Forced Early Retirement

I was not planning on retiring my broom and mop

Or putting my feet up, while in the orchard apples drop

But somehow you seduced me with your soft sun-dappled dance

And I could not resist a stroll among my garden plants

Where suddenly my to-do list became a ball and chain

Suggesting I retire from life's laundry-cook-clean-strain

And I could not think of one reason why I should decline

An offer that would allow me a bit of reading-time

 

A sit beneath the blue, blue August afternoon-wide sky

So by reason of flower force and wind-song lullaby

And cricket-serenade permitting, nay, urging I shirk

The rigid line that never strays too far from work-work-work

Thus I retired; no, I had not planned to quit so soon

But I was sweet-talked into it by August’s afternoon

© Janet Martin

 

I was not planning on retiring my broom and mop

Or putting my feet up, while in the orchard apples drop

But somehow you seduced me with your soft sun-dappled dance

And I could not resist a stroll among my garden plants

Where suddenly my to-do list became a ball and chain

Suggesting I retire from its laundry-cook-clean strain

And I could not think of one reason why I should decline

An offer that would allow me a bit of reading-time

A sit beneath the blue, blue August afternoon-wide sky

So by reason of flower force and wind-song lullaby

 And cricket-serenade permitting, nay, urging I shirk

The rigid line that never strays too far from work-work-work

Thus I retired; no, I had not planned to quit so soon

But I was sweet-talked into it by August’s afternoon

© Janet Martin

...even if it is only a thirty minute retirement... take it, dear girl! 

Before the white wind wails

through a white, white world

Rain-love

Today's inform challenge at Poetic Bloomings is short and sweet; the Dodoitsu.  The Dodoitsu is a fixed folk song form of Japanese origin and is often about love or humor. It has 26 syllables arranged as four lines of 7, 7, 7, 5 syllables respectively. It is unrhymed and non-metrical.

Soft rain slips a cool blanket

Over the rounded shoulders

Of a summer-weary earth

Drained of its laughter

© Janet Martin

We are love-loving the rain after a scorching summer!

Like Old Postcards

We strain to grasp at days gone by

Faded, like old post cards

Their frayed-edge bare foot echoes fly

O’er long-forsaken yards

Where now and then a picture show

Of younger, longer days

Replays time’s tender ebb and flow

Before our shut-eye gaze

And tenderly we touch the air

That wears upon its screen

The mystic remnant of a stair

That leads to what has been

…and what never again will be

Its places overgrown

With many a faded memory

Still clinging to its stone

© Janet Martin

A few weeks ago we attended a family reunion on the farm where my dad grew up! In the afternoon they shared some childhood memories, leafing through fond, faded postcard-like pictures to share a few favorites.
My dad recalled haying days and the fresh bread and jam his mother wiuld bring out to them for a snack. He said in his mind nothing ever tasted better! that made me think of a poem she would quote to us when we didn't want to eat our crusts...

The Crust of Bread

by Anonymous

I MUST not throw upon the floor
—The crust I cannot eat;
For many little hungry ones
—Would think it quite a treat.

My parents labor very hard
—To get me wholesome food;
Then I must never waste a bit
—That would do others good.

For wilful waste makes woeful want,
—And I may live to say,
Oh! how I wish I had the bread
—That once I threw away!

My grandmother was a storehouse of quotes and proverbs gently reminding us to live well and wise.

Her daughters recalled how she would remind them 'it is a sin to steal a pin'.
Her sons look back and remember a father often stern but with a keen sense of humor. He taught them to pay their bills on time...if you were worth their while to fill your order they should be worth your while to pay promptly...in person!
They said he never mailed his cheques but liked to deliver them personally!
After farming, in 'retirement' my grandpa did roofing until Alzheimers forced him to put his hammer down!
I remember many roofing stories repeated, fading to half-stories fading to lips searching for words and hands reaching toward a lost, invisible world.

Cyndy’s post this morning stirred, for me, a fond return to snuggling under hand-stitched quilts with shivers of delight as the train wailed and rumbled through the night and we would strain to hear its whistle a few miles further on and then, still the low, rhythmic moan of steel wheels fading…fading…back into black silence.

 ( and oh, how black that silence was!  I wished my brothers would not have made so much noise when they were told, more than once to ‘be quiet and go to sleep’, because then mom or dad would turn out the light in the hall and my, how pitch black that blackness was to a wide-eyed girl too old to be afraid of the dark)

Sometimes, they would remember 'the girl afraid of the dark' and turn it back on, but if they did not it was unthinkable to usurp their authority and turn it on myself!

Some of my old favorite train-songs...

 

So sorry! this turned into a long post as I hopped aboard the memory-train:)

Bit of Ink...

How curious that a bit of ink

Twisted into letters, then word

Can move the mind to think and think

And touch the heart to wonder stirred

A bit of ink can paint a tree

All heavy-bent with summer’s cape

It unveils thought; un-dams a sea

Where poetry and song take shape

How curious that a bit of ink

Can put a smile upon the lip

Or kiss the downcast sky with pink

Or be like a passenger ship

A bit of ink can make us blush

If it reminds us of our guilt

It buoys our pull and push

When it is wise and gently spilt

How lovely that a bit of ink

From me to you can wish us well

And be a world-wide common link

By what a bit of ink can spell

 © Janet Martin 

Sometimes I'm blown away by the inexhaustible potential of a bit of ink! 

What have you written lately?

A recipe, card, letter, grocery list, song, story, poem, note, a love-note, maybe?
an information article, cartoon, an obituary, a memorial tribute, resume`, a speech, an address,

reminder, to-do list, a prayer, instructions, directions, a blog post, an apology ? 

The options are quite endless:)

First and Foremost

Before the day is too far gone

Before we head to this and that

Before we put our work-face on

And see where our tasks are at

Before we break our daily bread

Even before coffee is poured

Or we have climbed from our beds

We first should stop and seek the Lord

…then, with His hand to lead the way

We are prepared to face the day

© Janet Martin

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, 

for I have put my trust in you. 

Show me the way I should go, 

for to you I entrust my life.

Ps.143:8