Open Invitation

Our Invitation has been sent; the Son

Of God has signed it with redeeming blood

His banquet table overflows with food

And there is none forgotten; no, not one

Oh, who will come to partake of this feast?

And who will trust in More than eyes perceive?

His call implores, north south, now west and east

Ah, who will reply,’ yes Lord, I believe’?

…and thus receive His ticket to a place

Where sorrow cannot come; no pain or tears

Can enter where the Lord Himself appears

To wipe away its traces from each face

For He is glad to end their suffering

He turns; eager to hear what they will say

As they behold Love’s precious offering

An Invitation to God’s Wedding Day

“Almost, almost”, they cry with sluggish talk

Then turn to serve the lordship of the mind

Where love is clothed in purpose undefined

And hours are the flowers of a clock

They walk, almost persuaded to believe

In One they cannot see; Want wails within

But lords of Self are easy to deceive

By boasting ballyhoo of pride and sin

The spirit wars against the flesh; lust flirts

With the beholder, pleasing to the eye

its promises can never satisfy

But torments the partaker with vile thirst

…nothing can quench; pagan comforts are cold

Somewhere the Bridegroom lingers at A Door

Once more He puts His banquet feast on hold

There are too many ‘almosts’ to ignore

© Janet Martin

While we were standing in line with our tickets on Friday with a warning not to lose them or we can't get in, I was suddenly struck by the image of another Gate and another lineup.
Do you have your 'ticket'? It's price has been paid!
 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18

Yesterday a little girl in my Sunday School class said she knows heaven will be so beautiful because only God-made things will be there and nothing man-made at all.
'yes' agreed another little boy, 'but then I wonder what the table for the Feast will be made of and what it will look like. Will it simply be spread out on the ground?' :-)

October Adrift

Seraphim dwindles

While rebel-wind swindles

The color that kindles

October’s good-bye

Tenderness traces

Earth’s barren embraces

Where blue longing laces

November’s near sigh

Dying day etches

Stark silhouette sketches

On gold, satin stretches

Twixt sky, land and sea

A breath-stealing burning

Of sudden sweet yearning

For Time’s no returning

Ignites poetry

Porcelain sliver

Of opaque moon shivers

Beneath Orion’s quiver

Of star-spangled darts

Virile vexation

Of trust and temptation

Defies explanation

And perplexes hearts

Middle-night murmurs

Time’s black and white summers

Reside in waft-shimmers

Of echoes that sift

As seraphim dwindles

Where rebel-wind swindles

The color that kindles

October adrift

© Janet Martin

Leaves Fall...A Triple-tribute to Fall (and Falling Leaves)

Soon, soon the naked branch will be the only proof of you

Moments, they never idle; thinning gold on azure blue

In leaves that fall; the muted madrigal of midnight’s choir

Will slumber soon beneath the tune of wind through stricken spire

Leaves fall; a quiet winnowing of lazy summer days

And hours filled with wondering before we parted ways

No sound at all and yet the lea of grassy-meadow green

Is tucked beneath an unstitched quilt of tattered gabardine

And do you have a mother’s heart, oh, leafless, longing tree?

…and do you feel a tugging smart as each leaf is set free?

And are those really leaves that fall or here and there a tear

As you, like mothers do, recall days now far-gone yet near

Leaves fall; and who can thwart the call of Majesty and hours

No one usurps the Hand that holds the heart and soul of flow’rs

Leaves fall like golden snowflakes; prelude to what is to come

Leaves fall; we shuffle through Time’s golden halls to home, sweet Home

© Janet Martin

“You should write a poem about leaves falling” hubby remarked casually yesterday when the air was all a-flutter with leaf butterflies.

So, here’s to hubby’s request!

The Fall of Fall

The fall of fall is quite the thing of beauty to behold

And not at all like the First Fall in ancient days of old

The fall of fall begins with strings of russet tinted nod

Before the outpouring of scarlet fills the hills with…God

The fall of fall evokes within us all a sense of loss

While drawing admiration from the worldly crowd of us

Earth’s brawn and beauty battles on a salient of sod

While we with gaping mouths witness a wonder-glimpse of…God

The fall of a fall is nature’s madrigal; her poetry

A froth of pungent whispers on a lonesome, leaf-tossed sea

Where we set sail upon a frigate laden with the laud

Of living proof that there is no one who can outdo…God

The fall of fall is like a shawl thrown on earth’s shoulders stooped

Beneath the care that it must bear of faith, folly and fruit

Then, soon the fall of fall will still; its barren woodwork shod

With petals filled with promise and the handiwork of… God

© Janet Martin

Leaves Fall But… that’s not All

Leaves fall but that’s not all

The bark that birthed the bloom

That bore the yield of limb and field

Is Mother Nature’s womb

Each leaf is like a note

Of proof that God exists

Beneath the bark beginnings spark

While winter writhes and twists

The eulogy of June

Caught in a tomb of Past

Is nothing more than the Before

Where summer fades too fast

Oh, do not weep, the leaves

Though now they stilly fall

Is but the Must of dust to dust

And Autumn’s curtain call

Leaves fall but that’s not all

Soon barren boughs will bend

With calliope of bloom and hope

When springtime comes again

© Janet Martin

For What God Said Is So

 

We held it; not for long

While yesterday we peered

Into Time’s imminent unknown

It breaks through veils soft-sheered

And understanding gapes

At the little we know

As for the rest, we cling to faith

For what God said is so 

Trial and error tests

The stomping ground of lips

For all the words of tainted Best

Many a Scholar trips

And it is hard to learn

Those things we need to know

Of Hope and Grace none can erase

For what God said is so

Nature does not resist

The Hand that tunes the trill

That probes the bud that blooms then drifts

To slumber where we will

Therefore we ought to trust

Time’s Mercy-Maestro

And give more earnest heed, indeed

To what God said is so

We held it; not for long

Today soon softly slips

Into that vast ethereal tomb

Of season-silenced lips

We touch and taste a draught

Fraught with what none can know

But God; and thus we cling to Him

For what He said is so

© Janet Martin

 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19

The Sweetest of Tears

Yesterday Melissa met us (my friend with her little boys I baby-sit and Victoria and I) in Toronto. We visited Ripley’s Aquarium. It was a great day, with so much I never did get time to say…

Oft, how I struggle and battle

With that which I have

And that which I lack

Weighed in the delicate balance, child,

Of nudging you forward

And pulling you back

Oft I am torn twixt the stretching

Of holding you close

And letting you go

Love is a bitter-sweet wrenching, child

That only a mother

Will ever full-know

Oft, oh how the grip of it stuns me

Wanting and Must

Juxtaposed in my ears

Futile to fumble with words, child

Motherhood suffers

The sweetest of tears

© Janet Martin

…suddenly the train was coming and all we had time for was a quick hug and see you soon. While we ran tears dimmed the doorway of Union Station. Spending time together reminds us (Victoria and I) how much we miss her…
...the same tug I felt the day before when I hugged Rob and Emily good-bye as they left for the airport.

 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19