Upsy-daisy

We pretend we’re brave,

Wave and tell them to ‘fly’

And to reach for the rooftops

Of dream-sequined sky

We pretend we're ready

...with unsteady grin

We clap while the hour

Fills its bubble-skin

We pretend we’re excited

In spite of the fear

That swirls summer’s laughter

With winter-stark tear

  

We pretend we’re stronger

Than we really are

And lend them a shoulder

As they reach for the stars

© Janet Martin

Sweet, Sweet June

The green of May can never stay but climbs the tallest trees

As Dandelion gold unfolds in soft-swept silver seas

The Thing that long we pined for in the wintry afternoon

Unfurls in girlish pink of lupine, peony and June

The lilac-breeze and white-frothed melodies of orchard-tress

Falls prey to yesterday as May dons farewell’s emptiness

And we hunt for permission slips signed by the blue-eyed sky

To linger longer on the turf of bloom and butterfly

The footing of an hour, like a bower gold and gray

Is fragile as the halo on welkin of waking day

It disappears in moments filling years, where tears of time

Trickle in tick-by-tock descent the ladder that we climb

New little boys dash from dawn’s doors, their mothers learn new prayers

A new old generation surrenders to rocking chairs

And ever new, the old, though never reimbursing hours

Eases the petal from its fold and refills June with flowers 

 The green of May can never stay, the banter of the breeze
Unfolds its Dandelion-gold to soft-swept silver seas

 As every Thing we pined for in cold, storm-lorn afternoon

Unfurls in pink of lupine, peony and sweet, sweet June

© Janet Martin

Part of a Plan

Oh, who am I that God would grant

Again, into my erring grip

The essence of faith’s fellowship

Where I am prone to weep, ‘I can’t’

Ah yes, I am part of a plan

That proves the grace whereby I go

Allowing more than sight can show

So I must cling to God’s ‘I can’’

© Janet Martin

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? 

If God is for us, who can be against us?
 Rom.8:31

 

Purposed Recognition

Oh, I should never want to be

Absorbed with living’s this and that

Lest what is right in front of me

Falls heedless through perception’s cracks

And I should never care to pine

Gazing to skyline’s in my thought

Missing what Love has tendered mine

While hungering for what is not

Else I might miss morn’s mercy glow

Like laughter lighting heaven’s eyes

Or how its light, like hope-beams flow

Through crevices in weighted skies

or then perhaps I would forget

To touch and hold and taste and see

The beauty of love’s preciousness

And life’s awesome fragility

We cannot choose love’s higher dues

Of when or what God gives and takes

We ought to cherish gifted hues

Before their blue in Bygone breaks

Moments transpire, volatile

Soft Seraphim of dust-to- dust

Lord, teach us how to recognize

Your gifts in mercies that shape trust

 Janet Martin

On Heart-holds and the Flipside of Hello

I'm glad hearts hold more than arms

for they are big enough 

to enfold and hold forever

those we dearly love

A few things happened this week-end to make me realize how thankful I am that hearts hold what arms can't!

You don’t want to go

I know

The tug-of-war twixt hearts can take

Our breath away

And leave us feeling

The full impact of love’s ache

I don’t want to go,

You know

Farewell is hard, our hearts and eyes

Brim with the

Overflowing measure

Of love’s bittersweet goodbyes

We don’t want to go

But we know

Nothing lasts forever so

We embrace, kiss faces

Knowing

Hearts never really let go

© Janet Martin