Heaven's Best.....

Hath not God dealt His fairest touch
Like perfect daisies in the spring
And violets in the underbrush
Has He not formed the sweetest thing
To beautify this sad old world
When He formed a little girl

Did He not take the finest thread
To weave her crown of innocence
And were not heavens teardrops shed
To place her in this insolence?
But yet He chose to grace this world
With heavens best; a little girl

He formed from rosebud her sweet lips
And from the sunsets ruby hue
He brushed her cheeks; her fingertips
Held by God now touches you
As He places in this world
His very best; a little girl

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Janet Martin

Hole in my Heart.....

There’s a hole in my heart, dear
Where you used to be
I’ve tried to fill it with somebody else
But it’s just not that easy you see
It’s tearing me apart, dear
No matter how hard I try
The great big hole in my heart, dear
It’s filled with the sound of good-bye

Keep your arms full of roses
I’ve never yet seen a one
Which does not drop all its petals
And all of the beauty is gone
As soon as the door softly closes
There’s just one thing that I see
So keep your arms full of roses
They’ll never replace you and me

Sugar and spice are for tea, dear
Diamonds for grand royalty
They may be lovely for someone to wear
But it will never be me
There’s a hole in my heart dear
And there’s not a thing I can do
For there’s no one in whole wide world
That will ever be me and you

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Janet Martin

Watching/listening to the movie Till the Clouds Roll By
(the life story of song writer Jerome Kerns) made me want to write
An old ‘black and white movie’ sad song…..the rain provokes
a desire to write sad songs too…and boy, do we have that !!!!

Farewell Sonnet

The ivy on the garden gate
Gleams silver in the moons soft eye
While melodies I love and hate
In symphonies go drifting by
The red rose flaunts her raindrop pearls
Maduro in a lily bed
As summer taunts from other worlds
Somewhere deep inside my head

The throb of amatorial song
Like an ancient madrigal
Whispers on her lips, her tongue
Where soft and silent moonbeams fall
And where they fall the petals weep
In affirmation to my fear
They lie where summer blooms now sleep
To bud again another year

I will not begrudge the wind
In her tormenting lullaby
The ecstasy of love is kind
But there is another side
I’ll take the pleasure with the pain
In love there is no other way
To simply love without the rain
Would be to love in shades of gray

To simply love and never lose
Is then to not have loved at all
And if I had the chance to choose
I’d release summer to fall
To surrender life’s fair best
We must suffer bitter pain
But when flowerless fields have passed
We know that love will come again

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Janet Martin

Sisters......

Was it not yesterday we laughed?
And climbed the shadowed limbs
Where silver petals shivered
In the flurry of the wind
And we would speak of our half-dreams
In wistful girls desire
But now her silver mantle gleams
On brows of tempered fire

Was it not yesterday we danced?
In meadows fancy free
Where every minute was enhanced
By dreams of what will be
Where hours drifted, now they race
As sunlight hurries by
And now we turn a softer face
Toward the whispering skies

Was it not yesterday our paths
Of life were much the same
We shared our pleasures and our strife
But then tomorrow came…
And now wherever we may roam
Regardless of the weather
It feels a bit like coming home
When we get together

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Janet Martin

Course of Life.....

Exquisite tendrils, gold-brushed sighs
Trickle from the morning skies
Silent sob in my embrace
This is life’s ever-changing face
Kaleidoscope of memories
Drifting on a tender breeze
As the struggling vine of June
Bursts into most glorious bloom

Kiss each moment, let it go
Tis the course of life you know
Flowers bloom and then they die
Soon it will be you and I
Urge the fledgling from the nest
Let them pursue and fail a test
Wipe your tears and let them go
Tis the course of life, you know

Hold them close and love them well
When it’s over none can tell
You may weep behind your smile
For once, you were your mother’s child
As kindly through her prayers and tears
She let you go yet held you near
Cherish every ebb and flow
Tis the course of life, you know


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Janet Martin

Mortality

Today is my ‘sweetest sorrow’ day
When memories like priceless tokens
Are tucked away,
As I stand on the brink
Of tomorrow today
And new beginnings
It’s a sweet crazy roller-coaster
As the wind and the rain
Cater in tender empathy
To my pleasure and pain
Oh what a ride,
This memory train is
Taking a journey again…
As I stand here and think
Of tomorrow today
And more precious moments
Are stolen away
And small grows
A little bigger every day
And the face in the window
Begins turning away
To chase the dream
Of childhood and youth
While I begin
To believe a truth
That we deny
When we are young
As days drift by
Like new love song
But now forces me to stand
Face to face with reality
One life is but a grain of sand
On the shore of time’s vast sea
A year is a trickle, one tiny seed
Mortality is fickle and brief indeed

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

My apologies...but
Labor Day seems to be a day
of tender torment:)

Autumn Wind

I embrace you, taunting, wild You dash from off the ridge In carefree gambols, like a child I race beneath the bridge Then suddenly, the bittersweet Snatches away my laughter As I see the sad retreat Of summer’s ever-after You tease the hunger in my soul My cheek longs for your kisses Your wanton ardor makes me whole Yet I spurn your caresses An imposter and a thief You charm with reckless fervor Mindless of the ragged grief Within the heart of summer If I were a marionette Then oh, how you could move me I would twirl and pirouette As you seduce and love me The passion in your cobalt eye Would fill this wretched hunger But you can never satisfy A true blue heart of summer All Rights Reserved Janet Martin

Better Way...

Seems like everyone is searching
For a better way
Better job, better hours
And of course, better pay
Better stuff, better house
Better lover, better wife
Better pastures in the distance
In a better, better life
Better music, better books,
Better kids, better dreams
Better clothes, better figure
Better waits or so it seems
Yet we miss the better, better
As in steadfastness He waits
While we gaze in futile longing
Past a better, better Gate
Better hope, better peace
Better joy, better love
Better riches that increase
In better mansions up above
Better promise, better glory
In a better, better day
For Jesus is the Only
And the better, better Way

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin