Saddest of All

If I built my thoughts of you into a wall
I would never see the sky at all
And if I would write them in a melody
Its music would cover the deep blue sea
Oh, it’s a beautiful thing to know
That love is the rhythm in life’s ebb and flow

To simply touch and see and taste
Is such an empty, futile waste
But to be held close in the arms of a prayer
To know that you fill someone’s thought somewhere
And softly in whispers it’s your name they call
Is surely the very best feeling of all

Grief has intensity more blinding than love
Yet love is the high wire on which we move
We take its chance and love all the more
Knowing its dance could suddenly be o’er
Life without grief is the saddest of all
A loveless leaf on the ground in the fall

J~

Live Large

Live life large
Drink it in
We’re not in charge
It won’t happen again
Take the plunge
Love and lose
We cannot own
The things we choose
But one thing is certain
For you and I
At life’s final curtain
We’re going to die

So live life large
Take a deep breath
We’re not in charge
Of life or death
Make your calling
And election sure
Then live in knowing
You are secure
And love today
What of tomorrow
Life is a fray
Of laughter and sorrow

So live life large
Touch someone’s hand
We’re not in charge
I understand
But we all need
Someone to hold
Go plant a seed
Be brave and bold
It’s a small drink
For you and I
Life is a wink
And then we die

Janet~

Prayer For Guidance

Lord, fill this weak and mortal cup
With passions of your praise
Until at Your dear feet I sup
In Heaven’s endless days

These fumbling, erring hands of mine
Lord, guide them by Your Spirit
And fill each humble task of mine
With heavenly joy and merit

Earth’s happiness is a vague shroud
Of Heaven’s priceless measure
Fix our eyes above the cloud
To high and holy treasure

Though now we strain through darkened glass
To understand life’s story
This little life too soon shall pass
Into eternal glory

Janet~

Greater Beauty

He pours His love into the dawn
A pale blue glow ascending
Extending from a heavenly throne
His mercy never-ending
With verdant breath He clothes the hills
And sighing woodland tresses
As from the apple orchard spills
A thousand flowered dresses

He reaches deep beneath the earth
And probes the seed still hidden
Nature responds to heaven’s mirth
To do as it is bidden
Then out across a barren world
Stripped bare by winter’s taking
Nature’s glory is unfurled
In springtime’s grand awakening

Twilight creeps across a land
A new and silent splendor
I am drawn toward the Hand
Patient, kind and tender
For all the beauty of this day
Could never be sufficient
If guilt could not be washed away
By One; perfect, omniscient

I close my eyes to see a cross
Upon it the Creator
Where mercy’s blood-red river flows
Forever and forever
He clad the earth in beauty fair
His grand and glorious garden
But its beauty can’t compare
To nail-scarred hands of pardon

Janet~

Giver

He gives us the laughter of children
To sweeten the toil of our day
He gives us the softness of evening
To soothe our cares away
He gives us warm shoulders to lean on
Should we need to rest for a while
And He gives us little babies
To make children and old men smile

He gives us sunshine and shadows
He paints the blue sky and gray
He gives us mountains and meadows
And sleep at the end of a day
He gives the moon for a candle
When the whisper of daylight grows dim
And He gives us just enough trouble
To keep us leaning on Him

He gives us the hill and the valley
The storm shrieking down from above
He knits them all together
By the threads of His wonderful love
How empty would be our boasting
How shallow our faith and dim
If He did not give us life’s trouble
To keep us leaning on Him

If we had the fruit of our wishes
How foolish our wanting would be
Never a weeping horizon
And never a storm-tossed sea
And never an earnest pleading
On our knees as the light grows dim
Never a reason for needing
To keep on leaning on Him

Janet~

Beholding God

Someday we will not awake
To see the sun, a golden lake
Melting over field and hill
We will not hear the song-birds trill

We will not wake to soft refrain
Of raindrops on the window pane
Nor will we wake to hear the breeze
Sighing in the willow trees

Someday we will not wake to see
The river laughing to the sea
The flower will not lift its face
In another day of grace

But someday we will wake to see
The proof of life’s great mystery
Though body rests beneath the sod
We will wake beholding God

Janet

Prelude to Parting

We ordered lunch at the little café on the corner
We didn’t talk much,
As we watched people passing by
Like waves on a concrete sea
Lovers arm in arm,
Children laughing and shouting,
The self-absorbed strider
The hapless straggler
The scolding mother
The jogger,
The dog-walker
The mini-skirt and heels
The fellow in over-alls…


We order a second sup of coffee
Prolonging the inevitable
With long and reluctant pauses
Between each sip
You reach across the table
Touch my hand to your lips
Again
And walk away
Lost in the sway of the crowd
Children laughing
Lovers arm in arm
The strider, the straggler, the mother
And you

J~

Prelude to Parting

We ordered lunch at the little café on the corner
We didn’t talk much,
As we watched people passing by
Like waves on a concrete sea
Lovers arm in arm,
Children laughing and shouting,
The self-absorbed strider
The hapless straggler
The scolding mother
The jogger,
The dog-walker
The mini-skirt and stilettos
The fellow in over-alls…


We order a second sup of coffee
Prolonging the inevitable
With long and reluctant pauses
Between each sip
You reach across the table
Touch my hand to your lips
Again
And walk away
Lost in the sway of the crowd
Children laughing
Lovers arm in arm
The strider, the straggler, the mother
And you

J~

I must have hit a lucky air-wave!!!
...still no internet to speak of:(
It only took 20 minutes to post this...
yes, that is sarcasm!!!!

My Way

You ask me to show you I love you
And wonder at things that I say
You tell me the things that would move you
But I need to love you…my way

I cannot rehearse my emotions
This is no scene in a play
But if you look closely, my darling
You’ll see that I love you…my way

Love is not love when pretending
At words that we may choose to say
But I’ll show you love unending
If you let me love you…my way

Some see love in dark chocolate
Some speak it with poetry
But darling, let’s just love each other
And be who we are, naturally

I would not ask you to love me
In words you would not choose to say
Second-hand lines do not move me
So darling, I’ll love you…my way

Janet~