On Rehearsing Farewell

I taste the word slowly

Like the long last tolling of a bell

For it seems I am unready

To say farewell

I touch the word softly

Swift through the heart seasons fell

Leading to the unrehearsed sorrow

Of fond farewell

I test the word bravely

Stunned by how two syllables

Can stir a lifetime of memories

Farewell

Farewell

© Janet Martin

Someone asked me today if I'm sad because this is my last school  picnic. 

(Victoria, our youngest daughter graduates Gr.8 next week and we will bid farewell to the school-family that has been part of our lives for 18 years!)

While I have always known this is the natural order of things, the 'best wishes' that began today caught me off-guard as I began to realize how much-loved these teachers are and how much-missed they will be!

This song above has been going around in my head as I painted the bathroom this evening.

 (the plumber came in to change taps on an old pedestal sink that has been here as long as the house so he had to remove the sink from the wall to install the taps which resulted in a wall needing a bit of repair which resulted in the wall needing paint which resulted in an unexpected chore this evening;)

I was going to post a few pics but the internet is too slow...if it doesn't change I might need to quit blogging. It is a severe test of patience to post...

About Today

 Dear fellow-creatures, praise our God of love

That we are so admonished that no day

Of conscious trial be a wasted day... 

 W.H.Auden from Canzone

When I try to bear tomorrow’s care

It steals the strength I need

To do the task that this day asks

Of me…

Tomorrow’s care is always there

So help us Lord, I pray

To seek to do our best for you

Today

To borrow from tomorrow we cannot;

Time's forward flow

Pours from a place where by God's grace

We go

© Janet Martin

The Call of Pen and Ink

The call of pen and ink can kindle in the human breast

Surges of fear and doubt, of joy and want to write our best

It feeds a need to plant a seed of hope to all who trod

Toward the Awesome Ultimate when we answer to God

This epoch of existence in the skin of flesh and blood

Ere Time’s last sea is parted and its vapor twinkle snuffed

Ignites a holy urgency where pen and ink ally

To light a wick on candlesticks of paper torch held high

The call of pen and ink can seem modest; its flicker drowned

In bravado of babble that rocks outer worlds with sound

For warriors of word wear no insignia or mark

To tell of battles fought or courage taught in night’s deep dark

Still, they have wept where losses and the crosses that they bear

Though not apparent at first-glance have bent their knees in prayer

On blank-paper resistance, dogged soldiers of this sword

Have learned to brave staid silence as they wait upon the Lord

The call of pen and ink is but the medium whereby

The call of God can touch the heart and open up the eye

To He who WAS and IS and will forevermore endure

Then pray the words we lay to page are love-inspired, pure

The Awesome Ultimate invokes with purpose, every pen

To God be the full glory of the words written by men

For as we trust His Hand to commandeer our hands that brim

With humble call of pen and ink t'will be from and for Him

Janet Martin~

If Thought Had No Worry and Heart Had No Care...

After a very dry beginning to spring, the end of May until now have been sopping! Gardens and fields are ponds and lakes...

If thought had no worry

And heart had no care

And only light laughter

Would waft on the air

Then tell me. My precious

If ease filled life’s trove

How would we recognize

Hope, joy and love?

If thought had no worry

And heart had no care

Tell me, would we still be

Faithful in our prayer?

© Janet Martin

'Dear me, how happy and good we'd be if we had no worries', said Meg from Little Women

Tip 'o the Hat to Little Touches

I finished reading the book Little Women yesterday. Here is another bit from the book that brought a smile in my 'little while' with the Marches. Jo is learning the art of Beth's housekeeping duties after Beth's death;

‘Wholesome, humble duty…little touches here and there to keep everything fresh and cozy which was the first step in making home happy'…Louisa M. Alcott in Little Women

It inspired me to see where I could create a bit of 'happy' for our home...

 peonies from the garden

pictures for the wall

 

pillow for the chair (Birthday gift from my sister)

poetry for the table,

flowers from the fence-line

Kind little touches do so much

 To make a house a home

 A little flower on a shelf,

A book of prose or poem

To make the reader take more care

Of his or her wee life; aware

That nothing ever stays too long

And so we splash the air with song

Or set a kettle on to boil

To pour some tea between our toil

Where all those must-be tasks soft-smile

And add the worth to our while

…and so we put a pillow here

A sprig of willow on the mirror

Or walk along the fence to find

Wild blooms that wind-song left behind,

Or sweep the porch before we set

A pot of pansies on its step

Or hang a picture on the wall

Or bake a cake knowing the small

Touches of love cheer those who come

To little things that make a home

And oft we should season the air

With words of kind comfort and prayer

And treat this gift from God with awe

That He in tender mercy saw

It fit to bless a bit of loam

With happiness that we call home

© Janet Martin

I hope you are inspired to create your own 'bit of happy'.
God bless our homes!

(This poem was written with the assumption that faith, hope and love abide,

For then what good is all the rest but painted bits of pride

Then pray the Lord our homes to be reflections of His kind mercy)