Perfected Fullness

Not in fancies to heap or hoard

Nor in dreams that cannot come true

But help us for a lifetime, Lord

To find and fix our hope in You

Not in Things money can afford

Or in rendezvous, dust to dust

But in the treasure of Your Word

Oh Lord, in this teach us to trust

Not in the emptiness of Want

Nor works lest any man should boast

But in the gift of your grace, God

Oh, let this be our Uttermost

Not in vain, superficial goals

Nor in pride’s base futility

But in the love that saves man’s souls

Oh Lord, let this our fullness be

© Janet Martin

Another Autumn ABC

Apple-boughs bend ‘neath the bounty of Red

Birch-leaf-shaped butterflies flutter by, gold

Candle-light flickers on limbs overhead

Dusk drips from lintels daylight cannot hold

Earth is a Masterpiece hung from the sky

Flower-like petals settle, paper-plush

Gilding streets with summer’s lost lullaby

Halo of heaven crowns bramble and brush

Is there a poem more perfect than this?

Jaded arrangements of wild, wind-swept vine

Kiss of a rain-runnel, smoky blue bliss

Love songs and laughter and tears intertwine

Marmalade mosaics stipple earth’s sod

Nature holds nothing back; its poets swoon

Orchestral lyrics penned by none but God

Pumpkin-pie happiness tickles poised spoon

Quilt-tatters scatter, rainbow splattered shroud

Row after row of harvest disappears

Skein of wild-geese skims yon-scrim of low cloud

Trees shed their glory like youth sheds its years

Under an awning of autumnal blaze

Vermilion rivers rush beneath our feet

Whispering echoes of fleet, sun-steeped days

X-tracting flavors of life, bitter-sweet

Young to old pause, awestruck by nature’s throng

Zenith of praise swells in Hallelujah-song

© Janet Martin

Autumn ABC's

 OctPoWriMo day 12

Applause of leaf is brief, my darling

Bric-a-brac of seasons spill

Causing balladeers to ponder

Death and life and time’s quadrille

Everything is ‘but a season’

Flowers flourish, fade and fall

God, the Keeper of earth’s garden

Heaps the deep with seeded hull

Intimate, nature’s undoing

Jars joy-sorrow intertwined

Keening Consciousness pursuing

Love-loss-longing’s heart-soul-mind

Mulled moments meld gold to crimson

Naked nods the ravished bloom

Opulence transposed; each petal

Plays a swansong on spring’s womb

Quiet quickens clapping coppice

Russet rivers rush beneath

Shadows draining summer’s waning

Tress upon tempest-tossed heath

Umber skeletal umbrellas

Vex wind-minstrels; poetry

Washes worlds, once full of leaf-song

Xylophone-like gong sets free

Yellow, garnet, bronze-keyed skylines

Zephyrs strum their melody

© Janet Martin

In Spite Of Life's Seasons

(photo by Victoria Martin)

Counting our blessings in spite of life's longings...

In spite of life’s heartache

Summer disappears

Into a bold backdrop

Of autumn and years

In spite of life’s trouble

Flowers flame then fade

Where Hours, like leaves fall

Through memories made

In spite of life’s sorrow

And its kind prelude

Earth bears the fullness

Of seasons subdued

In spite of Imminence

And its Vast Unknown

Time holds no secrets

From God on His throne

In spite of life’s has been

Or yet still must be

God does not forget

Or forsake you and me

Life unfolds seasons

And God holds the glass

His Hands form the channel

Through which seasons pass

© Janet Martin

That's the thing about life; 

it happens in seasons.
What now is will not remain
Save the Love and Grace
of God

 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 

singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father 

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Eph.5:15-20

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thursday Thoughts and Shots on Thanks-living (posted on Fri. due to Thurs.internet issues:)

This Monday Canada celebrates Thanksgiving.

Come to the Sea

 OctPoWriMo day 9 prompt: Today I'm suggesting you think about the elements, how they affect you and about the duality and contrast in them.

We always come back; something ‘bout the roar

-ing sea draws us, metallic green-blue-gray

Though its ebb-rolling tug-of-shore-to-shore

Cannot return Past or wash it away

How pleasant is its sun and sandy fringe

That stays the deep; we come to dream and sigh

Out to the line where heaven is a hinge

Touching horizon holding up the sky

The sea steals and seals; still, it gives us more

Constant the lure toward its song, wild, free

As if it were an old-time troubadour

And we the lucky listeners at its knee

Come to the sea; leave all your cares behind

For cares can wait until another day

Come, listen to it glisten, silver-lined

Atonement washes worry far way

© Janet Martin