Humbled Hopers/Grumblers

We are under a huge ice-storm warning!

Already a hellion rages at our windows, while

We put flashlights and candles where we can find them in the dark,

 hoping against hope we won’t need them!!

 It has begun so hope rearranges its 'prayer-list' and puts new prayers to the forefront...

...for safety and strong hydro-lines!

Ah, turn that dial to a sky-smile

Ice is such a hellion

Or turn the rain to snow again

And I promise we won’t complain

Last week I know, we hated snow

And begged for mercy’s warmer gold

But now we’d settle for the nettle

Of a snowflake’s kinder cold

Nature shudders beneath rudders

Of a wild wind's wilful roar

Humbled wishing wants ‘The Something’

That we whined about before

© Janet Martin

Some reminders why we're apprehensive... 

Sinister beauty!

April 2013

 Dec.2013

 

  Feb. 2016

 

Mar. 2016

 We lost our beloved red  maple tree!

Ellipses of Awe

Aren't you glad the sky is beyond our reach?!
One place no one can make a mess of or try to add a 'personal touch':)

Beyond the hands of humankind

The heavens spread, unscathed, unmarred

To thrill the ilk of you and I

With trays, blue-gray-blush, silver-starred

We, more than ellipses of awe

And dust-lust, cup Myst’ry; It lies

Beneath the crepe that drapes the jaw

That shapes the chin tipped to yon skies

Where God grants glimpses to this globe

Of His unrivaled Majesty

The hemline of Time’s teeny robe

Trails across Infinity

(last two stanzas optional,
to finish this poem..not optional in life;-)

…where ‘no beginning and no end’

Evades the grasp of you and me

Meager Thought cannot comprehend

The compass of eternity

Beyond the hands of humankind

Heaven expands, a grand Buffet

To thrill the ilk of you and I

Until the thread of Time gives way

© Janet Martin

 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;

he seals off the light of the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens

and treads on the waves of the sea.

He is the Maker of the Bear^a and Orion,

the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,

miracles that cannot be counted.

When he passes me, I cannot see him;

when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

If he snatches away, who can stop him?

Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Job 9:7-12

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.

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