On Looking Longer...

 A few of today's perfect reasons why I never hurry any seasons!

Look longer; the hunger that drives us to plunder

The sky-line hemmed cages of four-season font

Is soon softly stricken with whispers that quicken

The death of what now leaves us smitten with want

Look closer; hope’s chasseur stampedes earth’s composure

Yes, winter will wane where it swallows the street

Then, relish the wonder of landscapes a-thunder

With flowers that slumber beneath boreal fleet

Look gladly; not madly past masterpiece medleys

A-h-h! Savour the stomping ground of seasoned spree

And don’t try to hurry life’s worship and worry

But live in the moment; not what waits to be

Look deeper; the Keeper of planter and reaper

Delights beauty-seekers with love’s perfect law

Then look ere the morrow turns joy into sorrow

With death of what now leaves us breathless with awe

© Janet Martin

 Psalm 104:24
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! 

in wisdom hast thou made them all: 

the earth is full of thy riches.

Well, It's Morning (and March!)

 Happy, happy March💚💧💨🌞

Well, it’s morning

Hope’s adorning

Sweeps the countryside with light

Duty beckons

Where man reckons

With the charge of wrong and right

Well, it’s morning

Earnest warning

Mingles with love’s law of grace

Bids us muster

More than bluster

For the vigor of the chase

Well, its morning

No returning

To the trampled trails of Past

Mercy meters

To dawn’s greeters

A new day, never yet cast

Well, it’s morning

Oh my darling

Let’s not dream of should’ring care

Without yielding

Unknown’s wielding

To the One who hears our prayer

© Janet Martin

 
Psalm 5:3
In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice;

 at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.

What a comfort to know we can lay our every plea before Him
AND wait in expectation!
Sometimes I lay my plea before Him then pick back up the 'pack of cares
I professed to lay down
instead of waiting in expectation...

A Tribute to Coffee...

 Coffee can capture circular art wherever you set it!

Sometimes when I'm grinding coffee beans in the evening

 to set the coffee-maker for the morrow

I almost wish it was morning...it smells SO good!

 Today while kiddos napped I celebrated the last day of February 

with a sunny back-porch siesta/snooze!

I never can articulate

The secret of your brew

But nothing else exhilarates

My inner Me like you

Ah, you are morning’s perfect host

High noon’s hip-hip-hooray

With you I raise a twilight-toast

To salute end of day

A fit-for-all-occasions

Celebration in a cup

And when I go to bed at night

I can’t wait to wake up

© Janet Martin

Dessert Coffee; 1 strong, black fresh-brewed coffee
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp maple syrup (or more if you prefer sweeter)

Learning and Learning

 Happy Final Day of February

The speed with which February zipped by is why I never dread winter or hurry along any season!

Months seem to pack up and disappear all too fast on their own.

Something recently reminded me how my own kids will always remember me old-ish,

never in the younger half of my life while Time sends youth packing 

midst laughing and scolding, kiss-hug and holding and all other mother-ish Love

This morning a young mom and I were guessing how her daughter might be tall
when she grows up because of the shape and size if her hands and feet
and it reminded me of those days when I would peer into the guessing-land of Future
visualizing the surreal that takes shape before our very eyes in ever-present plain-clothed surprise...
Sometimes I still find myself peering into that room full of shadows,
 wondering what kind of crinkly old woman I will be...crotchety or kind😀

 (Probably either, depending on the day)

Today's guessing-room bloomed into flower in colours other than gray, for a change!

Thank-you Lord, for the Unfailing Beauty of You!

Into a vague hollow

Of veiled worlds we peer

A room full of shadows,

Part hope and part fear

For morrow’s grownups

We work-fret-pray-fuss

While we evolve into

New versions of us

…joining ranks, older

Than yesterday’s force

Squaring our shoulders

To weather the course

Wondering whether

Hope’s silk-leather glove

Will hold us together

While we live, laugh, love

Taking a meeker

Approach to the hour

Always a seeker

Of buds filled with flow’r

Learning and learning

As Time sheds its fray

How soft the journey

Of life slips away

Learning and leaning

 With visage denied

 How trust is believing

That God will provide

Learning forever

That Life's lone return

Is proving we never

Grow too old to learn

© Janet Martin

If Life Was A Ladder...

We enjoyed climbing this 'ladder' at Montmorency Falls. Que. last fall...

If life was a ladder

Then today would be

One rung-breadth nearer

To eternity

Sometimes while we chatter

It’s so hard to tell

We’re climbing a ladder

To Heaven or hell

This mileage of moments

Is destined to stop

Who knows the distance

From bottom to top

Ethereal pendulum

Swings to and fro

What we hold soon becomes

What we let go

What we take we should break

Like bread, to share

We are all ladder-mates

Just ‘getting there’

Dawn-to-dusk scatters

The rungs as we climb

Shrinking, ah, shrinking

The ladder of Time

© Janet Martin