Summer's Farewell

I guess you noticed the way that the sun
Wept yellow love from the sky
You couldn’t resist the way that she kissed
The brook that went laughing by
The ivy that clung to the wall of cold stone
Gleamed like the light in my eye
I guess you noticed that it’s a great day
Perfect for saying good-bye

Azure and gold are the colors of love
Nature’s most tender caress
But I feel a cold wind moan from above
Beneath heavens happiness
I see the silhouette of a dance
A slow-churning quadrille of grief
A wave of despair hovering in the air
Like the flight of a wind-blown leaf

I guess you noticed the hint of a chill
Like the strain of a distant lute
Wafted upon a scarlet arm
With a mandolin and flute
And off in the distance of this perfect day
I see a blue tear in the sky
For I see you softly drifting away
In this perfect day for good-bye

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Janet Martin

Silent Good-bye

Silverly, silently you slip away
Into the night on your chariots of grey
Soundless the stead that draws you afar
Across the dark mead and beyond the pale star
Summer, ah summer, once lusty and green
Now a parched shell of what once had been

Tearfully, tenderly I watch as you go
Wantonly, wistfully; there is naught I can do
To bid you return; like the wisp of a sigh
You are gone like a friend who does not say good-by
Summer, ah summer, my bittersweet pain
I wish we could start all over again

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Janet Martin

Time Well Spent.....

Today I am just going to hold you
You grow up way too fast
It seems each time that you wake up
You’re bigger than the last
So I am going to hold you
These hours are not in vain
For you are never going to be
Quite this small again

Today I am going to hold you
And kiss your baby cheek
I’ll print a picture in my mind
Of baby as you sleep
I’ll clasp your little hand in mine
And pray that God will be
The One you follow as you grow
And see His love through me

I’ll brush your silky hair of gold
And whisper in your ear
Then may each loving prayer enfold
You; when you’re far from here
Today I am going to hold you
For I know soon you’ll be
Eighteen; with nothing left to hold
But precious memory

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Janet Martin

Wanderlust.......

Lead me through pleasant pastures today
The sky is pure blue and the earth a display
Of God’s vibrant palette in brilliant delight
Let’s cherish these hours before it is night

Lead me ‘cross these oceans of amber and rust
Beneath a pavilion of blue wanderlust
If blue has perfection then today must be
A celestial masterpiece of infinity

Lead me to the cool of the dark timberline
Where wildflowers pool in ravishing design
And the silence is broken by one tender breeze
Playing her harp in the grass and the trees

Lead me across this earth’s carpet of beauty
Freedom is cursed in the shackles of duty
It’s good for a body to just get away
Oh, lead me across pleasant pastures today

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Janet Martin

Autumnal Wind.....

Today she is gentle, then furious and flexed Her discourse a blending of wistful and vexed She teases each careless blade of grass Then weeps in frustration as moody clouds pass She is Gold in the presence of the valiant sun Bold in the essence what is to come She is Tenderness; a soft sweet seduction She is Wild; raw and edgy; an unpredictable unction She is a soul-mate, a lover, a friend She is a powerful passionate blend Of laughter and teardrops, she is harsh, she is kind She is a woman; the autumnal wind All Rights Reserved Janet Martin

It Will Pass......

It will pass eventually
That sorrow deep inside of me
The burning yearning for the sun
The bud that blooms, the meadow yon
The azure longing for a sky
Where pure white lambs go smiling by…..

It will pass some way, somewhere
Up into the purple air
I will release on silver wing
Every warm and dew-kissed thing
The scarlet bliss where sunsets lay
Closing out a summer day…..

It will pass; melancholy
Oh, what would become of me
If not for hope which beats within
Summertime will come again
This sorrow; it will pass away
Just as it does each year…..in May

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Janet Martin

My 18 yr. old daughter sat to the computer tonight
and said “Whoa!!! Mom’s going through
summer withdrawal already????!!!!!”


Today I changed my desk-top background to
A photo I took a few months ago
At the beach….the sun on a dazzling sea!
The one shown above!


Riddle: Guess who does NOT read this blog!!!!!

Don't Mind Me....

Don’t mind me
I don’t really cry
I think it could be
Some dirt in my eye
I really should love
The purple hill
As the lone mourning dove
Croons its sad farewell

Don’t mind me
Or the rain on my cheek
Was the green maple tree
Not in bud last week?
Yet now she flaunts
A coat of red
As autumn taunts
In tears unshed

Don’t mind me
Or the mist on my face
Each fond memory
Finds a resting place
In tender folds
Somewhere within
A heart’s touch of gold
In a cold autumn rain

Don’t mind me
I don’t really cry
I think it could be
The deep blue of the sky
Reminded me of someone
I used to know…..
And yesterday can be
A long time ago

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Janet Martin

Dark.............

A moonless night is deeper still
Its silence so much darker
There is a hunger in its chill
And every tree’s a stranger
With dark skeletal fingertips
Reaching far away
Across a lawn of foreign shapes
Where children laugh by day

A moonless night is like the mind
When darkness creeps within
And unexpectedly we find
A cold sadness begin
As cruel and calloused fingertips
Claw at the weakest parts
And with its evil talon grips
The loneliest of hearts

But just as on a moonless night
We know the moon is there
Casting off her silver light
Behind the cloudy stare
As in the darkness of the mind.......
The Light will never dim
If we can leave our fear behind
And simply trust in Him

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Janet Martin

In Every Life........or A Little Rain

In every life a little rain
A little pain must be
In every life a lonesome wind
But by and by the breeze
In every life the Milky Way
Is just a distant gleam
In every life, oh darling
There’s the power of the dream

In every life the curtain drops
So let’s not waste a day
For none knows when the music stops
So live, laugh, love and pray
In every life farewell tears flow
I guess this is the rain
But darling, oh I know you know
I’d do it all again

In every life a little cold
A little summer too
And darling, if I must grow old
May I do it with you?
In every life a little rain
But darling, aren’t you glad
That we shall not have lived in vain
Oh, what a dance we’ve had


All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin



....a rainy day and oldies!!!
A lethal combination:)

September's Eve.....

You crept in early this eve; the night
A blanket of blue across the daylight
Stealthily exchanging in your subtle way
The gold fields of noon for meadows of grey
And only a brave little cricket or two
Were there to bid this day adieu

You are a silent and glorious thief
Chilling the summer heart with your grief
Yet stirring the soul with autumnal senses
A passion unbridled and void of defenses
I savor the blend of gentle and brusque
A lone spectator on the brink of dusk

Here in the stillness I sadly descry
The hem of sweet summer rustling by
I reach out to touch her silky train
The elusive essence of a misty rain
But she turned……once…..to smile at me
In empathetic sympathy

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Janet Martin

I Love You....

What does this really mean?
There’s the instant worship of seventeen
There’s a love that is kindled by beauty’s caress
In the rapture of youth and the Enchantress
There is love of innocence and fantasy
The perfect dream of what love will be…
The love that is fed by absence’ desire
Silent tears shed at a lonely fire
There is love of family, love of friends
And love to withstand all that this life sends
There’s the love of a mother, the love of a wife
The love of each other and the love of life
There is passion and sorrow and heart-wrenching bliss
There’s pain and hunger in an absent kiss
There is love penned in sonnets and poetry
Of love that was and that will be
There’s the loveliness of youth and the beauty of years
As fancy becomes truth in loves laughter and tears
I love you; sweet at the beginning, but sweeter my friend
If love remains true to the very end
After the wooing and after the strife
Love is the crown of an honorable life
I love you; now tell me, tell me true…
Aren’t you glad it ended with……..you?
Ah love, methinks you will ever be
Life’s sweetest, most anguishing mystery

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Janet Martin