Ode to the Afternoon

I did not want you to leave me
You’re a soul-mate through and through
With your smile as soft as sunshine
And your eye of perfect blue
But I see you slipping from me
Soundless footsteps falling where
I languished in your arms of leisure
For an hour without a care

I would beg for one more hour
If I thought that you would stay
But you do not have the power
To add minutes to my day
Yet, should I entwine my fingers
In the essence of your sigh
If I whisper little secrets
Would you then postpone good-bye?

I hate it when I see you leaving
Oh, how soon you disappear
Already, silently I’m grieving
The hastening of a year
I rest my hand on your shoulder
Look into your pleasant gaze
Alas,I’m but a memory older
You have slipped into the haze

Janet~

Right now my days are simply not long enough……
Especially the afternoons!
I want to be outside….but duty demands otherwise!
Well, maybe I’ll slip out for an hour……
Does it really make any difference at the end of my life
If I’ve swept the floor…again?

Waves

You wash over me in torrents of longing
The touch of your fingers is too far away
Waves of emotion sweep over me, darling
Hold me in your arms and take me away

Take me to that place where we’ll be together
Port in a storm on life’s tumultuous sea
I would not even notice the weather
There in your arms with you holding me

Tempests of waiting and wishing and wanting
Rise from the ocean in waves of despair
Darling, the music is distant and haunting
You’re too far away as you sit in that chair

Janet~

The Color of Lonely

The word ‘lonely’ can not tell you
Just how lonely it can be
It does not echo the tick of the clock
As I wait here quietly
And reach to touch the color
Of its somnolent caress
But it seems to me I cannot
See what color lonely is…..
As melancholy whispers
Sigh through April’s naked trees
Alone, alone it murmurs
In the rain and on the breeze
Yet no one can quite tell you
How lonely ‘lonely’ is….
Or how it can fill you
With an aching tenderness

The shadow where the willow sways
And purple midnight falls
Is tinted in dark, moody grays
A damp and morbid shawl
The tap that drips in perfect time
And off-beat symmetry
To the ticking of the clock
Is a lonesome melody
As minutes become hours
Before hours turn to days
And ‘lonely’ with a thousand hands
Cannot be brushed away
Or moved into a corner
Where it cannot interfere
‘Lonely’ is the color
Of a poet’s heart, I fear

Janet~

No Trespassing

They draw cold metal chains across the trails that beg and plead
For me to wander in the grass where silent sunsets bleed
They bar me from the hills and fields of wind and sweet wild flower
As I glare at this frame that wields its mighty twelve inch power

In my mind I’ve built ramparts of intention to forget
But nonchalantly you still cross that barrier in my head
With disregard you breeze into my dear and deepest part
Effortlessly you ease into the fortress of my heart

The sign stares coldly at me as it wavers in the breeze
While I stare far beyond to barricaded mysteries
To stand and fume is all in vain as would be mindless cursing
The law sways on its iron chain in two words; no trespassing

It is no sin for you to cross the barrier within me
There are no repercussions as you wander quite freely
But here alone within this wilderness the law is king
Creating nature's prison with two words; no trespassing

Janet~

I pulled into this little ‘lane’ last night while trying to
Capture a few last shots of the swiftly sinking sun….
EVERYWHERE, it seemed the skyline was blocked by buildings or trees!
I found a secluded back road where I was sure I would get my coveted shot….
as I pulled into this little lane-way; the sun was dropping very quickly, my gas tank was on empty, so I simply decided I need to take the picture NOW!!!
I opened my van door balancing on it precariously while pointing my camera to the sky. Suddenly a ‘nice lady’ voice queried, “Do you need help?”
Trying to appear very casual I replied, “Oh, no, I’m fine. I’m just trying to take a picture”
“Of what?” asked ‘nice lady’ blankly.
For a moment I was speechless and then I turned and pointed to the fire in the sky and said two words “the sunset……”

The ‘nice lady’ continued on her walk……..past the No Trespassing sign!

Rainy Nights.......and You

Seems like rainy nights and you go hand in hand
All my little thoughts like dew fall on life’s golden sand
Oh, my dear the morning comes too soon on nights like this
Let the storm-cloud snuff the moon; I love the deep darkness

In the rain I hear the distant echo of your laughter
Falling on the dark terrain from heavens teary rafter
And as the lonesome wind comes sweeping from the moody sky
I find comfort in the weeping of a raindrop’s lullaby

Past midnight’s broad and supple brim the dawn may quiver
Upon the swaying willow limb her tears may shiver
I draw you to me in a sweet, perpetual pain
As I yield to the music of the night and love and rain

Janet~

The Unadorned Truth

I’d like to say it isn’t fair
And that somehow you lured me in
And I was caught quite unaware
By your fair charm and roguish grin

I’d like to say that true blue eyes
Are definitely not to blame
And that they did not hypnotize
Whilst quite willingly I came

I’d like to say I did not fall
Hopelessly for your blue eyes
But you would not hear me at all
Discern-er of my fumbling lies

Janet~

Of Moments

Moments come between us like the darkness steals the day
But there are things that moments simply cannot steal away
The tangent warmth of your soft touch may cool upon my skin
But moments cannot steal the love that smolders deep within

Moments change the outlines or the backdrops of a scene
They steal away life’s tender youth and springtime’s verdant sheen
But moments cannot steal the smile that lingers in my sigh
Nor can they dull the azure mile reflected in your eye

I save little moments to relive with you again
For moments cannot touch the vault of treasure stored within
In this reticent heaven I am utterly complete
Savoring the torment of a moment bitter-sweet

Moments come between us pushing hours into years
They do not lie within us as we weep life’s smiles and tears
Moments are not masters of the loves we softly hold
But simply the refiners turning bronze to purest gold

Janet~

To Those I Love

Sometimes it is enough for me
To know I crossed your mind today
And perhaps you breathed a little prayer
That God would bless me on my way
Just as I do for you
Because suddenly out of the blue
You stroll across my mind
And when that happens, well, I find
That it must be God’s little way
Of reminding me to pray
So, to all of you I love
I pray God’s blessing from above

God Bless,
Janet~

Could It Be?

I dream of beds delicately laced
In daffodils golden sheen
I dream of hillside fringes traced
In verdant ever-green
I dream of daisy and butter-cup
Of robin and butterfly’s wing
Warm winds rousing as the sun comes up
Could it be I dream of spring?

I dream of bare feet in the dirt
Of hours in the sun
The stirring passion of the earth
As winter’s chill is gone
I dream of blossom-tinted trees
And song-birds caroling
The scent of earth upon the breeze
Could it be I dream of spring?

Janet~

Of Things Temporal

Soon, my dear all of this will be nothing more than a memory

Both joy and sorrow are pebbles which rouse a ripple upon life’s sea

The hunger of longing; the sigh of contentment, both are a temporal lot

And only last a little moment before they are soon forgot

Darling, the wanting and missing of you will pass as the sigh of the wind

Even the holding and kissing of you can't satisfy the void in my mind

Mankind will never be able to fill the places intended for God

We cannot have true fulfillment until we sleep beneath the sod

The wind may rouse the waves on the sea but the deeps remain untouched

You may ignite a fire in me, but you will never be enough

Hope and fire and water and wind are earth’s greatest forces that be

Yet simply a brief foreshadowing of the things of eternity

Heaven and hell leave little glimpses upon this broken sod

But we know full well that all things immortal rest in the hands of God

Both joy and sorrow on this earth are fleeting; where one is the other waits

How sweet to know perfection is waiting for His own beyond Heaven’s gates

Janet~

Music of the Rain

I love the music of the rain
Strumming on my window-pane
The languorous stirring of the pine
Bathed in heaven’s purest wine
I love the moaning of the breeze
Falling through the dripping trees
Teardrops from the moody eye
Of an ever-changing sky

I love the music of the rain
It speaks to me of tender pain
Caught in the eyes of true blue love
It speaks to me of hope above
For just beyond the present cloud
Beyond the weeping, wavering shroud
I know the sun will shine again
I love the music of the rain

Janet~