The Irony of Joy

I wish I could post the video of this finch singing for joy 

but that part on my blog does not work right now:(

In serving others love grants joy

For selfish quests can never fill

The void that grasps at dust’s decoy

That seems a better Thing until

Self tries and tries and tries again

To please with pompous pelf, in vain

…for Self cannot be satisfied

Nor will its revelries be stilled

While it worships idols of pride

Want’s hunger cannot be fulfilled

Until Self learns how to believe

‘Better to give than to receive’

What irony, this tested truth

The more we give the more we get

Though self, oft greedy and uncouth

Is unwilling to submit yet

…oh, when it does, Surrender sings

With joy that serving others brings

© Janet Martin

Falling Away...

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
1 Cor.16:13

They cry for peace and scorn its Giver; fertilizing grief

They cry for truth and trample it with mutant disbelief

They cry for hope but do not understand its Hands nail-scarred

They cry for love but hate the One who is its very Word

They cry for joy while they destroy its temple with deceit

The cry for help while Mercy spreads its Stay beneath their feet

…while knowledge thirsts for more than college seems able to give

While hunger wails for more than food to find a way to live

While The One Way to peace-truth-hope-love-joy-help seems too hard

They weep and mourn and beat The Door that they themselves have barred

© Janet Martin

 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, 
or be troubled, 
neither by spirit, 
nor by word, 
nor by letter as from us, 
as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: 
for that day shall not come, 
except there come a falling away first, 
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

2 Thess.2:1-3 KJV

Holy, Holy, The Wake at Stake

 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, 

and Hell followed with him.

Rev.6:8

 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

John 3:18

Holy, holy earth’s cape of graves

Vulnerable, the foot that braves

Faith and fear’s yawning, conning waves

Help us, oh, help us, Lord

For we are prone to quench thirst’s yen

With lowly rise and fall of men

Where bluffing, boasting brogue of pen

Is mightier than sword

Pity, pity pride’s witty want

Enticing us to trust its taunt

Where enmity to honor flaunts

Its masterpiece of lies

And undiscerning eyes believe

What ignorance does not perceive

The awful end sin will receive

With devils in disguise

Laden with grace, soul’s maiden trek

Where life on earth is but a speck

Before the More that waits on deck

After The Choice we make

Tender, tender God’s mercy pours

Where splendor groans on hidden shores

While compassion and justice wars

Heaven or hell at stake

© Janet Martin

Time is Like A Lullaby

Time tunes its tireless lullabies

Where notes, like  petal-boats capsize

To spill dulcet hellos-goodbyes

Through faces, places, piers

They glint upon green-tinted tress

And spill in hymns of happiness

To dim couloirs and recesses

With spent laughter and tears

Ephemeral, time’s transient tryst

It sparkles, pink-gold-amethyst

Then fades into a phantom mist

On echo-laden breeze

Where what we have and hold becomes

An epitaph of moment-crumbs

A distant Neverland that thrums

With life-sums; memories

Triumph is more than contests won

Or prize-trophies for races run

It tunes the touch of said and done

With gentle gratitude

Where Time is like a lullaby

Of who-what-when-wherefore and why

It heaps the heart with sleepy sigh

Of seasons soon subdued

© Janet Martin

Whoever-wherever you are today

Cherish its gift of gold or gray

For with eventide it becomes

A memento of moment-sums

Happy Victoria Day, fellow-Canadians!

Love's Vows (a Wedding Poem)

We attended our nephew's wedding on Saturday. 

A wedding is always a good time to be reminded and reflect on vows we made on our own wedding day,
however recently or not we vowed them...

God bless, guard and keep the sacredness of marriage true and strong!

Once you were strangers and far, far apart

Now and forever love binds heart to heart

Shoulder to shoulder, through life’s worst or best

Love’s vows unbroken will triumph each test

Nothing on earth can undo what is done

Solemn the vows that meld two into one

Tethered forever to weather what waits

Love’s vows unite two hearts into soulmates

Cherish with honor these words that you say

Defend the promises you make today

Always remember in life’s push and pull

Love’s vows once spoken, nothing can annul

God bless with happiness, these ties that bind

Keeping, through His love, this love true and kind

For, from this day forward, while God grants your life

Love’s vows have sealed you as husband and wife

© Janet Martin