November Nocturne

Navy nocturne sweeps earth’s ocean

Noise of noon to dusk subdued

Darkness steals daylight’s devotion

Lone witness to solitude

Raven tress of northern pine tree

Strums the heavens, black on black

I can never press rewind to

Replay one wee moment back

Ever, ever up and forward

‘Tis the way of mortal man

Dawn to dusk to dawn the tempo

In the music of life’s span

Madrigal of morning murmurs

On a moorland far away

Now a navy nocturne trembles

Where the bards of dreamland play

© Janet Martin

Concealed and Revealed #2

 Writer's Digest PAD challenge day 5

Query:

Tell me,

What is it that roused in your eyes

The sparkle that roused in my thought

Want of you

Darling, I cannot explain or surmise

The things that a sudden, soft half-smile

Will do

Reply;

Sweetheart,

I’ll tell you but only in silence

Words are too petty for

Moments like this

My little half-smile

Was stirred by your presence

Would I be too forward

To try for

A kiss?

© Janet Martin

Concealed and Revealed (Two-for-two Tuesday)

1. Writer's Digest PAD Challenge Day 5:
2. Write a concealed poem. Could be about a concealed weapon, concealing emotions, concealing intentions, etc. Cover it up and write about it.
3. Write an unconcealed poem. Okay, take everything from the first prompt and uncover it. Reveal everything that’s hidden.

(okay, this attempt is a bit of a cheat;) I'd like to try for real later but we'll see. Most of what is to happen Today  is still concealed and won't be revealed until after it is done!;)

You come, concealed in a chalice of sunshine

Or in silver sparkle of rain, or dull gray

Though we may claw at your heaven-spun binding,

You remain stoic in your stance of Today

Who can unravel the thread of moment?

You are not hastened yet we cannot keep

One string as you slip from garment to garment

Ever reborn in the night while we sleep

Seraphic sparkle of mercy, your measure

Spills from the heavens to melt midnight’s veil

Who can foretell the fullness of your treasure?

Baron and beggar drink from the same grail

You come; and none can foretell your disclosure

Swathed in a raiment of hope from above

Only God sees beneath your mute composure

And He knows Today is a gift of His love

© Janet Martin

Unconcealed…

By the time we know you fully

You have softly slipped away

Lulled in the lenient beauty

Of forever’s yesterday

By the time we've stripped your pockets

And spent each breath of your worth

You've dissolved into the darkness

Over edges of the earth

Then we can peruse your fortune
As Today empties its hold

For Yesterday fills wisdom's  coffers

With what Today will unfold

© Janet Martin

Poor Old November

November night is weighted; adumbral 

His early shadow that climbs the bare ridge

Hovers then covers earth’s wind-riddled lintel

Snuffing the silver that winds ‘neath the bridge

Somehow the shape of November night’s darkness

Keens the remembrance of what is no more

Even as I sense his brooding of moments

Nudging the hour to yesterday’s shore

Summer’s soft zephyr dons blue hat and mittens

Trading its laughter for roguish acclaim

Now he wanders lonely, like a lover smitten

With the enigma of yesterday’s fame

November night is a melancholy fellow

Tapping ice tear-drops on my window-pane

If he were May I would open my window

But poor old November must stay in the rain

© Janet Martin

Poor old November, I thought as we raced inside, shivering and slamming doors quickly lest he somehow get in. Even the shades are drawn...

If We All Loved...

  

 

 

If we all loved each other

The way that He loved us

Then we would glimpse in every face

The beauty of Jesus

No banner-covered coffins

Would be ushered through the town

No gossip would be whispered

And no one would be cast down

No phrases like ‘world hunger’

Or ‘choose life’, ‘stop bullying’

Would plead from neon billboards

There would be no envying

No war-torn land, no blood-stained sand,

No violence or spite

If we all loved each other

Every wrong would be made right

And life’s burden would be lighter

Not weighted by greed or pride

It’s darker days made brighter

By the love on every side

If we all loved each other

The way that He loved us

Then we would all be family

And our hope, Jesus

© Janet Martin

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13: 34-35

Of Maiden Voyages

Climb aboard
For this ship
Is about to embark
On its maiden voyage,
Ahoy!


Today will never
Sail Time's sea again
Let's make it a journey
Of joy!

Janet~

Happy sailing. May our waters be calm, but with just enough wave to keen our trust. May our skies be fair, but with just enough cloud to be beautiful!

my laundry seas await:)

Sharing a favorite poem today

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1807–1882

55. A Psalm of Life

What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!	5
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;	10
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating	15
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!	20
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us	25
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,	30
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,	35
Learn to labor and to wait.

 

Rendezvous with Regret

 

November's PAD Challenge Day 3.For today’s prompt, write a “the last time I was here” poem.

I do not come here often
For I cannot bear
Its mantle of memory
Its grief and despair
But life hands us lessons
We cannot forget
Yet, I cannot tarry
Too long
In regret

The last time I was here
I vowed, not again
Regret is a futile
And profitless pain
After forgiveness
Though I may not forget
I must not return
To wallow
In regret

Janet~

"If we spend our time with regrets over yesterday, and worries over what might happen tomorrow, we have no today in which to live."
-­-Anonymous

Clean Sheet

November's PAD(poem-a-day) challenge, day 4.For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Sheet,” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write the poem.

It lies before us; exhaled ‘cross the earth

Ready to suffer our scribbles and spills

Over and over mercy proves its worth

Spreading a clean sheet beneath our quills

Soon our kisses will cover the page

Mingling perhaps with a tear and a sigh

Morning unfurls beneath us, a stage

Pristine invitation sprawled out to the sky

What will it hold when dusk folds it again?

Tucking it into the pocket of Past

Testaments uttered not by ink and pen

But by our choices; forever Time-cast

© Janet Martin