Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Of Almost-Snow



An air of expectancy groans through nature's bare bones today...
 ...as if one can almost hear Old Man Winter's approach!
Lovers of  'brooding landscapes' better take a long, last look according to the weather-forecast


The air is poked with bare oak branch
And stoked with ‘almost snow’
Across the yard brittle leaves dance
In footloose tic-tac-toe

The land is primed for white that spills
To deck the halls brown-gray
Glad to be clad in sledding-hills
And snow angels at play

The far-off ridge broods blue and bare
It lures the poet’s gaze
To touch the tremble in its stare
And clutch time’s ebbing ways

The earth is like a tambourine
Where tuneless jingles shake
The wind, a minstrel, wild and green
Rattles the balsam brake

…and from each window eager-eyed
A world of children wait
To greet the whirling, twirling tide
As winter opes its gate

© Janet Martin

Monday, December 4, 2017

Poem-power





A poem smiles across the miles
Where hands and feet cannot access
It feathers ramparts of the heart
With gentle love and happiness

A poem roves o'er dusky coves
It snores in fencelines echo-steeped
On sod's repose a poem blows
To scatter blooms on furrows reaped

A poem cheers across the years
Ink-murmurs adhered to plain page
Where stilted form calms, quickens storms
With script from tomes yellow with age

A poem broods in winter-woods
It curls and swirls in rock-strewn rill
A lullaby in full moon’s sky
A roguish kiss to vex and thrill

Epiphany of mystery
And expectation intertwined
Troubadour of life’s laugh-limp-love
It woos the dreamer whisper-blind

It's sweetness drops like apple-plops
When autumn strums the laden tree 
It replays scenes of what-has-been
In sentimental luxury

A poem melts and melds and molds
The gray and gold of season-tide
It draws two hearts that seem apart
Until they nestle side by side

© Janet Martin

Unbelieveable But True!!!






We follow in
The steps of he
Who healed the sick,
Made blind to see
Who wore for our
Sakes a crown
Of thorns; and laid
His battered body down
On Calvary’s cross
To be lifted up
For all to see;
He drank the cup
That we deserved
But were spared from Because He left Heaven’s kingdom; He, equal with God,
Humbly became Flesh; Ah, Jesus Is His name, Righteousness; and because of the dark, dark
 Call He braved All who call on Him (Light of the World) will be saved
…Then do not crown Despair as king Nor let the dark Of this world blind
For from Bethlehem’s
town still rings
Messiah’s hope
For humankind
And do not grope
In mires of doubt
Or dredge the deeps
Of guilty shame
Salvation in
Glad triumph shouts
And acquits sinner’s
Through this name;
Jesus, Jesus,
Who did not grasp
His Deity
As an excuse
To Usurp God’s/Love’s
Masterplan
But came to earth
Goodness and truth
To fill with worth
Through His death, 
Man

 ...we follow in the steps of He
made a way
to Him
through Him
 for
you and me

© Janet Martin


Holy Hope-Hymn





Thou, Father of love’s fount sustains
What long should have run dry
We dredge its deep yet nothing drains

Thou, Shepherd of a foolish flock
Whose talk betrays heart’s sum
Thy fold should boast a stone-cold lock
But still You beckon, “come

Thou, Bread of life, where dread and strife
Would choke the starving soul
Save for thy grace that paid sin’s price
And aids Hope to its goal

Thou, Giver to a race unfit
That takes and takes until
Your outstretched Hand should clench its fist

Thou, Light to darkest doom unfurled
Through Thee we will endure

© Janet Martin

Ageless Anthem...





It stirs the flagging spirit, oh,
It lifts the downcast heart with hope
And fills the dark with song
Those surreal scenes from days of old
Unfold in wond’ring eyes
The tidings that the angels told
Still hold redemption’s prize

A Savior, Christ the Lord”
In Bethlehem’s manger was laid
A gift none can afford
…as Word became flesh then became
A bleeding sacrifice
Righteousness wore the sinner’s shame

What spilled in angel’s song, then tears
Though years and ages roll
Abides with us, comforts our fears
And still saves sinner’s soul
Jesus gladdens sad spirits, oh
His truth is never wrong
Love lifts the downcast heart with hope
And fills the dark with song

Those surreal scenes from ancient hills
Still tell the Saviour’s birth
The gift of Bethlehem still spills
For unto us was born that night
Heaven’s joy to the world
Jesus, the Way, The Truth, The Life
To mortal strife unfurled

…someday the skies will flare once more
Someday all hearts will burn
…and what some deemed a farfetched tale
Will see The Living Word
Jesus, Jesus as Lord

© Janet Martin