Once Upon a Tree

Once upon a tree a lad climbed up to see the world

Once upon a tree an apple grew from bud unfurled
  Once upon a green-leaf tree its tune turned gold and fell
 Where winter, like a lonesome minstrel strums its citadel

Once upon a tree wee birdie learned to sing and fly
 Once upon a tree a swing, a wind-song lullaby

Once upon a tree, a pantry filled with nuts and such

Nature’s wildlife castles clothed and stripped beneath her touch

Once upon a tree redemption’s misery ran red

Once upon a tree salvation’s sacrifice was bled

Once upon a tree a king laid down his life and then

Became, for all humanity the Way into heaven

© Janet Martin

Quite a Friend

The luxury of you, my dear

Teasing my mouth, tickling my ear

With pictures waiting to be penned

Has turned you into quite a friend

The way you almost kiss my lips

And kindle flames in fingertips

Restless to snare the air you stir

Has turned you into quite a Sir

I cannot clutch the skin of thrill

Or touch your faerie blueness, still

Your whitewashed, star-splashed wherewithal

Has turned you into quite a pal

You never leave, yet never stay

But wander through this wish-worn clay

Footloose, your phantom whispering

Has turned you into quite a king

You lord your longing in my sigh

I drink the wink of common sky

I think your tug-of-ink-and-heart

Has turned you into quite an art

You please me with the want of you

And taunt me with frost-font and dew

The way you weave yourself through me

Has turned you into poetry

© Janet Martin

Thank-you God, For Families

It is Family Day in Ontario...

 We are looking forward to spending it with our family's newest member,

Brantley James Curry (grandson born on Jan. 4)

We thank-you God, for families

They turn a house into a home

And make a life of memories

With people we can call our own

We thank-you God, for families

And pray we never fail to find

The gift in what soon slips with ease

To art-galleries of the mind

We thank-you God, for families

The fuss and mess whereby we learn

To give and help, say thank-you, please

And remember to wait our turn

We thank-you God, for families

And hope that we never forget

To cherish mercies such as these;

Life’s silver cords not broken yet

© Janet Martin

Natural

We enjoyed our annual February get-away to Toronto,

remarking, as always, the quickness with which this week-end returns each year.

Generally we battle biting, cold gales but this year we joined strolling throngs along the waterfront,

drinking in the gold and blue delight of a February thaw...

It is quite natural, they say

The way we find our way somehow

From far and foreign yesterday

Into a new yet older Now

The turbulence of tick and tock

Walks through us without much ado

Deriving from offspring of Clock

A new, yet older me and you

For as we learn to acclimate

Life’s 'wait-and-see' with 'my-time-flies'

We realize and ruminate

With new, yet ever older eyes

On common ground of Now and Here

We peer into time’s changing face

The balance beam of year-to-year

A new, yet ever older grace

© Janet Martin

We stopped for a mid-afternoon coffee break at Bob's Coffee Bar
(first week-end open!)where our daughter Melissa works.