Autumn Aria

Autumn is a tree undressed

Russet-dripping thoroughfare

Tart and sweetness coalesced

In the presses of the air

Autumn is an apple squeezed

Amber acquiescence soft-snared

In a cup, like memories

Vintage nectar, sipped and shared

Autumn is laughter revered

As we sense earth’s raw decline

In moment-ranks commandeered

By Authority divine

Autumn is a gold-rush quelled

Bronze and brittle lullaby

Summer’s sylvan sally felled

‘neath the sickle of the sky

Autumn; nature lingering

Like a mother over child

Kissed and tucked to bed ‘til spring

While Her tender tears run wild

© Janet Martin

PAD Challenge day 5: write a festive poem

Once Upon November's Day

PAD Challenge; day 4;For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Once Upon a (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

Oh, once upon November's day

When Autumn’s color-show was weaned

And orchard-fallow harvest gleaned

To leaf-lyrics that fell away

And earth succumbed to stiller hues

Beneath a port of brooding blues

And purple-misted avenues

Or noon’s unyielding gray

…oh, once upon November then

We too felt time’s incumbent will

Inept to push against the chill

That stripped the moorland and the glen

And heaped its deep with yester-leaf

And stirred the mind with kindred grief

As one more autumn slipped beneath

A consummate Amen

Yes, once upon November’s girth

We sensed, where nature’s vale was rent

And every laden limb unbent

In a requiem that lulled the earth

With filaments of somber gray

And portraits of life’s dying way

Here, once upon November’s day

We watched the end of birth

© Janet Martin

A Simple Case of Keeping On...

Words are a chariot; they bring us together

Words are a weapon; they drive us apart

Darling, words bind us and oh, words can sever

But never untether the strings of the heart

Tell me with nothing but touch what you’re thinking

Darling, sometimes it seems words miss their mark

Write me a poem that needs no rehearsing

Where wordless whispers are lost to the dark

We’ve been together with eons between us

We’ve been apart in a heart-to-heart dance

Darling, no matter what happens; we’ve been ‘us’

Far too long to give ‘giving up’ a chance

© Janet Martin

PAD day 3 prompt, 2-for-Tuesday prompt.  pick one prompt to follow, do both separately, or combine into one prompt.

1. Write a United Poem.
2. Write a Divided Poem.

Irrevocable...Two-for-two Tues.

“We are talking about God. 

What wonder is it that you do not understand? 

If you do understand, then it is not God.”

– St. Augustine

Sometimes we stand on time's little blue dot 

Surrounded by eons of stars

and dare to point fingers at Almighty God

because of life's sorrow and scars 

While He wears the nails prints and offers His grace

to pay our sin-debt in full

While He with infinite love for human race

pours morning into night's dark hull

While He fills the seed and provides for our need

While He tunes the tides of the air

While He sends the rain

and then sunshine again

And tends to the answers of prayer

with ceaseless compassion; sometimes we forget

and draw a cold dividing line

between we and He who is faithful yet

even while we doubt, or pine

gorging on good and craving what is not

Thinking we know what we deserve

Sometimes we stand on time's little blue dot

Forgetful of God and His love

...but still He is near

we cannot commandeer

with our thought

His Amen

Nothing can separate us from His love

We are His precious

Children

Janet Martin~

PAD challenge day 3: two-for-two Tues.

1. Write a Divided Poem
2. Write a United Poem.

A Culinary Equation

PAD challenge day 3: two-for-two Tues.

1. Write a Divided Poem
2. Write a United Poem.

One squash

Divided in two

Baked then

Anointed with 

A sprinkle of brown sugar

A dash of black pepper

And a drizzle of butter

Equals a culinary

Miracle

M-m-m-m

Janet Martin~

(I was going to add the picture tonight after supper
but I ended up working outside
until it was almost dark so no time to bake squash...
 maybe the squash-tease will come tomorrow night;-))

A Prayer Concerning Us

This day had an extremely hectic beginning, not the least of which involved some parenting-teenagers frustration...

Lord, in life’s leased appointments

Of laughter, loss and strife

Help us as we attend them

To live a humble life

This thoroughfare of learning

Sometimes seems harsh and cold

With welts beneath love’s yearning

That only You behold

But in joy’s surge to sorrow

Beneath its keening knife

Stir in each step pure fervor

To live a thankful life

We cannot know the future

It unfolds as Today

A carousel of moments

Sutured to Yesterday

Thus in this never-pausing

Out-pouring, pure and rife

With hope, instill a passion

To live a lovely life

© Janet Martin

The Perfect Size

Too small for school

Too small to skate

Too small to stay up late

Too small for all

The things tall brothers

Do ‘til half-past eight

Too small to tie my shoes

Too small to reach

The up-high shelf

Too small to understand the news

Or read

All by myself

Too small to walk the dog

Too small to count

Past one-two-three

Too small to button buttons

Or zip zippers

Or pour tea

But I am the right size to lick

The spoons when

Mommy bakes and cooks

I fit just right

In daddy’s arms

To read my bed-time story-books

I'm the right size to play

With toys and

Sleep with teddy bears

Or jump in a Big pile of leaves

I’m not too small

To say my prayers

Or ride my bike

Or try to be like

My big brothers too

And oh, I am

The perfect size

For hugs and ‘I love you’

© Janet Martin

'Look, Janet', little guy grins with pride, 'I made 'I love you' 

The little just-turned-three-guy I babysit (after being away for a few weeks) returned today, all smiles and sunshine!