Touching a Memory

To touch you in a memory
Is like trying to touch a shadow
I reach for you as you slip from me
Into a reminiscent meadow
For as I reach to try and brush
The tear-drop from your eye
You fade into the evening hush
Like a phantom butter-fly
And all I can see is the grass and the trees
When I try to touch you in my memories

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Janet Martin

I'm Watching You

I see the way you look at Dad
And how he looks at you
I know when you’re feeling sad
And when you’re happy too
I notice if a sigh should slip
At the end of a busy day
Or when a smile teases your lips
And I know that you are okay
Cause mom I’m watching you and mom I see
It’s mostly what you do that is teaching me

I know there are things you need to tell
Before I am all grown
But I don’t always remember so well
And we don’t learn by words alone
Although I appreciate it mom
The wisdom you pass to me
I know in the end I will become
What you do and what I see
For I hear so much more than the words you say
I hear what you do, how you live day by day

I listen a little, or at least I try
‘Cause that’s what good children should do
But I hear much more by the light in your eye
Or the tone that is shining through
I hear what you do with the words you say
For action speaks louder than voice
I hear the way you live every day
Mom, I really have no choice
And perhaps I’m telling you something you knew
But I want you to know I’m watching you

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Janet Martin

hi moms.....you know those beautiful home-made cards
your children give you.....filled with precious and
priceless words.....do you find they can be quite sobering too?

Don't Move....

Don’t move, no, don’t even smile
I want to look at you like this for a while
Let me trace the edge of this moment
With trembling finger-tips
And imprint it on my heart-beat
Before this memory slips

Blue is more than a color on you
It’s the envelope of intangible hue
Wrapping this night in my heart of hearts
Before it melts away
And life’s cruel reality tears us apart
At the break of day

So don’t move, oh, don’t break the spell
Ask no questions, you know me too well
And I just don’t want this moment to fade
Into vague obscurity
So don’t move until I’ve made
A picture of this memory

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Janet Martin

I Miss You More......

Some nights I miss you when you’re not here with me
And somebody else sits where you should be
No newspapers scattered all around your chair
I don’t need to tidy your hats and footwear
I miss the way I hear you slam the door
But on a night when it rains I miss you more

I miss the chat over a hot cup of coffee
Or simply listening to the rain on the street
I hear the water spray as the traffic goes by
There’s nothing to say when there’s no you and I
I know that I have missed you before
But on a night like tonight I miss you more

If you were here there would be a good chance
That the rain was the music to which we would dance
There’s something ‘bout rain that stirs my heart
But I like it better when we’re not apart
And I miss the way you close the door
‘Cause on a night like tonight I miss you more

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Janet Martin

I Could Get UsedTo This.....

I could get used to pouring your coffee
Especially on a rainy day
I could get used to drawing the curtains
To keep the morning away
Or in the evening when everyone’s sleeping
And the moon is a pale-silver-blue
I could get used to silently sneaking
Into the foot-hills with you

I could get used to hearing your whispers
Even when you’re far from me
Knowing that anything that really matters
Will return eventually
I could get used to watching the sunset
In your arms at the close of the day
I could get used to this, darling why is it
That somehow life gets in the way?

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Janet Martin

You Really Never Left Me

I could not hold you
You slipped away
The blue-capped moment
Of yesterday
Shimmers in
The morning mist
Upon the field
Where I was kissed
As our faded
Shadows lie
Silent, jaded
‘neath the sky

But you’re still near
I’m never alone
It’s your voice I hear
In the telephone
It’s your lips I see
In every smile
Your memory
Paints every mile
Summer, winter
Spring or fall
You really never
Left at all

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Janet Martin

Truth

Like petals that drift from the apple-tree
Your words return on the wind
Beautiful sentiments spoken to me
Syllables noble and kind

Tell me again the words you said
They are so lovely to hear
Echoing now within my head
Laughing in my ear

“You are so beautiful, the one I adore
Please, lay your head on my chest
I’ve never loved anyone like this before
Darling, you are the best

Words like precious and perfect and fine
I taste them in tiny sips
I long to drink the sweet red wine
Flowing from your lips

But now I reflect on your many words
Alone, when the night wind is still
For darling, your eyes tell me so much more
Than the words from your lips ever will

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Janet Martin

Power

You make us do and say
Things….
To the right or left
The pendulum
Swings
Good and evil both
Have no limits
You are the beginning
Of what we do
With it….
We nurture either one
Or the other
One we indulge
While the other
We smother
Thought
You wield a mighty
Sword
We see its yield
In our deeds
And word

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Janet Martin