I Prayed a Prayer For You Today

I prayed a prayer for you today

I did not ask for sun-kissed slope

Or answers for the why of gray

But that the Lord would be your hope

I prayed a prayer for you, my friend

I did not plead for morrow’s length

But only for your need Today

I prayed the Lord would be your strength

I prayed a prayer for you Today

To One whose mercies never cease

I prayed that in each come-what-may

The Lord would be your perfect peace

© Janet Martin

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Isa. 26:3 

Would you join me in praying for Marina H. and Diane M. (and their families) as they struggle/suffer with concerns and cares that come with cancer...

'often all we can do is pray' remarked a friend on Facebook.

Amen and hallelujah!

Near the New Year...

I’d like to think I learned a thing

Or two when this year soundless falls

Into the urn of no return

I’d like to think its battered walls

Were not scribbled and scarred for naught

I’d like to think anew old thoughts

That one year prior I begot

Where now the heart and head recalls

The pitfalls and pinnacles oh,

That shaped this cape that draped the air

With mystery, 

now history

I’d like to breathe 

a little prayer

Of holy, 

humble gratitude

For mercy’s gift; 

a year renewed

Upon the shore of yore subdued

...I’d like to touch this moment where

We pause upon the brink of what?

We cannot know, but simply trust

The love of God that thus far brought

Us here remains faithful and just

As step by step and day by day

We live-laugh-love-work-hope and pray

Knowing that in each come-what-may

The God of old abides with us

© Janet Martin

A Song-of-Seasons Quilt

And that’s the way life is

A song-of-seasons quilt

Each swatch a patch stitched into place

With scenes that living spilt

The new year to the old

Is seamlessly adhered

The blunder with fresh wonder cast

To triumphs we revered

No rhyme or reason hints

What colors will appear

Or which will dominate the tints

That deftly binds a year

My, how time’s fingers fly

As tear and laughter threads

Are woven into symmetry

Charcoal, bronze, blues with reds

A colorful collage

Of gray to green to gold

The flower-garden dipped in frost

Bashful shades blend with bold

...as heart-string intersect

A tangled testament

For we know none can resurrect

One moment that is spent

Yes, that’s the way life is

From looms of grace-lace spilt

Time takes its This-and-That and makes

A song-of-seasons quilt

© Janet Martin

My sincere apologies to all but just for fun I 'stitched' the twelve squares together...

What a flashback! What a flash!

What a day yesterday was!

Beneath Downy Deep, Summer Lies Asleep

Without a word earth dons a winter coat

And ties a hat of wool under her chin

The garden is a dream in her pocket

The wind a trumpeter with rosy grin

The valley-green is muffled ‘neath a throw

Of diamond-dusted satin; stilled woods sigh

Where but a little autumn-while ago

Feet splashed through russet tatters of July

Behind doored walls with peepholes yellow-set

A coffee-flavored morning starts to stir

How suddenly its windowed frames forget

A world unfurled with flower-field color

The gray face of the sky tops every tree

Its pall, funereal-like, a stone-faced stare

Then like a surge of laughing girls set free

Ten-thousand ballerinas fill the air

...and the footwork of people fills the streets

Silence is spiked with fluffy white halloos

As if none have seen snow-scenes quite like this

The weather is the story on the news

Up yonder Old Man Winter clears his throat

Down-deep summer lies, sound asleep in bed

Without a word earth dons a winter coat

And ties a hat of wool upon her head

© Janet Martin

...well, maybe 'down-deep' is a bit of a stretch but the snow did not disappear with the rain yesterday,

as I mentioned it likely would...oh, well.