Saturday, February 25, 2017

Of Bedrocks, Beauty and Belief





We hone, with common skin and bone
Life-lessons we are taught
And sharpen on time’s silk and stone
The ilk that cradles thought

The beauty of the earth, it seems
Is immune to man’s quirks
But lays its best beneath our dreams
In nature’s faultless works

As we, mindful or not, of God
Glimpse hints of heaven-dust
And trample with feet mercy-shod
Its stomping ground of trust

What hope we hold in human hearts
If we are not deceived
For Hope is that which God imparts
To we who have believed

Lord, be the hope in us this day
The bedrock of each thought
Lest we be tricked by heathen sway
And live this life for naught

Temptation does not change its tone
In spite of changing views
Where we, with common skin and bone
Worship the God we choose



© Janet Martin


Friday, February 24, 2017

Minute-Metaphysics





Sometimes we feel the reel of it
In nothing but the ‘steal’ of it
Across the hill at dusk a bit
Or in the still of dawn
But often in the dream of it
We lose sight of its scheme a bit
While balancing the stream of it
With bridges we walk on

Sometimes we sense the slip of it
And try to drink the drip of it
While grappling with the grip of it
This Thing that disappears
But often in the thick of it
We overlook the quick of it
And how the steady tick of it
Turns moments into years

Sometimes we clutch the Much of it
And struggle with the Such of it
While learning ‘neath the touch of it
About both joy and strife
But often in the heat of it
We undermine the beat of it
And how the bittersweet of it
Turns years into a life

© Janet Martin

Meaning of Life





What, the meaning of this sorrow
Where tomorrow wears a veil
And the fantasies we borrow
Are distorted with travail

What, the meaning of the hour
That can drain youth’s lithesome stride
With naught but morn’s newborn flower
And its grave on eventide

What, the meaning of this hunger
That no treat can satisfy
While our looking back grows longer
As time dwindles its supply

What, the meaning of this flicker
Soon it fades in Farewell’s seal
In a sepulcher of echoes
That nobody can repeal

What the meaning, oh my darling
Of each kiss, each tear, each sigh
That, in the grand-scape of living
Always leads us to good-bye

What, the meaning of these seasons
Veneer on earth’s earthy scrim
Ah, the Giver grants the reason
It is our means back to Him

© Janet Martin

If we think life is not worth its strife and plod
We under-estimate Heaven, my love
And oh, we under-estimate God


Because Time Is Serious Business... Because Its Accounting Is Absolute





Time’s investment doled in moments
Leaves us breathless now and then
Holy, holy, like an ocean
Rolling from God down to men

Where we spend its ‘lend’ of hours
Purchasing, oft without voice
Consequence of transient bowers
And the aftermath of choice

People all begin as students
Rife with ignorance and lust
Learning the import of prudence
Through the hunger-pangs of trust

After we have borne the beauty
That turns raven locks to white
We see time as more than duty
To a corpse of morn-noon-night

We see Time as serious business
Like sun-sparkles on a sea
Where investments leave us breathless
…its payoff, eternity

© Janet Martin