Of Ruthless Realization

 Jim turned 50 yesterday! How often have we asked 'where does time go?'

Time will come…but to pass

And seal within its flow

Those things we cradled in our clasp

Before the letting go

Those things we vowed to keep

With resolute intent

Are stolen where Time’s moments weep

And ever circumvent

We cannot conquer years

This firm and forward flow

Consumes in obscure tick-tock spheres

The ever-present Now

And soon the filament

Of youth’s fanciful gown

Must fall beneath the averment

Of Time’s insistent crown

So, though we plead and groan

With earnest stubbornness

Time claims without apology

What we cannot possess

© Janet Martin

Colors of Thought

Thought runs its colors through the air

Kaleidoscope of faith and fear

Torrent of Past’s touch and taste

Of Will and Want and Worth and Waste

Echo apposes the Unknown

Dawn unfurls a new steppingstone

Swift the hour inhales, exhales

Still the jousting clock prevails

Grant us Lord, love’s fervent toil

Desire and Duty moil

In a constant war of will

Limping, leaping, standing still

Learning, loving, letting go

Training, teaching, testing, oh

…thought runs colors through the air

Kaleidoscope of hope and prayer

© Janet Martin

SO many thoughts rushed through me as I open my eyes this morning...almost, I forgot to fold them into prayer where worry, work and waking handed me its care

Go There, My Dear

Go there my dear, for tomorrow who knows?

Earth may be heavy with yesterday’s rose

Go there and do not look back then to pine

For what once was, but fell soft from the vine

Drink deep from the chalice you hold in your clasp

For Past builds its palace from This Thing that we grasp

Over and over, though seasons repeat

Time never refunds an hour, my sweet

…so go there and lie where the blue of the sky

Winks between green sweep of tree-lullaby

Go without guilt to the laughter of sod

Lie there and listen to whispers of God

Go while the rivers of summer run wild

Time weeps with echoes of yesterday's child

Take nothing with you save perhaps a pen

For darling, this day will never pass by again

Go where the rush of this moment-tide schemes

Tugging our thought between memories and dreams

For soon this day will slip, like all before

Into the eon of Time’s nevermore

© Janet Martin  

Torn Between Loving and Leaving...

God fills meadows with daisies and homes with Duty...

Torn between loving and leaving, my love

Torn by the tug of a breeze

Luring me from dirty dishes and rugs

To pink-petaled wild apple-trees

Torn between loving where nature is kind

And leaving this four-cornered room

But I am a mother and my love is not blind

This house needs a cloth and a broom

Torn between loving in colors of spring

And leaving what cannot be left

Is there a compromise? Tell me, darling

For time’s touch is subtle, yet deft

Soon the pink tree will be laden with fruit

Soon the soft breeze will turn cold

Soon earth’s new garment of green will be mute

Tempered by russet and gold

Torn between loving where wanderlust calls

And leaving meeker pleasures of home

Torn between loving and leaving, my love

Torn between Prudence and Poem

© Janet Martin

I glimpsed it through the pine-hedge while running an errand...wild apple-orchards in full bloom and I must go there, yet I must stay here...

May Morning...(an oldie re-vamped)

Golden fronds fall from the robe of an angel

 Gilding earth's valleys, blue-brimming with mist

  Into the meadow a King spills his riches 

Diamonds of daylight in every dew-kiss

Brook binds its sash across spring's emerald garments

Through wood-land temples and out to the sea

Forgotten ponds burst with born-again nuance

Turquoise-jade patches on earth’s rugged knee

Gentle breeze rouses the bird from its slumber

Nature’s choristers fill silence with praise

'Sing to the Lord a new song, for His goodness

Draws from the darkness life's measure of days

Yester's red sun, as it slipped from our visage

Tugged from time's fingers our idol of clay 

Now, as a symbol of Heaven-kind mercy

Light fills the hollow of night with new day

  Merciful Master-piece dazzles earth's acre

Where grace allows us a dot on time’s sands

Thankfulness throbs in meek prayer to our Maker

  We feel His Presence soft-touching our hands

© Janet Martin

It is not difficult to see His beauty on a morning like this…

Hoping to be more present eventually...the nice weather compels us to be outdoors tackling long overdue to-do lists!

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Ps. 118:24

Forgive our Forgetfulness

 

The land is a-shimmer with dandelion-beams and summer-dreams...

Lord, help us not to lose in living’s repetitious way

The joy of loving you through all we think and do and say

How easily the tendency of discontentment tugs

Where Ordinary is the cloak of heaven’s mercy-hugs

Lord, help us not to disregard for Self, another’s need

Foregoing Your Greatest Command, for envy’s troubling greed

The clock of Life is winding down with every breath we take

Oh, may it be we do not walk in vain Time’s vapor wake

Lord, You desire to give us much more than thought can prove

And yet, how quickly we trust sight instead of Your kind love

Mortality forgets too soon what only Your love brings

Yet patiently You still prevail while we clamor for things

Lord, help us not to overlook the happiness of flowers

Or be far too consumed with this wee wanton life of ours

And should the grief of Consequence be more than we can bear

Remind us Lord, that You forgive and never cease to care

Lord, by Your grace we humbly go and only by Your grace

Each day a sacred stepping-stone to that Grand Meeting Place

So help us not to lose in living’s repetitious way

The joy of loving You through all we do and think and say

© Janet Martin

This morning as we prayed before Matt and Victoria headed off to school I was convicted by my own words…’Help us to remember to serve You with purpose today, wherever we are and to never forget why we are here’. ..and I was reminded of God’s mercy in life’s Ordinary repetition.