Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Hour-flower Wine





The hour is full
The fruit of it falls
Petal and hull
To hallowed halls
Where the tapping
Of time’s feet
Presses a vintage
Bittersweet

© Janet Martin

The World Wakes With White Whispers...





The world wakes where white whispers waft like wisps of feather-down
To branch and bush, a plush hush blankets croft, countryside, town
The color-world of barefoot dreamers slumbers soft beneath
White silken skeins unraveled over hill, hollow and heath

Soon, soon, a sea of green will swoon and settle earth’s grass skirts
Around the ankles of each tree decked out in stiff-starched shirts
And where a world of white on white stretches from sky to sky
A rainbow tide of flowers will delight earth’s pale-faced sigh

This diamond-studded dalliance, this pillow-painted room
Where scraggly satin-swaddled stragglers wait for bud and bloom
Cannot maintain for very long such unblemished attire
Where once-upon-a-summer waits to set the world afire

The world wakes, washed with whispers from a winter feather-bed
How quietly across this time-tossed turf its quilt is spread
To wrap with white delight the may-and-might that soon deflates
And melts like snow, the swinging to and fro of heaven-gates

© Janet Martin


Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Fellow-men



 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Ps. 41:1


What gross ingratitude
To affix eye and sigh
To that which fits in pockets but
Can bleed the spirit dry

Time’s common ground is cursed
We thirst; sweat and tears pour
To the great equalizer, dirt
Where dust settles the score

The commotions we stir
To appease have and hold
Are nothing more than him and her
On ways to growing old

We bear a kindred sword
To toil and till this sod
Where diligent forefathers warred
And then returned to God

Shoulder to shoulder we
Of rich or poor acclaims
Are but part of a family
Of soon forgotten names

The by and by we seek
In spite of kith and ken
Binds us together, strong with weak
We are all fellowmen

© Janet Martin

This morning I prayed for a friend on a ten-day mission trip to Haiti, for a team from our church helping in Ecuador, for two men from our church leaving today for Haiti, for a friend helping fellowmen in Sri Lanka, just to name a few...it is a small world we share together. We should always endeavor to help each other!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Like Rose-petal Wine



First thank you all for your thoughts, wishes and prayers! I'm feeling better. It is going to take a few days to get back strength after living on tea, gingerale and sleep for a while. Not sure what I had but I am sure I never want it again. Emily tells me I had a real flu for the first time in my life. It does one good to lie there and remember those who are sick and whose mattress is a sidewalk or a silent, forgotten place and who have no loved ones to wish them well. 
Here in Ontario it is Family Day. I hope we re-acquaint ourselves with this beautiful blessing because nothing stays the same for long!


Highlights fade
Replaced, Betrayed
The plans we make or made Resign
To highs and lows
Doors gape then close
What comes soon goes; rose-petal wine

Days depart
And fill the heart
With art that thought alone recalls
Still, we admit
We cannot fit
The half of it upon heart-walls

Triumph, despair
Breathes the same air
This thoroughfare of tempering
Will soon unfold
New over old
Tis well to hold, futile to cling

Laugh, love, dance
This same romance
With circumstance ushers in tears
Where the carafe
Of all we have
Vaults like a wave then disappears

© Janet Martin

Thursday, February 11, 2016

In Case You're Asking 'Huh'?

If you've stopped by and think it strange
That for a few days there's been no change
I'd like to explain; I'm 'under the weather'
And hope to return when I'm feeling better

Janet

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Lavish Life with Love



'Why do you journal?' he asked.
'Because it all goes by so fast and this life deserves to be remembered', she replied
(also a line from Larkrise to Candleford)
See below for more lines gleaned from this show

It all goes by so fast
Each hour-bud to bloom
Is soon unfurled into the world
Seeds scattered on time’s tomb

It all goes by so fast
Time’s bleeding, pleading haste
Is like a glove of laugh-weep-love
Teasing our touch and taste

It all goes by so fast
Each lesson we must learn
Of gold and gray soon slips away
Sealed in Past’s iron urn

The hours fly so fast
Pray tell, what can we do?
Ah, simply this;
Slow down
Hold
Kiss
And 
Lavish them
With I love you,
I love you, I love you

© Janet Martin

Here are a few of my favorite lines snared from the BBC series
Larkrise to Candleford

Everyone's happiness is fragile;
All expectation can be dashed

Whatever goes on in that heart of ours
Should never affect our work

When a child is trying to become an adult
we call it the 'awkward age'.
But perhaps that awkward age never ends...
Perhaps we are all still children
trying to become adults

We do not need to fear change,
but neither do we need to be at the mercy of it

Our own consciences can torment us more
than the attack of others

These are night-thoughts.
The day will wash them away...

Holding resentment is like drinking poison
and waiting for the other person to die

We become who we ought to be
when we are driven by the needs of others

Isn't this how life works?
We take turns saving one another.

Poverty is no disgrace,
but only a fool would choose it.

We are all waiting,
but what comes along is usually not what we are waiting for.