Saturday, February 7, 2015

Simply A Matter of Time




 I'm working on a drawer full of loose photos, trying to find the places where they've been pulled from albums over the years for school projects, weddings, etc. I'm reminded with pangs, nothing in life lasts for very long...

Seasons change
And rearrange
With tick and tock
What comes and goes
What is next?
No one knows
Doors open
Then they close
Thus, it is good
To bear in mind
That all of life
Is simply
A matter
Of Time

© Janet Martin



It Is But By God's Grace We Go
What waits to be next?
We cannot know 




Waiting, like a Woman





Perplex the wall-clock that hangs in the sky
Render to winter a warm lullaby
Time is a troubadour teasing with hours
What none hasten; the journey of flowers

Darling, the weather of roses still-waits
Tether the gale that blows cold on gold gates
Then hold me closer; because, after all
Summer is simply the prelude to fall

Seasons are time-petals, soon, soon they waft
White, green or purple in cradles aloft
Gossamer free-fall, life’s brave bittersweet
Soft like snow-madrigals, melts at our feet

We will not hurry what we cannot keep
Then let that wall-clock spill ill-will, knee-deep
Then, let those wily winds fiddle and fuss
Love knows no season but one, darling; us

© Janet Martin


On one hand I find myself saying, ‘hurry up winter’ and then suddenly, on the other hand I’m pleading, ‘time slow down, you pass too fast!’

Only God Can Do That










above are a few glimpses of what only God can do...

An oak-tree in an acorn
A rainbow in the sky
And from the dry, uncomely husk
A butterfly

From bulb and seed, a garden
Or seas of golden grain
And from space-eons overhead
The sun and rain

A lush, leaf-umbrella
From stark, bark-bastioned limb
Where winter-worlds waken beneath
The touch of Him

A baby from beginnings
Too wondrous to full-tell
As is the off-spring of all seed
…a miracle

© Janet Martin

When I saw Monica's photos my first thought was wow! only God can do that...turn a bitty, brown seed to breath-taking beauty.

We have nothing that does not begin with what God grants! 
This poem could go on forever to tell it all...


Scavenging the Intangible





I know you are there, but sometimes to find you
To touch you, to feel you or hear you, my dear
Vexes the traveler of uncharted sphere
You leave no footprint or shadow behind you

Veiled by the masses, and what we think we know
You, at the mercy of fingertips and lips
Pulse with Becoming; where a whole new world drips
Quiet, like earth beneath a blanket of snow

Ah poem, I know not what you'll be wearing
But silence can roar with the essence of you
Come, come, chameleon, the presence of you
Weighs white-washed whispers with momentous bearing

© Janet Martin

Sometimes, when I sit before an empty page searching the silence for the poem of the day it's a bit like an uncharted treasure-hunt:)

The eleven-beat lines are a little clumsy but it just wanted to be that way today!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Learning Curves



Image from little women 1949

It is the lows in life
That teach us how
To recognize the highs
And love’s surprise hellos
That make bearable
Its good-byes

It is the cold, blue winter
That sweetens
And warms spring-gold
And it is life’s losses
That opens our eyes
To what we hold

We drink the salt
Of sorrow’s tears
But then after
It is with humble gratitude
We taste
Laughter

© Janet Martin

The Affliction That May Come...



So do not begrudge the affliction that may come. Press deeply into Jesus. Allow those broken edges to show you how desperate you are for Jesus. Kara Tippetts

...and she shares these verses as a reminder of His faithfulness;

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.

— Psalm 119:76,77
 
 
The affliction that may come
Can cause our hearts to fear
But just as in our Better Days
God is near
 
The affliction that may come
Could steal our inner peace
But God's kind mercy even then
Does not cease
 
The affliction that may come
Is never greater than
The faithful love and grace of God
Thus, We can
 
Janet Martin