Treasure Hunt

From the gasp of full awareness

To the clasp of ever-past

Pours the future to the present

Through a season fading fast

Innocence, kind unawareness

Sweetens youth until one day

Like a jolt of new-found knowledge

They see how time ticks away

Then they join the slogging masses

Surging non-stop t’ward the sky

Sobered by the full awareness

Of a gripping lullaby

Joining we who strain to treasure

Or measure a moment’s jot

Even as it seals its measure

In the fortress of a thought

…while we, more than flesh ellipses

Struggle to embrace Time’s goal

 As the plot of clocks eclipses

And strips garments from the soul

© Janet Martin

The Color of Distance

Eventually every day, the worst and the best of them, fade to blue...

 

Hours fill and fall around us

Tinted with time’s common ground

A kaleidoscope of color

Bud-bloom-bare, around, around

Like a carousel of flowers

Twirling, swirling petal-spheres

Twist through sun-kisses and showers

Weaving whispers into years

Slurring, blurring bronze-red-purple

Gold and gray and green unchains

Hello bleeding into farewell

Until only blue remains

© Janet Martin

A Matter of Time

Given time, Time is a table

Where we weigh the life we’ve had

When, with all that we are able

We pretend that we are glad

Given time, Time tests our laughter

On a tight-rope thread of tears

Twixt Unknown and Ever-after

We juggle its faith and fear

Given time, Time takes tomorrow

And turns it into today

Where a cup of joy and sorrow

Fills then spills to yesterday

Given time, Time overtakes us

No one can outrun its stride

Given Time we will meet Jesus

Who knows when Time will subside?

© Janet Martin

Pausing Between Pages to Simply Be...

The girls and I love reading so often while the guys golf we read...and talk... 
and listen to the lyrics of the sea. 
We 'drift' on the bobbing dock, 
caught somewhere between reality 
...and book-world.

O, Beauty of being

You kiss half-shut eyes

And taunt life’s ineptness

With paradise

O, tireless sea-song

You surge and recede

A blue-throated ballad

To thought's nameless need

You strum ancient shorelines

That cradle the sea

Where we drift twixt book-land

And reality

...while pleading with edicts

Of hours and such

To fine-tune the pages

Where sky and sea touch

© Janet Martin

I'd Like...

I’d like…

To see the sun climb, dip, then slip

Into a pink and silver sea

To watch the brunt of hours drip

Without appointment, languidly

Between the pages of a book

Where summer’s while is fancy-free

Slow-poured like sweet tea in a nook

Of laughter, love and family

I’d like…

To disengage the clock that tocks

And tells me what I ought to do

While flowers flaunt their vibrant locks

Beneath a dome of blue on blue

…and then another day is done

And I say where and when and how

…and scold that age-old wagging tongue

That orders more than days allow

I’d like…

To wash my toes with sand and sun

Let common landmarks slide away

Like post-cards waving, ‘see you soon

Enjoy your little get-away’

Then I would like to turn and blow

A kiss of kin-ship to it all

Replying, I can hear the sea, so

Farewell while I heed its call
Farewell, while I heed its call

© Janet Martin

Yes, it's five o'clock-diamonds time:)
I will be away for a week or two. See you soon!

Sometimes I pretend the above hills are a smidgeon of Ireland;-)
Everything is so green this year due to large amounts of rain!