Temptation

You do not ask permission

Though I bolt and lock the door

Your perilous seduction

Sweeps in oceans ‘cross my floor

You spread your virile body

On my vulnerability

And without a Higher Power

You would get the best of me

How you move with subtle motive

Accommodating taste and size

Preying on my strongest weakness

As you tease and tantalize

Oh, the folly when I stumble

Oh, the bitter after-taste

For your offering of pleasure

Yields a bluff of barren waste

…and the thing perceived as fortune

Turns to ashes on my tongue

All your promises are ruin

Whether pledged to old or young

I cannot afford acquiescence

As you dangle from the vine

Splaying fruit of disguised grievance

Should I sip your tainted wine

Master of lust’s apparition

How I loathe your sleek facade

As you tempt me with a vision

Far from truth and hope and God

I could not resist your peril

Your allure; beguiling charm

But for One; not of this world

…and I lean upon His arm

© Janet Martin

The Breadth of a Moment

A dip and dive, a twirl, a flip

A trickle in the air

They tease us with vague finger-tips

Run whispers through our hair

Then softly, swiftly, soon they slip

To oceans of nowhere

As smooth as silk, as hard as steel

A flash of ice and fire

Colliding on an ethereal reel

…fulfillment and desire

Regret and triumph, wounds that heal

Imbue a hidden choir

Chocolate and mint, honey and lime

A rending two-edged knife

A groaning prayer, a winsome rhyme

A staggered joy and strife

Caught up in moments shaping Time

And Time shaping a life

© Janet Martin

Kids These Days...or A Father's Love

Sometimes,

while I’m talking

they start talking

although I wasn’t finished yet

Sometimes it looks

like they’re really listening

and then I realize

they haven’t heard a thing I said

Sometimes,

what I need to tell them

is near and dear to my heart

but they don’t care

They have their minds

on their own interests

with little thought to spare

Sometimes,

I get their attention

for a little while

and they listen dutifully.

They even nod and smile

but before they are very far away

from the wisdom I extolled

I can tell…

They’ve forgotten

most of what they were told

Yes, a Father needs patience

It is true, because

a Father loves

and that’s what love does
and I love you

© Janet Martin

Sometimes I am frustrated when I think my kids are listening (teenagers;))

Then I realize they have not heard one thing I said!

I was tempted to vent one day when a thought stopped me cold…

‘How often do I do this very thing to God?’

Redeeming Love

Bound by sin's dark chains

Condemned and doomed stood I

No chance of hope remained

As Justice raised her cry

“Only, only death for thee

No hope, no hope to be set free,”

But then came One with head bowed low

He said to Justice “let her go”

Oh, who is this who took my place

With crimson teardrops on His face?

The King of kings and Lord of lords

No higher title can there be

When Justice raised her righteous sword

Somebody took my place for me

Oh, my Lord, who could he be?

Who cared enough to set me free?

I raised my head to hear these words

The King of kings and Lord of lords

I fell upon the ground

As Justice screamed her plea

No reason could be found

That I should be set free

“Guilty, guilty,” was her cry

Her lone verdict “she must die,”

But then came One with head bowed low

He said to Justice “let her go”

Tell me, tell me who could this be

Who loved enough to set me free?

The King of kings and Lord of lords

No higher throne will ever be

To describe, there are no words

To paint this holy deity

The King of kings and Lord of lords

A pure and spotless Lamb was He

The King of kings and Lord of lords

Bore sin’s most wretched curse for me

‘The King of kings and Lord of lords

The best that ever there will be

The King of kings and Lord of lords

Has paid the price to set men free’
 

© Janet Martin

Love ABC'c

Love answers

Love bends

Love cares

Love defends

Love encourages

Love forgives

Love gives and gives

Love honors

Love inspires

Love is joy

Love is kind

Love listens and lets go

Love is a miraculous mystery

Love says no

Love offers

Love praises

Love quiets

Love remains

Love suffers

Love teaches

Love understands

Love is victorious

Love waits

Love X-amines

Love yields

Love is pure, unselfish zeal

© Janet Martin

While love ought to be the underlying element in everything we do

I try to devote a little more attention to it in the 'month of love':)

Omnipotent

In every breath my Lord is there

although we cannot see His face

His glory rends robes of despair

and startles evil with His grace

Before the universe, He was

Before this little gasp called Time

He is; and love’s each sinner thus

in passions holy, pure, sublime

A thousand-thousand times each star

His acts of mercy intercede

He whispers from within our hearts

to fill love's everlasting need

Though fear and doubt afflict, assail,

their darkness cannot over-power

the Love and Light that rend its veil

before Eden’s dejected hour

In every breath my Lord is there

though fools and scoffers mock in scorn

His glory fills the atmosphere

and renders peace amidst life's storm

© Janet  Martin

Options...

He does not ask of us, some grand

Unreachable request

He simply graces hearts and hands

Then longs to see our best

Before our feet touched down today

We passed no written test

But soon enough our lives will say

If we give it our best

He who gives, does not require

But if we would be blessed

It is prudent to aspire

To give to Him our best

This life is a buffet of choice

Within each choice, a test

But there is a soft inner voice

To help us do our best

He does not ask of us some grand

Unthinkable request

He simply graces hearts and hands

Then longs to see our best

© Janet Martin

Hints

It tunes the timbre of the breeze

A lilting undertone

It taunts the jeweled arm of trees

And bulb of anemone

It warms the frozen ray of sun

And tickles dashing streams

It teases darkness from the dawn

And from despair, fresh dreams

It pleads within cold, willing gales

Softening with hope

The fury rushing over vales

In frigid calliope

And in the frozen atmosphere

An essence, though unseen

Cradles and fills the heart with cheer

And thoughts of budding green

It rustles in the underbrush

Across the stricken earth

It hints within the argent hush

A season of rebirth

What is this sense of grand renewal

Beyond us, hovering?

Why, it is winter’s finest jewel

Those first small hints of spring

© Janet Martin

Yes, it is there! I felt it while hanging out laundry this morning...