Ah! These Are August Days...(Part 1)

There is something extremely evocative in

the sequence of wheat harvest, 

as fields rippling with golden oceans of grain 

dwindle 

to rows of straw 

to sweeps of stubble, 

...erupting within,

 a tango of euphoria and lament...

These are the days of dusty haze as wheat fields disappear...

These are the isles of sun-flow’r smiles before time takes its toll

And bows the head as weathered threads unravel ‘round the soul...

Of children wishful, blindly blissful to past’s bulging cheeks...

 of bare feet, fancy-free...

(and a glimpse of why one little girl sports band-aids on both knees

almost all summer long)😉😅

These are the days of dusty haze as wheat fields disappear

Staccato fire of cricket choir’s veiled, vibrato veneer

Of tasseled corn and love song’s torn twixt rapture and lament

Because the gait of summer’s fate becomes more evident

This is the hour of flower-gardens bursting at the seams

Of baskets heaped with harvest reaped; of living winter’s dreams

Of blankets tossed beneath green-glossed, leaf-embossed canopy

Of stolen breath at life and death’s ingrained velocity

These are the isles of sun-flow’r smiles before time takes its toll

And bows the head as weathered threads unravel ‘round the soul

While fingers linger, tracing faces kissed with mist and dew

Aware of how the air of Now spills thieves of gold and blue

…of monotone cicada drone, of bare feet, fancy-free

The wilding rush as roadsides blush with footloose filigree

Of chicory and loosestrife sea, sow-thistle, hollyhock

Of Queen Ann’s lace to frill and grace the most commonplace frock

Of silk-soft breeze lolling in trees, of hazy, lazy noon

Sidewalks sizzle, days drizzle like gold honey from a spoon

Of fellow fishing, willow swishing sluggish, shallow creeks

Of children wishful, blindly blissful to past’s bulging cheeks

Where duty spars with beauty’s marvelous mid-summer splash

As prudence teases students where wanderlust and work clash

As happiness says 'yes-yes-yes!' while time’s finesse says 'no!'

…momentous molds of holding on to moments letting go

Of gilt-edged dusk, Canadian-Tuscany flavoured fare

Much prayed for rain as cloud-freight trains go thundering through the air

The days when nature’s cello plays in every nook and crook

Where noses lose their way in flower-fray and story book

Ah, these are August Days. Hooray! Of heaven-on-earth feel

These are the frames that twilight claims and yet can never steal

This is the page that sets the stage for poetry run wild

These are the days that summer plays as if she were a child

© Janet Martin

Of gilt-edged dusk...

Much prayed for rain as cloud-freight trains go thundering through the air...

Where noses lose their way in flower-fray...

 and story book...

Love; The Journey

So much for love to hope for, pray for, and celebrate!

Love is not a feeling, 

but a fulltime labor of compassion, courage, correction and grace!

Love is ever learning and never lazy.

Love is God poured out, in/ through us!

His  loving grace is sufficient for the charge!

1 John 4:7-12

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, 

and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, 

that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us 

and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, 

God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

1 Cor.13:7-8

Love...bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.

Love never fails.

I believe in loving the journey 

but an apt twist to this quote would be

Love is the Journey

Love hurts with those who hurt

And laughs with those who laugh

Its noble motive seeks the worth

Of fellowman’s behalf

It hopes and prays and cares

And does not weigh the price

But with a heart of mercy bears

The yoke of sacrifice

Love does not seek its own

Agendas; love is kind

It sets a stable stepping stone

For those foll’wing behind

It heeds earnest rebuke

Love does not boast or lie

Unprejudiced, humble and true

Love measures thought’s reply

Love mourns with those who mourn

And sings with those who sing

Love shares the rose and bears the thorn

Without self-pitying

Love lights joy’s candlestick

Love never, never fails

When grief’s sickle cuts to the quick

God, who IS love prevails

Incarnate and Enough

The Vine sustains the branch

Apart from God, love is not love

But hell's hopeless romance

Love transcends circumstance

Mercy's unthwarted grail

Outpours, in constant sustenance

The love that cannot fail

So, Love the journey Here

With humble, holy laud

Because love is the journey, dear

Back to love's birthplace; 

God

© Janet Martin

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. 

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 

apart from me you can do nothing.

1 Cor.13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

Rainbow-Feast

She pulls a rainbow from her garden

Savours every shade

Because a rainbow from the garden

Is the best feast ever made

Thank-you, God!

© Janet Martin

Sitting in the Garden (is a lovely thing to do)

'You have a lot of garden benches', commented one of my sisters recently.

'Do you use them?'

I guess she knows how it goes!

Sitting in the garden is a lovely thing to do

but easier said than done

because gardening and nice gardens don't just happen!

They are a constant labor of love

/aka weeding, hoeing, pruning, dusting and picking!

But here and there every gardener needs to take the time to sit a bit

And fellowship with the First Garden-Creator,

 in the cool of the day....

Sitting in a garden is a lovely thing to do

To marvel at God’s art and let His laughter run us through

To commune with the busy/buzzy bee, the bird, the butterfly

To join the applause of the tree where gauzy breezes sigh

Sitting in a garden in the middle of the day

Grants worry sudden pardon and eases hurry away

For, basking in the beauty where a flower bower brims

Is like sitting where God's music sheets run rife with petal-hymns

The handiwork of He who instills buds and seeds with bloom

Constantly thrills; only God fills and threads nature’s grand loom

He steals our breath; Self dies ten-thousand deaths as She beholds

Perfection’s hues; pinks, chartreuse, blues, whites, reds, purples and golds

Sitting in the garden is earth’s glimpse of paradise

Happiness in purest mirth and labour’s sweetest prize

Work and worship’s Heaven; what a lovely place to be

Sitting in a garden is like sitting at/on God’s knee

© Janet Martin

some more garden pleasure...

Awed Altar-call

Countless crowds throng beaches the world over, 

where front-row, no-charge seating to the greatest show on earth,

 draws young and old to behold the heaven's declaring the glory of God..

Psalm 19:1-4

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

2Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

3Without speech or language,

without a sound to be heard,a

4their voiceb has gone out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.c

Romans 1:19-20

For what may be known about God is plain to them, 

because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, 

His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, 

being understood from His workmanship, 

so that men are without excuse.

...hopefully an awesome awareness of  'No Excuse' 

kindles in our hearts and souls a kind of altar-call

to recommit our wants and ways to the Creator of the world 

and everything/everyone in it! 

In His Word we find everything we need

to restore our souls and

to lead us in 'path's of righteousness'!

Come, Holy Spirit kindle, through the power of Thy Word

A fire of desire to labour for Thee, O Lord

For Thou art near and dearly with each soul who seeks Thy will

Who strives with earnest diligence faith’s calling to fulfill

Lord, let our love for Thee and not the world, consume this clay

Thou, who dost not lead us into temptation or astray

Thou, Invisible, and yet whose qualities are unfurled

In sky and land and sea since the creation of the world

…so that all are without excuse; the universal tongue

Of the heavens declares thy glory to both old and young

Day after day, night after night without language or speech

To the ends of the earth, not one escapes the heavens reach

Lord, come what may, let love abound amidst adversity

For thou wilt keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee

Our Father who art in heaven, Thy kind goodness grants

Sufficient grace to help us face and bear the circumstance

Lord, wake in us an earnest ache Thy glory to behold

Let Thy cause be the constant sake that draws and fills faith’s mold

Until we see thee face to face forever to proclaim

Thy praises for the gift of salvation found through Thy name

© Janet Martin

Come Gracious Spirit, Heavenly Dove

Day Maker

John 1:3

All things were made through Him, 

and without Him nothing was made 

that was made.

Psalm 95:1-8

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;

let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!

2Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

3For the LORD is a great God,

a great King above all gods.

4In His hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to Him.

5The sea is His, for He made it,

and His hands formed the dry land.

6O come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

7For He is our God,

and we are the people of His pasture,

the sheep under His care.

Today, if you hear His voice,

8do not harden your hearts...

Yon welkin pastures pale

Unveiling new today

On chariots of misted dale

The night is drawn away

…as mercy lights the wick

With hands of Perfect Will

And sets Love's gleaming candlestick

On heaven’s windowsill

Where time’s table is spread

With joy beyond compare

Because we are His people led

Through pastures of His care

Of all that may befall

Of all that we partake

The Maker and Giver of all

Will not His sheep forsake 

© Janet Martin

Psalm 118:19-24

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter and give thanks to the LORD.

20This is the gate of the LORD;

the righteous shall enter through it.

21I will give You thanks, for You have answered me,

and You have become my salvation.

22The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.d

23This is from the LORD,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.e

24This is the day that the LORD has made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Beauty-Bombardment

We need only to look within us and around us

to soon be bombarded with life's Unbeautiful!

But pray we are never so burdened by the unbeautiful 

that we miss the beauty (of the Lord)

Psalm 27:4

One thing have I desired of the LORD, 

that will I seek after; 

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,

 to behold the beauty of the LORD, 

and to inquire in his temple.

Forbid that in this world that brims with beauty of the Lord

With morning-tide, unfurled in hymns of mercy’s vow restored...

With lilies, though they do not toil or spin, God weaves their cloak

In grander garb than queen or king’s royal garments bespoke...

Where Innocence is following us with unbridled trust...

Where labor is a love-song to He who its page bestows

Where joy is like a fountain as thanksgiving overflows...

Forbid that in this world that brims with beauty of the Lord

With morning-tide, unfurled in hymns of mercy’s vow restored

With lilies, though they do not toil or spin, God weaves their cloak

In grander garb than queen or king’s royal garments bespoke

Forbid that where the beauty of a helping hand is sought

Where far more than stiff duty stirs us from sweet slumber’s cot

(Because love gladdens ups and downs of toil and happiness

And hope is like The Rose that crowns the thorns that prick and press)

Forbid that in this place where each new day of grace is poured

Through the flue of God’s smiling face (though He is oft ignored)

Where Hallowed Glimpse is hollowing each frame of dust to dust

Where Innocence is following us with unbridled trust

Where beauty of a baby is life's sweetest, purest loan

Where in the midst of Maybe God's Word anchors the unknown

Where nature is a theater of Eden's tarnished void  

Where someday the Creator will restore what sin destroyed 

Where what we cannot fathom should fashion each day we live

Where One authors a question to An Answer all will give

Where Example is coaching the most tender among us

Where we are all approaching A Most Sacred Exodus

Where all we have is Given by the One who grants its means

Where night’s dark veil is riven where dawn’s grail spills color-scenes

Where God’s Word is not shaken though Unbelief waxes bold

Where One Day all will waken to undoubtedly ‘Behold’

Where labor is a love-song to He who its page bestows

Where joy is like a fountain as thanksgiving overflows

Where time is but a quiver on strings of eternity

Forbid I (we) scorn its Giver and a Blind Bystander be

Forbid that I (we) do nothing where goodness and mercy brim

But trample the fine clothing of the love and grace of Him

Forbid I (we) miss the thunder of Beauty that wills today

And never thrill with wonder at Love’s sumptuous buffet

…and never be bombarded by the Beauty of the Lord

Dismayed and broken-hearted without comfort, Word-restored

Forbid we spurn the kindness of God’s faithful keep and care

Because we turn to blindness of Unbelief’s Deep/dark Despair

© Janet Martin

Rev. 1:4-8

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, 

and who is to come, and from the seven spirits a before his throne,

  5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, 

the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,

  6and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—

to him be glory and power for ever and ever!

 Amen.

7“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” b

and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”;

and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” c

So shall it be! 

Amen.

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,

 “who is, 

and who was, 

and who is to come, 

the Almighty.”

Mist-kissed Flower

This poem is a bit of bittersweet longing

 for the days/ 'mist' of July; 

a month that always seems to vanish too fast!

James 4:14

What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Psalm 103:15-16

As for man, his days are like grass—

he blooms like a flower of the field;

16when the wind passes over, it vanishes,

and its place remembers it no more.

Sweet day, you wend your way through thought and touch to disappear

The sparkle of your subtle shuttle weaving yester-year

Like ripples on a lake of laughter; longing-hold-let go

Where echelons of ever-after ever ebb and flow

It makes life feel a little like a dreamland made of mist

A little like a spectacle of echoes/roses to untwist

Dawn spills and fills dusk’s purple tray with latest live-and-learn

Where always, sweet today, you wend your way to No Return

…only to reappear, my dear, as new as new can be

To weave fresh wisps of smile-and-tear/dust veneer into a memory

Bruised bliss, This; being brave enough to kiss your hands and feet

And dance with you, sweet day; for love is always bittersweet

…sometimes I get the sense of you soft-slipping from my touch

And sometimes then, I wish I didn’t love you quite so much

Sweet day, you spill your hour to a bower of Back When

Like petals from a flower that will never bloom again

© Janet Martin

I'm off to spend a sweet day among hollyhocks, green beans, tomatoes aka Garden😊