'They Grow Up Fast' (Rob and Emily are Engaged!)

 Rob and Emily are engaged! Emily is our oldest daughter. They are engaged to be married on Oct. 12 2013.

I took this photo last night right after they told us!

a Mother's thoughts the morning after...

Back then I didn’t know

Eternities were so short

‘They grow up fast’ other mothers said

And I nodded, kissing your newborn fingers

Curled tightly around this new

Mother-finger of mine

Glad there was an eternity

Twixt then and now

‘They grow up fast’ other mothers said

And I blinked back the tears

As you climbed on the bus,

And we both waved vigorously

I, so glad that between Kindergarten

And Commencement

Spread an eternity

‘They grow up fast’

Commencement; years past

While tears shape a mother’s

Joy-drenched grief

Because there are no eternities on earth

Only gasps

They grow up fast

…and you laugh

High on love and dreams

As you show us your ring

And you teach us new words

Like ‘plan a wedding’

And you think six months

Is an eternity

© Janet Martin

All her Dad can say is 'I'm not ready for this!' (though he is happy for her/them)
Are any of us ever truly ready?
Congratulations and God bless you, Robyn and Emily.
Love, Mom and Dad

Precious Agony

They cannot see

How

Translucently

Its tender pieces are strewn

Like perfumed petals

Decking the grass

On a sunny afternoon

And they cannot feel

Time's soft breeze steal

With caresses

Part by part

The ever-expanding

Ever-decreasing

Pieces

Of a mother’s heart

© Janet Martin

Image source; pinterest

Infestation Poem

PAD Challenge: For today’s prompt, write an infested poem. There are many different infestations–from physical infestations to infestations of the heart and soul.

The world is infested

miserably

with a little worm called

me! me! Me!

Imagine how much 

good we could do

if we fought 'me'

with you! you! You!

Janet Martin

Things done for me
Dies with 'me'
things done for others
lives in eternally!

 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.Matt; 25:40

Ice Princess

When my neighbor said there would be more 'beauty' in the morning we had no idea it would come at a price...no hydro. Our electricity is back after 3 days; for many it is not! Oh what bliss to be able to wash my face with warm water!

...and she screamed her arrival
no poise or grace
did she attempt
this ice-princess
tapping her nails
in noisy descent
sealing the landscape
in a glass tent


Janet

Evening, Come Gently

 As I took these pictures a few minutes ago I told the neighbor I'm trying to find the beauty in this! He replied that there's going to be a lot more 'beauty' come morning:))Alas, the evening is not so gentle now; it sounds like someone is flinging pebbles at the window.

Evening, come gently and soften the gale

Binding the landscape in icy travail

Subdue the mistral of howling lament

Whisper your kisses against its torment

Remind Old Man Winter his time has expired

Then evening, come gently, the trees are so tired

Evening, come softly and gentle away

The pelting of ice tears and land-seas of gray

Cradle the country-side ensconced in glass

Smooth back the ocean of winter’s last blast

The half-budded limb has grown heavy with grief

Pausing the vim of a newly born leaf

Evening, come tender, with motherly love

Hush the snow splendor that weeps from above

Comfort the wee bird hunkered in its nest

While over, around him the wind-demons jest

Evening come gently with sweet lullaby

Soothe the wild tempest screaming from the sky

© Janet Martin

Waiting for Spring

Flirtatious breeze, where hast thou fled

And when wilt thou return?

Thy touch for which we keenly yearn

Is clutched in gales of lead

Ah wooly wind, when wilt thou don

Once more thy winsome way

To tease the bleating lambs that play

On verdant meadow yon?

Sweet zephyr, voice of willow-song

Must thou so bashful be?

The night without thy melody

Is deep and dark and long

Dear vesper, crooning daylight’s dirge

Wilt thou be ever still?

Thy duet with the whip-poor-will

Thrills retrospect’s soft surge

Flirtatious breeze, the somber spire

Hungers for spring’s caress

When wilt thy kiss unfurl the tress

Of wood-land’s gladsome choir?

© Janet Martin

  

In Case of Cabin Fever

In case of cabin fever when the gate is barred

To sun-splashed trails or dappled yard

I cherish the comfort of the common quill

Where footprints of fantasy roam at free will

…and there, in the clutch of tardy spring’s ice-fist

I have been rampantly, recklessly kissed

With laughter of lilac and twinkling mischief

Caught in a dew-drop on thought’s summer leaf

I’ve touched with mien of scribbled ink

The faint horizon-lines mute brink

And defied laws of gravity

To fly where feet can never be

I’ve held you close; suffered the bliss

Of farewell’s wild and pleading kiss

And in the thrill where ink-drops bleed

Its foot-prints spill in poetry

© Janet Martin

Poetics Aside Prompt: In case of ...add the ending.

In case of Discontentment

April PAD Challenge: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “In Case of (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Possible titles could include “In Case of Emergency,” “In Case of Oversleeping,” “In Case of Snoring,” or something else.

In case of discontentment

I keep a mental list

Of sweet and simple blessings

For I am heaven-kissed

Beneath the crumbs of living

Beneath its muddy tracks

The peace of simple blessing

Atones for what life lacks

© Janet Martin