It is not difficult to love, my love
Where July spins her poetry

River of bloom rushes wild where the child
Fills fingers with its filigree
Purple and gold for the pauper is sold
Under the wild apple-tree

Blessing from God silver coin cannot buy
See, from the coffers of heaven
He fills the garden with rain from the sky
Tickles the soil with its sunshine

Sighing and dreaming, our words warmly grin
‘Lemonade, flip-flops, sea-shore’,
Baskets of berries, bronze summer-kissed skin
We tread her lily-starred floor

Under its awning of azure we lie
Lounging on blankets of grass
Where every hour is full of July
For we know, too soon it will pass

© Janet Martin

This morning is a perfect July morning...after approx. 16 hours of sleep. Suddenly yesterday afternoon my body said, enough! I couldn't stop coughing or shivering and sweating; horrible!!


Feeling somewhat better and hopefully on the mend. I've been spoiled by good health and am not a very patient invalid! 


Wednesday, July 2, 2014

This Piece of July





There are things we learn we’d return if we could
When it slaps us with its cold truth
But in the long run when its lesson is done
We become wiser; more couth

The slipping and sliding progress we profess
This haggling, hard, headlong stumble
Of duty, desire and sucking quagmire
Of hope and hurt keeps us humble

This piece of July is a blue patch of sky
Sparkle of sun on life’s ocean
Glitter of gold in a long, lonesome hold    
For heartache is not an emotion

Sometimes we pretend, but oh, in the end
Truth cannot be hidden or altered
Thus what we learned is the payoff we earned
There, where our footsteps faltered

Still-subtle course is life’s tick-tocking force
Filling heart-hollows with hunger
Live, love and learn, for there is no return
To days when we were younger

Maybe someday in Time’s mystery-sure way
We will not hurt with hope’s yearning
This piece of July is a blue-heaven sky
Over life’s highway of learning

© Janet Martin

Praying for everyone on this one-step-forward-two-steps-back journey
on life's highway of yearning, earning and learning.

...in the hottest weather we've had so far this year, I have come down with a horrible cold so I stayed home on Sunday morning. I listened to this message instead where no one would be bothered by my coughing and sniffling...





Bard's Ballroom





These days in southern Ontario earth is a ball-room of green glory! We are kept busy to make sure weeds are not the only green we see! It was off to the beach yesterday to celebrate Canada Day!The beautiful drive was part of the celebration; the glory of seed spilling fruit.

Some truths are hard to bear
Remorse, for its full worth
Cannot abolish consequence
For deeds rendered on earth

We are the fruit of choice
Friendships with fantasy
Can slowly bleed the spirit dry
In long-spun misery

Darling, if I could brush
Away each shard of pain
With words I would; but poetry
At times is futile, vain

There is no hiatus
Or freedom from our thought
The ballroom of ten-thousand prayers
Is all that we have got

© Janet Martin

Monday, June 30, 2014

Wild-rose





...and they coax her to 'come! Come to this mall and that mall and see what money can buy! Run to the coffers of jingle; fill your fingers with its lie... but she knows a mall of green field and blue sky where wealth is a wonder money cannot buy...

She is wild rose
Wandering
In a garden
Whispering
Muted things
Pen must descry
Of melody
Coin cannot buy

She is bond-servant
Of quill
Not by force
But her free will
Wild-rose wandering
The wind
In the willow
Understands

She is loyal
To the trust
Of a poet’s
Wanderlust
Wild-rose ever
She will be
Beggar-bloom
Of poetry

© Janet Martin