Beyond Price

A dozen roses may boast of love
And accolades so grand
But the most beautiful blooms that I’ve been given
Are brought in a small child’s hand

The florist’s window and the manicured bed
Are carefully arranged and planned
But I’ll take the tangled flower bouquet
Brought in a small child’s hand

The orchid and lily are regal delights
Tall and proudly they stand
Dandelions are a breath-taking sight
When brought in a small child’s hand

A tangle of daffodils, violets and daisies
Forget-me-not in uneven strands
I’ve had the honor to receive these bouquets
And the love from a small child’s hands

Janet~

Victoria just surprised me with my first spring bouquet.
I was washing the supper dishes and suddenly I sniffed,
“H-m-m,’ I thought, ‘maybe my house doesn’t smell so badly after all’
And at that same instant Victoria ‘swooshed’ a flower bouquet up to my face!

‘These are the moments we holds in our hands and touch as they slip through our fingers like sand’…

I'd Rather Be Gardening

There are beds to make
And bills to pay
There is laundry to fold
And put away
There are floors to scrub
A house to clean
But oh I would rather
Be gardening

There is shopping to do
With a list a mile long
Will there come a day
When the shopping is done?
There are light-bulbs to change
And a room that needs painting
But oh, I would rather
Be gardening

There are windows to polish
And cookies to bake
Oh, that reminds me
…and a birthday cake
There is dusting and shining
The list keeps growing…
But oh I would rather be
Digging and hoeing
And planting and weeding
And mulching and pruning
And planning and dreaming
In my garden
Yes, I’d rather
Be gardening

Janet~

My to-do list grows a little less appealing
As the rain continues…
…oh, by the way, I chose shopping!
My least favorite thing on the list!
And you may decide whether you believe this

Bits of Poetry

I could try to love you
In a song strummed sweet and low
Oh, you know music moves me
And it stirs you too, I know
I would choose a song, perhaps
Depending who it would be
But I can only love you, dear
In bits of poetry

Nothing touches quite as close
Or stirs a longing sigh
A poem is a crimson rose
A painted twilight sky
A poem as an endless ache
Of perfect agony
Oh darling, let me touch you then
In bits of poetry

If I should try to love you, dear
In any other way
I could never really speak
The words I want to say
For poems slide over barriers
Though they stretch from sea to sea
Nothing tears the sky away
Likes bits of poetry

Let me hold you, darling
In the whisper of a poem
The breeze, the night, the morning
Will be softer in these arms
And as a shaft of moonlight
Falls across the silent lea
I can feel your heart-beat
In bits of poetry

J~

Rain

It begins to rain
A thrumming upon the window-pane
Ten thousand rivulets from cloud-tumbled gloom
Heavy, yet weightless on leaf and bloom
As it begins to rain

It begins to rain
Transforming the earth in a vibrant green
Naked limbs reach toward heaven’s grace
Responded to in veils of trembling lace
As it begins to rain

It begins to rain
A solemn and sweet refrain
Of a rushing and wild anomaly
Rising up inside of me
As it begins to rain

It begins to rain
Pouring on pastures of pleasure and pain
A slumberous drizzle, a sudden gush
Let’s draw the blinds, darling, what’s the rush?
It begins to rain…

Janet~

The Missing of You

To hold back the missing of you
I would do…

…if I could disarray
The stars of the sky
Or speak away
The tear in my eye
Or reach out my hand
And thus hold back years
If I could tally the sand
Or life’s raindrops and tears
If I could see past
The end of forever
Then I could hold fast
Time’s relentless river
And I could erase
The low thundercloud
Or carefully re-trace
Steps, flippant and proud
I could paint away sorrow
And turn gray skies to blue
I could hold back tomorrow
And the eve’s ruddy hue
I could return
To the past’s innocence
Never needing to yearn
For its lost recompense
I could hold on
To this moment I’m in
Space would not spawn
This aching within
If I could hold back
The wind and the dew
Oh, then I could hold back
The missing of you

J~

Bubble?...or Trouble?

There’s a truckload of trouble
And worry to borrow
It is held in a bubble
Known as tomorrow

Should I choose to reject
The gifts I can see
And treat with neglect
Responsibility

Because I have chosen
To borrow the care
Of a day still uncertain
And translucent as air?

There’s a truckload of trouble
We should never borrow
It drifts in a bubble
Known as tomorrow

Janet~

The Sound of Silence

The silence speaks profoundly
Of those things I cannot see
Its echo falls around me
In discordant harmony

A kaleidoscope of smiles and tears
Of greetings and good-byes
A wave of long-forgotten years
Returns in sudden sighs

The silence teams with memories
Of sorrow and delight
Its cadence weeps upon the breeze
And fills an empty night

The silence falls around me
Like moonlight on the stones
Your name softly surrounds me
In its muffled undertones

J~

Stirrings

The glint of blue in your half-closed eye
Teasing with possibility
The hint of you indulging my sigh
Stirs the poet in me

The persona you share from nine to five
Is sharpened for others to see
I prefer the free and easy side
To stir the poet in me

I prefer you in the shadow of dusk
As daylight falls into the sea
And the night air is heavy with mystery and musk
To stir the poet in me

The public receives your wit and your charm
You move me unwittingly
By the light in eye and the warmth of your arm
Stirring the poet in me

Save your strength for requirements
I love your vulnerability
And all your unformed sentiments
Stirring the poet in me

J~