Thursday, April 19, 2018

I Thought I Saw a Butterfly...



Out of the corner of my eye
I thought I saw a butterfly
But it was only last year’s autumn leaf
Cartwheeling by

Out of the corner of my ear
I thought I heard a rain-cloud tear
But it was just a snowflake’s
Somersaulting leer

Out of the corner or my nose
I thought I sniffed a whiff of rose
But it was only my imagination
On its tippy-toes

Out in the corner of yon mead
I thought the green of spring had spread
But it was just a pretty picture in a poem
That I read

Out of the corner of my eye
I thought I saw a butterfly
But it was only last year’s autumn leaf
Cartwheeling by


© Janet Martin

Sacred Thread


 PAD Challenge day 19: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Thread;” replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new phrase the title of your poem; and then, write your poem.

Since I seem to be drawn to Alison Krauss's music these days, how about two more more?



Ain’t it fine, love?
Aint it lovely?
Aint it somethin’ to behol’
We don’t need to
Fret or worry
God is always in control

When the thread
Of life-love-laughter
Gets all tangled in our sigh
Someone is still
Looking after
All the knots we can’t untie

Aint it precious,
Aint it perfect
We of mortal dust-to-dust
Never need to
Fret or worry
If our hearts can learn to trust

Trust Him with
What-if and maybe
Trust Him with this thread of Death
That becomes
A sacred lifeline
When it frays with our last breath

© Janet Martin


Immaculate Thread




 PAD Challenge day 19: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Thread;” replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new phrase the title of your poem; and then, write your poem.




The beauty of it helps Her brave
The force of Time’s persuasive wave
Drawing from arms, the girl and boy
That fuels Her heartbeat with joy

But still no matter what Change brings
It never severs Her heart-strings
No matter where Her children roam
These strings will keep them close to home

© Janet Martin

Heartstrings also keep truck-driving hubbies close;-)

 

Rare Thread

  

"For My hand made all these things, 
Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD. 
"But to this one I will look, 
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, 
and who trembles at My word.…
Isa.66:1-2 



Mankind is held, beheld, beloved
By One we cannot see
Save in the thousand-thousand ways
He grants glimpses for free

Beneath, above and all around
There’s no denying this
No matter where on earth we look
The God of Heaven IS

We, on God’s footstool, must admit
Nobody can detail
The oracle of instinct, save
By He who does not fail

The thread of Miracle is love
Before the world began
The Master of Time's essence wove
A most mirac'lous plan

Should it not make us tremble then
His miracles enthrall
We, held, beheld and beloved by
The Weaver of it all

© Janet Martin

 PAD Challenge day 19: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Thread;” replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new phrase the title of your poem; and then, write your poem.


Fragile Thread

PAD Challenge day 19: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Thread;” replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new phrase the title of your poem; and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “New Thread,” “Old Thread,” “Twitter Thread,” and “Blue Thread.”

 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. 
What is your life? 
You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
James 4:14 NIV



A cavalcade of seasons that no lariat can lasso
Where we are oft betaken by its green-gold-red-white hue

Where highs and lows of thorn and rose bestow both prick and prize
The wicked and the wonder-full entangled in our sighs

…where feather, knife, tickles and slices; rife with pleasure-pain
To we, a breed of need and greed, subject to sun and rain

…and lingering where giddy pink and bronze undo the day
Until the very ground beneath our feet is drawn away

…and tucked beneath the hierarchy of stars above a sphere
Where years, like moths and fireflies flit by and disappear

…where we are oft left breathless by the impact of tick-tock
And how that Door to yesterday no latchkey can unlock

…where Now is always caught between The Was and What Will Be
A vapor on the Very Brink of Vast Eternity

…where awesome separation betwixt living and the dead
Are held into existence by One Single Fragile Thread

© Janet Martin



 Psalm 39:5
"Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, 
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; 
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. 
Selah.


We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 
For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,  
and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, 
and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.
...continued here in Heb. 2

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

To We Who Are Tempted...

PAD Challenge day 18: For today’s prompt, write a temptation poem.

Yielding to temptation is the mother of sin Gen. 3
Jesus was tempted and sinned not. Luke 4
 We are all tempted.
Temptation is not the problem...
but what we do with it might possibly be!


We are masters
Of Invention
When temptation
Needs excuse
My, but somehow
Human weakness
Finds a vice
It can't refuse

We are creatures
Born to habit
Temptation
Dangles its bait
But it never
Ever forces
Anyone to
Take a bite

Eve, for all
The trees in Eden
Lusted for
Forbidden fruit
Took a bite
Gave some to Adam
And from there
Sin's seed took root

Don't you hate it
When first morning
Meets its golden
Sunshine mark
...and the 'crumbs'
Of 'secret snacking'
Looked much better
In the dark

Janet Martin~