Anything at All...

You could never
Disappoint me
Or hurt me
Or grieve me
You could not touch me
With mere spoken word
You could not
Thrill me
Or tease me
Or move me
And when you leave, dear
It would not hurt
You could not
Insult me
Or fulfill
Or affect me
By anything at all
That you could do
I would not remember
Or care or feel
Anything at all
If I did not love you

J~

Heaven...

In a perfect world
We would always say
The things that we should say…

In a perfect world
Loved ones would not hurt us
Or ever go away

In a perfect world
It would rain…
But just enough

And in a perfect world
We would never
Yearn for love

In a perfect world
I would know
What you are feeling

And in a perfect world
Words would never
Leave us reeling

In a perfect world
We would not need
To be forgiven

…but this world is not perfect
If it were…
…it would be Heaven

Janet~

Late July

The sky drips a sultry haze
Of dusty blues and purple-grays
The land succumbs to its caress
With pregnant field and willow-tress

The garden spills forth rampant bloom
A tangled, blissful living room
A haven to which I can flee
When little conflicts torment me

Hands touch the soil and pluck the weed
Fingers brush the fruited seed
Lips part wide to taste its fare
The wealth of earth, so pure and rare

I will not heed the scolding tune
To guilt me of one afternoon
Beneath the sweltering, sensuous sky
And the murmur of July

August hovers in the swell
Of tasseled corn and muffled knell
Where tumbled summer days collide
On a hazy, crazy ride

A blanket folds across the sky
To pull a lid over July
Shafts of dusk and muted day
Brush the swaths of fresh-mown hay

The silver trilling of the eve
Stirs my soul, willing to grieve
The dissonance of summer’s sigh
In the fading of July

Janet~

Charade...

Someday…
I will shake your hand
And introduce myself

I will let you see
A little of
The other side of me

And hope you understand
When I invite you to meet
My family

And I will tell you just a bit
Of what I love
And where I’m from

I may even ask your name
And 'have you
Lived here long?'

I’ll pretend that I don’t know
The sorrows of your life
…or your desire

And you will be
So kindly polite
As you inquire

About my life
And you’ll pretend
You never knew...

...then I’ll reply
Playing the part of
‘Stranger’ too



J~

Ten

There you were…
All arms and legs and giggles
And fanciful

There you were…
Looking at the world
Through the eyes of beautiful

There you were…
Weaving a trail
Of sunshine on this rainy day

There you were…
Bare-feet… and pony-tail
In wild disarray

There you were…
Sweeter than the top
Of a blueberry muffin

There you were…
Sun-dress, flip-flops
Aren’t you somethin’?

There you were…
The most precious creature
In the whole, wild world

You are ten
And you’re so beautiful
…little girl

Janet!

Victoria had a friend sleep over last night…
They just padded through the kitchen…
…two leggy little squirts
of sunshine, giggles…and just awake hair:)

Thank-you, God.

When I See You #2

When I see you
Walking toward me
With your familiar stride

When I see the life-lines
On your face
Reality jolts inside

When I see the pensive gaze
Stare beyond me
To relinquished dreams

When I see your fingers
Softly graze
Time’s unrelenting streams

When I see you ponder
Your life
And the course thereof

…I can’t help but wonder
Are you happy?
And in love…


J~

Thoughts...

The spirit wilts beneath criticism…
Like flowers in the blazing sun

Love cannot thrive under cynicism
Words are not quickly undone...

Silence is stunning grief
…after the onslaught of wrath

…yet often there is no relief
In its sorrowful after-math

There are only two kinds of tears...
Yours and mine

Though the song of summer and years
Sounds like crying sometimes...

We return…each to our own gardens
Like the bird to its nest

It is not hard to imagine
You…with your head on my chest

Like a raindrop creasing a puddle
A splash; it disappears

…so it is with moments
And laughter…and years

J~

No Return...

They come…they pass
To deck the grass
Where once fore-fathers bled
A breath, a sigh
A tear-dimmed eye
A bowing of the head

A little toil
Handful of spoil
A little joy and strife
Before we face
The God of grace
And the measure of our life

No return
We cannot burn
A moment or a day
But we can cope
With one true Hope
That never fades away

How swift they pass
Our days as grass…
Soon lie in fields to burn
The path we tread
Leads not to the dead
But to a place of no return…

Janet~

When I See You

When I see You push the tresses
Of the deepened night awry
When the timid light caresses
The low border of the sky
When the sea of dazzling starlight
Fades into the azure blue
Oh, my Lord, I am reminded
There is none like You

When I see the gleaming wheat fields
Where the dormant sod had been
And I see the fruit that earth yields
From the orchard, bent and green
When I see the bud awaken
By the nudging of the sun
My faith in You remains unshaken
Oh Lord,like You there's none

Season folding over season
Tears and laughter deck this sod
And I cannot find one reason
To deserve the love of God
Though life’s disappointment tests me
Though the drought may parch the land
Still I see You, God of mercy
When I cannot understand

When I see the earth surrender
To the seasons You ordain
When I see Your love so tender
Wash away sin’s wretched stain
When I gaze up to the heavens
To its vault of ethereal blue
Then remember…I’m forgiven
I cry, Lord, there’s none like You

Janet~