Thursday, April 12, 2018

Lament For the Human Bent

PAD Challenge day 12: For today’s prompt, write a lament poem. 

Have we not all lamented with Paul..."oh, wretched man that I am!!?" 

Whether we're here

...or here...


...we're all in this together!
Let's love one another, 'kay?



To keep us sympathetic to the plight of fellowmen
It seems that we need small or big reminders now and then
But bent of human nature is a hard fellow to shake
Inclined to the returning to habits so hard to break

With honk of horn and shake of fist (or, one finger salutes)
The ‘better man’ we plan to be ‘the other man’ refutes
Though hearts often soften when stunned by grief and tragedy
Soon it seems they slip back into the Who-we-used-to-be

But lest Best Intention succumbs to laments of defeat
It’s “up and at ‘em, everyone, love ain’t no easy-street”
The donuts(or do-nots) we indulged in or the good that we neglect
The ‘moral treason’ we commit… Today we will correct!

...and lest our prideful nature thinks we can do it alone
We should humble our want and wish so sly and stumble-prone
Before the throne of He whose loving kindness is the grace
That overcomes the nature so common to human race

© Janet Martin


 
The Conflict of Two Natures
      14For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

      21I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Middle-Stage Woman



 So far middle-age is much better than I thought it would be...
when I was young!
I wonder how soon I'll read this poem...
and wish I would have kept my tongue?!😁


...using the word 'tea' as a good get-together reason for catching up with each other's busy lives
  my sisters, sisters-in-laws and mom got together at Lucy's house on Monday afternoon.
We are all approaching, discovering or well into 'middle-stage' (yes, even mom...she's not 80 yet:)
thus, finding in spite of many differences, much common ground!

(A few tea-cup pics from Victoria's collection)


Caught between flattery of youth
And wisdom of the sage
We covet both; small-talk and truth
A woman, middle-stage

A bit of whimsy, never spent
As moments take their toll
To leave us, modestly content
In weathered skin of soul

A girl disguised by wear and tear
Of day-to-week to years
That we know will always be there
Though her face disappears

…and leaves what may seem at first glance
A book, quite nondescript
Where chapters of love-loss-romance
‘neath seasoned Cover slipped

Those well-intended promises
We made when we were young
And Time won’t let her keep, I guess
Will keep her going strong

...just a tree, missing a few leaves
Bloom with some petals lost
Just a girl trading first fancies
For Things That Matter Most

…determined, with humility
To embrace turn of page
Graced with ancient discovery
Of women, middle-stage

© Janet Martin



Poet's Fair Warning...

Challenge from Poetic's Aside, day 11: For today’s prompt, write a warning poem. Warnings can be found everywhere: on the labels of medicine, in the speeches of leaders, and in the advice of parents.
 Even stories and poems have been known to harbor warnings.






Don’t look at me like that
Don’t breathe or speak a word
But don’t say nothing much; you’ll touch
A sentimental chord

Don’t fling wide blue-white sky
Or fill it up with dark
That moonstone to the poet’s eye
Like kindling to a spark

Don’t be so young or old
Or half-way in between
Don’t be so purple, pink and gold
Sea-song aquamarine

…or love or hate or sing
Or sleep, eat, fly or fall
Don’t brood like woods waiting for spring
Or chill winds, autumnal

Don’t smile or shed a tear
Or tell of home, sweet home
Unless you are prepared, my dear
To see it in a poem

© Janet Martin

...last night's 'supper-poem'!

A Sure Thing


They say in life there are only two sure things; death and taxes.
Well, it's tax season!
The time of year we must account for earnings and losses...
of dollars that is!
The other Account comes after the Other Sure Thing...

 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Ah, here is moral ground on which to establish Truth,,,



It hurts and heals, it lends and steals
It tears and mends and molds
The best of life and worst of life
Into elusive folds

It breaks the bread of living
Into crumbs soft-swept away
And keeps us always on the verge
Of Almost Yesterday

It foists on boist’rous gait, the weight
Of an Unseen Offing
The After-death, Doubters debate
The dying; A Sure Thing

A beast that feasts on moments, oh,
We pet and stroke its fur
A love-hate, touch-taste, hold-let-go
That leads to for-ev-er

A poet with a pen called Breath
Authors life's requiem (rek-wee-uh m)
Where what we do with what we have
Will be its total sum

© Janet Martin

Until this morning I thought the word requiem rhymes with the word dream or hymn
but I decided to double-check, just in case!
Did you know it's a three-syllable word ending with the um sound?!
OH!!! what new rhyming possibilities have just been born in this poem-lorn brain😄


Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Real Deal NOT A Fair Deal, But A Very Big Deal...and a Done Deal!

For today’s Two-for-Tuesday prompt:
  1. Write a deal poem.
  2. Write a no deal poem.


God said,
So, here’s the deal
Man’s doomed to hell
Their best works
Infested by pride
A hopeless lot
Me, oft forgot
Unless their
Comfort is denied
The curse they bear
Since Eden where
Evil dared Eve to take a bite
Then Adam too, brought, through these two a need man's sacrifice can't right
We need a Lamb, A perfect Lamb without blemish or spot, to heal
Jesus said, ‘Father, here I AM’... God said, my Beloved, so, here’s the deal...
Son, I'll send You
Faultless and true
To be the scapegoat
for My Bride
Humility
And love will be
Tortured, hated,
then crucified
So that The Lost
(though vile the cost)
May find hope through
their sins forgiven
The cross becomes
A footbridge from
the gates of hell
to the gates of Heaven
That's the deal,
Mt precious Son
Jesus replied,


© Janet Martin