Neither Beggar Nor Thief

 

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Oh, it would be unfair to tear

Frail fabric gently mended

But here, tonight upon the air

The music has not ended

And though Time delves into its depths

And flings upon the tresses

Another year of life and death

Of farewell song-caresses

They linger where the heart must bear

Life’s raw un-chosen sorrow

We bravely touch the suture where

Time cannot steal nor borrow

J~

Hints of Spring

Fresh chives have sprouted and the lilac stem

Is jeweled with chartreuse and cinnabar gem

The sap from the maple tree trickles and sings  

The snowline recedes as the sun softly grins

The crocus is nudging, edging through the soil

With warm breeze suggesting a sweet garden-toil

The pasture of winter and frozen respite

Sheds its dazzling garment of glistening white

The farmer is whistling and watching each slope

Refurbished with passion of earth-scented hope

For this is the pleasure that overrides pain

Earth’s hard-earned treasure in gold-rippling grain

Plush pussy-willow, soft rose full-moon dusk

The air teased with whispers of sun-beam and musk

Sassy robin canticle drifts on the air

Spring hints its arrival but is detained somewhere…

© Janet Martin

March Garden

 (March garden today)

As I look at you now

With eyes half-closed

Every plant is a prize-winning rose

No sickly stems

Or dormant seeds

No gaps, no drought, no sassy weeds

Each row is extra-robust
Lush and bright

I revel in its florid hush tonight

For nothing blooms quite as perfectly

In late March, it seems

As the garden that grows in straight rows in my dreams

© Janet Martin

Celebration Poems

From Poetic Bloomings; Over the course of time, we have stretched the muses and minds of our extremely talented family of poets, with our prompts and forms, interviews and projects. So for this venture, Marie and I ask you to write a “Celebration” poem.   Celebrate your life, an anniversary, a birthday, an event… but do it in the form of a 10 X 10 poem (Ten lines times Ten words per line = 100 words – a century). Thus, we want you to write a Celebration in a Century (Celebration of the Century).

My Life-wish Celebration

I want to live so that when my Hour comes

I will not lie on a deathbed of sad regret

But peacefully then I will relinquish my final, farewell breath

Content to know that in life’s brief, mystic moment flow

I fully danced and freely dreamed and laughed and wept

Daring to fly with faith buoying me above fear’s crypt

So that when the last everlasting sleep steals over me

And sets me free from demons of doubt and want

I will surrender, reaching to Him with weary, ready arms

Satisfied to let go, surrendering softly to heaven’s eternal embrace

© Janet Martin

Celebrating US

We are a band driven by a common, luring thirst

Battling through highs and lows of feeling blessed and cursed

As we suffer blissfully the divine endowment of word vexation

Knowing at any moment we may be perplexed by temptation

In the curves of consonants joined perfectly with certain vowels

Dangling and taunting they whisper, falling from thought’s dripping jowls

As we stir soup or wander among children, women, men

Suddenly, the searing surge to grasp the frond of pen

Consumes our bearing and we cannot substitute or coldly mediate

With anything but written word; we are poets; we celebrate

© Janet Martin

 

Keeper...Line Messaging Poetry

Poetic Bloomings invites us to attempt;   LINE MESSAGING poetry, the final line of each stanza may be compiled to create an entirely new poem with its own independent message (a poem within a poem).  It appears there are no rules for number of stanzas, or rhyme scheme.   This form was created by Angel Favazza.

Dusk flowers gently over field and hill

Blush pink washes the patch-work quilt of spring

A surge akin to prayer ignites within

The Keeper of each hour tunes the rill

Each season sheds its purpose on the earth

The seed will grow; the chaff be blown away

Love’s Hand sifts through our humbly offered fray

And fills our wanton efforts with His worth

We cannot know the reason of His will

But like each season, joy and sorrow pass

We strain to see beyond this darkened glass

Where mortal imperfections keenly spill

Spring is the season of hope and re-birth

With hand upon the plow we till the sod

Trusting its harvest to a loving God

His faithful eye is over all the earth

(Independent Message)

The Keeper of each hour tunes the rill

And fills our wanton efforts with His worth

Where mortal imperfections keenly spill

His faithful eye is over all the earth

© Janet Martin

The Price of Anonymity

Sometimes it would be easier

To hide behind a quiet veil

Of anonymity,

Longing and inhibition

Than touch the pen

To ink

In signatures

Of admission

The sacred joy of love

Is a hard-fought, vexatious

Bliss

And to bear it anonymously

Would be

To never fully taste

The pleasure of

Its kiss

Janet~

To Love...and Be Loved

To love

Then be loved in return

Is all I humbly ask

But God, You know my heart

So God,

Please fit me for this task

To love

And be loved in return

Is more than I deserve

But oh, it is life’s sweetest joy

Upon

This troubled earth

To love

And be loved in return

Is such a kind reward

Yet all that I can think

To say

Is thank-you, thank-you Lord

© Janet Martin

Thank-you Sherry

Some folk fight for personal gain
Whether for glory or money or fame
Others are warriors of kind words and cheer
And you will find one of those warriors here.

Thank-you Sherry for all you do in the world of poetry.

Congratulations Jennifer. You also are one of those warriors and I am humbly honored to share this stage together:)
Love you(())