Word Pictures......

There are few things
Which I enjoy better
Than viewing a painting
With the art of a letter
For letters arranged
Turn into a word
And the scenes they create
Leave the senses stirred
There’s nothing comparable
To move me, I find
Like a picture that’s painted
Upon a mind

Janet~

November Skies....

Beneath your drooping leaden eyes
The earth in gray surrender lies
Poised in cold expectancy
Knowing soon what is to be
The trickle of a frosty tear
Garnishes a fading year

The sapphire gaze of summer-past
Is dark and gray in eyes down-cast
The summer heart in empathy
Returns your sad melancholy
But oh, we know we will not cry
There’s beauty in this lullaby

A reckless wantonness ignites
Within your charcoal, smoldering sights
For what is to be must be….
You fling aside your misery
And shower on the earth below
Your tears in diamonds made of snow

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Janet Martin

We are ‘poised’ on the edge of a storm…….
The sky looks impatient……

Clenched Dream....

The landscape wears a close-shorn shroud
For now the fields of summer’s green
Lay barren ‘neath an iron cloud
Where once the toil of man was seen
And cornfield, stripped of cob and husk
Lies tight-lipped in the moody dusk
Where now the gale unhindered sweeps
From portals pale to silent deeps

Fair, lush, the meadows of July
Where lark and daisy reigned supreme
But now beneath a leaden sky
We view its terrace like a dream
The echo of a sun-kissed tune
Drifts soft and low across the dune
Wild, the wind that chills the turf
The waves of June, a muted surf

No more the song of trembling leaf
To grace the hour of twilight’s brim
The sigh becomes a moan of grief
As low-light keys the shadow dim
Beneath the half-moon, cobalt sky
November croons her lullaby
We hear it; as we stoke the fire
A song of clenched dream and desire

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Janet Martin

This Little Thing Called Love.....

It’s not by what we do or say
That we love or take it away
Things leave things for which we yearn
Love asks nothing in return
Love; I cannot quite explain
It’s tender pleasure, searing pain
And no one ever gets enough
Of this little thing called love

Love can please us and fulfill
It can tease us, it can thrill
It can break a heart in two
Like no other thing can do
It’s the one thing we all need
Things are merely quests of greed
And yet we cannot get enough
Of this little thing called love

Whether you are near to me
Or far across a rolling sea
Love is not a thing constrained
It can reach you just the same
Love, you make us laugh and weep
Useless as a thing to keep
And yet we cannot give enough
Of this little thing called love

It makes us want to live, to fly
But for it we too would die
It will nurture, it will heal
And yet it is the pain we feel
It is the sunshine in our sky
Yet it's the teardrop in our eye
Fulfilling yet never enough
It's a little thing called love

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Bad Boys.....

There’s no such thing as a bad boy
Oh, when they come into this world
They all are pure and precious
Red faces and little toes curled
But it seems that some are cheated
Out of things we need so much
And while everyone calls them bad boys
They’re crying for a loving touch

We all need to feel like we’re valued
Like we’re needed, with things to do
We all need a little patience
Some more than others, it’s true
We wouldn’t remove the mischief
Or even the naughtiness
They’re boys, and it is my belief
They’ll learn if given a chance

Some get cheated out of a mother’s arms
And dad never seems to be there
Some have never been told how much
They are loved just for who they are
There’s no such thing as a bad boy
But oh boy, it’s a bad world down here
And some of them learn it quickly because
They have no other choice, I fear

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

"It is my belief that
there is no such thing
as a bad boy...." Spencer Tracy in Boy's Town

Off-guard......

You caught me a little off guard today

As I was walking by

I paused; for your gaze, over-powering and gray

Suddenly captured my eye

And the tear in your sad eyes seemed to say

Good-bye sweet summer, good-bye

You caught me a little off-guard today

The trembling in your sigh

Wove through the limbs, barren and gray

A sad soliloquy

As the landscape joined in the solemn lay

Goodbye, sweet summer, good-bye

You caught me a little off-guard today

I thought I was over you

There is a certain raw beauty in gray

That cannot be found in blue

You caught me a little off guard today

As you bid summer adieu

Janet~

Eloquent......... in my Mind

There are so many things I would tell you, my dear
If only I could find
A way to move them to my tongue
Instead of to my mind

It seems when I try to tell you, my dear
It never comes out like it could
But oh, it would be so lovely to hear
If only it would sound like it should

There are so many things I would tell you, my dear
Tender and earnest and true
But it always comes out in the same way, my dear
In these three words; I love you

Janet~

Builder............

She knew she was strong
This builder of walls………
But oh, she was wrong
In her view of it all
For she built up around her
A wall strong and stout
Now it has bound her
And she cannot get out
She thought she was strong
But at the end of the day
She was not strong enough
To take it away

Janet~