To Where Summer Went

Rush hour is over

Save for a few

Scuffling stragglers

On dusk’s avenue

Like husks of a summer

Savored and spent

Fall follows the footpath

To where summer went

Now the umbrellas

That lured us to lie

Like maidens and fellas

Beneath the big sky

Mutely dismantle

While nature’s big broom

Brushes to fence-lines

And hedgerows, its bloom

The big night is hollow

Its halls bleak and bare

Where stark branches wallow

And scratch the dark air

Hear how the wind lurks

In lonesome lament

Scavenging footpaths

To where summer went

Behind shuttered windows

The weather is warm

Wild the wind whimpers

With threats of a storm

Jealous it seems

Of our laughter intent

On following dreams

To where summer went

© Janet Martin

It's Up to Us

PAD Challenge day  13:For today’s prompt, write an optional poem. 

We can compare ourselves to others

Wallow in self-pity, doubt

Or count our many blessings knowing

God is what we’re all about

We can choose to worry, worry

Fret about what we can’t see

Or we can choose to remember

God takes care of you and me

We can choose to ignore God

But if foolish we dare do such

Then all else that we accomplish

Will not really matter much

We can wish for what we have not

Pine for youth when we are old

Or we can be truly thankful

For the moment that we hold

© Janet Martin

Today's YDP:

Count That Day Lost by George Eliot

If you sit down at set of sun And count the acts that you have done, And, counting, find One self-denying deed, one word That eased the heart of him who heard, One glance most kind That fell like sunshine where it went -- Then you may count that day well spent. But if, through all the livelong day, You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay -- If, through it all You've nothing done that you can trace That brought the sunshine to one face-- No act most small That helped some soul and nothing cost -- Then count that day as worse than lost. This poem is in the public domain.

 

What A Day That Will Be!

  

Don't you just LOVE when people use their gifts to God's glory?!

They say something that steals one's breath...'we are only one heartbeat away from eternity'

It might be today, nobody can tell

how near or far is heaven or hell.

It might be before tonight's door to the sky

Closes forever for you or I

We do not know when The Hour befalls

So we should be ready in case God calls

Look up, up, up, heaven is not far

And we cannot see how near we are

Take courage then comrade and fight the good fight

For who knows but God if we'll meet Him tonight

No, we do not know when That Day will befall

So we should never, ever ignore God's call

What a day that will be when we see Him at last

Where eternity has no future, present or past

Time is a vapor, a flicker, a breath

We pass but once through its valley of death

Where now we are poised on the brink of it all

Oh, are we ready if today God should call

Janet~

Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts...Ps.95:6-8

Garden Slumber-song

Slumber, sweet garden in cradles of soil

Long you have borne rose and thorn, fruit and toil

Now let the wind-song sweep over your slope

Lulling the plot that soon cradles new hope

Rock-a-bye, river of umber and sod

Hush-a-bye, haven of summer and God

Lullaby, rest for your best work is done 

Garnered and gathered in jars filled with sun

Sleep ‘til a wisp o’ spring kisses your brow

Sleep, tucked in warm beneath blankets of snow

Sleep, you have earned your furrow-turned repose

Lavishing larders with seed’s sundry rose

Slumber, sweet garden for soon you will wake

Where restless sunbeams tickle bird, bark and brake

Now let the murmur of echoing deep

Wrap you in summer and rock you to sleep

© Janet Martin

Where Surf Falls Prey...

PAD Challenge day 12: For today’s prompt, write a poem for and/or about something that cannot be seen.

Oh my, those crazy things you do

I tremble at the thought of you

Though you are there and I am here

The proof of you is in my tear

How is it that a storm can wage

Beneath my skin; the heart a stage

Where seasons not of sun-rain-lore

Unfurls the girl of yore once more

…and there she is and there are you

With velvet lips, eyes surprised blue

While fingertips I cannot see

Ravage the very heart of me

Ah, I can be undone with naught

But oceans rushing through my thought

Where surf falls prey to Never-clocks

That closes doors and seals its locks

© Janet Martin

We Cannot See You Yet Oh, There You Are...

PAD Challenge Day 12: For today’s prompt, write a poem for and/or about something that cannot be seen.

We cannot see You, yet oh, there You are

Pinning the night with the bright Morning Star

We cannot feel You, yet oh, deep within

You spill Your peace in a heart, once unclean

We cannot hear you yet You ride upon

Thunder of wonder and dew-darling dawn

We cannot prove You yet Your very proof

Stays the existence of heaven and earth

We cannot see You, though everywhere

In every moment, God, You are there

Though we cannot touch the outline of Your face

Still, You fill Want with Your goodness and grace

Janet Martin~

After We Begin Again...

When we begin again today

To weave upon Time’s lovely way

The outpouring of touch to sight

And when we leave this day tonight

After the laughter, tears and trust

A jot upon Time’s years of dust

After the hoping-groping reach

Of learning even as we teach

After the stumble-fumble-blush

Where we slip in life’s pull and push

And after all that must yet pass

Within this day’s brief hour-glass

Before we lay us down to sleep

And render this day to Past’s keep

May we with satisfaction’s rest

Be glad to know we did our best

© Janet Martin

Little Guy and I had a sort of outdoor farewell party yesterday. We had a high of 16 C before temps dipped overnight. This morning it is -1 Celsius.