Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Christmas Poems
Reason to Celebrate...
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Merry Christmas!
I am taking a Christmas cyber-break!
But before I do I would like to take
A moment to wish you goodness and cheer
As we celebrate Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Janet Martin
God Bless you all
and may He be our reason
to celebrate this season!
I was planning on doing a live greeting but I can't figure out how to get it to work on here so this will have to do;)
Thank-you all, who visit, read and encourage.
Preparing for Christmas...(a note to self)
http://poeticbloomings2.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/be-prepared-prompt-33/
Portions
Somehow, in spite of profusion of words
Silence remains stark; profound
We cannot dissuade unalterable truth
With the clang of syllabic sound
Somehow, though continents loom between
And geographically keep us apart
I hear the whisper of you deep within
And feel you against my heart
Somehow, by the rise and the setting of sun
We measure our portion of days
Darling, to love you I have only begun
Oh, let me count the ways
Somehow, life slips through the curtain of dusk
Its presence subtle and swift
Silence and distance and longing and love
Are portions of its tender gift
J~
Summation of Time
Time doles out the same amount
Of hours in a day to each of us
From generation to generation
It is not how much of it we have
But what we do with it
That will be our life’s summation
Twenty-four hours in a day
Three-hundred and sixty-five days per year
Save for that one in four
Why, in an age of modern conveniences
Do we seem to have less time
To spare, not more
Janet
Monday, December 12, 2011
Time
On Taking a Family Picture
When there is nothing very funny
Yet we find reason to snicker
If suddenly there seems to be
A sudden need to bicker
When insults freshly polished
Are muttered, hissed and hurled
As siblings are squeezed into
One square inch of the world
It must be family-picture-taking time
When father looks quite stern
And mother looks quite stressed
And we try to look quite proper
As we are quite primly dressed
When faces grow quite stiff
While smiles not quite freeze-dry
There really can only be
One valid reason why…
….family picture-taking-time
There are pinches, pokes and pushes
Then kicks and mother’s scolding
There are sighs and moans and groans
As our 'best smiles' we are holding
That turn out to be wasted
Because of an out-burst of laughter
Though we cannot remember
What was so funny after…
…family picture-taking time!
Okay, this is it,
Now every one POSE!
We all do our best…
One has their eyes closed!
One, two, three,
Let’s try again
‘a-w-w-w! I wasn’t ready
Sister’s being a pain!’
Oh, yes its family picture-taking-time
…so when father looks stern
And mother looks stressed
When we all try to look
Our very best
As we look at the camera
Smile and say ‘CHEESE!’
Tell me, this one is going to work
PL-E-E-E-A-SE!
Its family-picture-taking-time!
Take 70!
Janet…
Otherwise known as M-O-O-O-M!!!!
Yesterday I 'booked an appointment' with my family to be at home
so we can take a long over-due family picture...
p.s. I'm trying to pick one of the ump-teen photos to put into a card,
but one cannot edit eyes open,
or non-smiles into smiles or
add the rest of a person where it is cut off,
or un-cross eyes....the list goes on:)
My apologies to those of you who find photos hard to load...
This afternoon my internet is working but it is being very moody.
Once...
Because it is not in the measure
Of desire or despair
Or accumulation of
Fortune or faults
By which we are judged
When this clock halts…
And because I will never be able to reach
The point where I can
Justifiably throw stones
To hinder or hurt
Or forget that I too am
But a beggar clothed in dirt…
Or just because I cannot touch you
Does not mean that
I am unable to love you
Or meet you where
We can feel each other
In the arms of prayer…
Because this clock of life
Is wound but once
Never returning to yesterday
Or leaping to tomorrow
There is no need then
Either of its cares to borrow….
Because God will never
Discard me as hopeless
Or unworthy of His care
And because I need only to trust
From moment to moment
I can do what I must...
Because I cannot afford to squander
This gift wrapped in Time
I will choose only to love
You; for I have but a single chance
The clock of life
Is wound but once…
Janet~
http://carryontuesdayprompt.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-our-inspiration-this-week-ive-taken.html
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thoughts on Thoughts
You align your presence
to the curve of my thought
The force of an ocean
in a heartbeat, caught
somewhere between
my lips and my sigh
like a ship being swallowed
by the sea and the sky
***
Behind our eyes
Intricately designed
Is an infinite cell
Simply called a mind
And from it will flow
All manner of thought
Our action will show
What words do not
***
In every action
In every deed
Whether minute or mighty
Thought is its seed
***
Do we serve thought?
Or are we its master?
Thought is the forerunner
To success or disaster
***
I thought I knew a little
But with each passing year
The little bit I thought I knew
Has seemed to disappear
***
My thoughts are always more beautiful
With you in them
***
What is the measure
Of one little thought?
Coupled with action
I believe…quite a lot!
***
Who can know the power
Of the mind at all
By it man becomes great
And by it great men fall
***
The power of a man
Cannot be defined
By physical attributes
But the strength of the mind
***
Physical strength, no matter how fine
Is oft overcome by weakness of mind...
***
What are you thinking about today?
My thought had been to post one poem on thought but as I thought about thought more thoughts appeared;))
Janet
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Someday Upon the Open Sky
(click on the wheel on your mouse to open the link to a wonderful song)
Someday upon the open sky
The sun and stars shall dim
As all God’s heavenly angels cry
Behold, behold your King
And from four corners of the earth
Each trembling knee will bend
To see the Child of lowly birth
On Heaven’s throne descend
Dare we to scoff and jeer and scorn
The One laid in a manger
For unto us a Child was born
That day to be our Savior
Someday upon the vaulted cloud
We will look up to see
That this is Jesus Christ the Lord
Love’s sacred Deity
Then the whole earth will turn to weep
At His pure holiness
But this true Shepherd knows His sheep
And they, the Shepherd’s voice
And those who long have waited for
The coming of their King
Will rise to meet their Shepherd Lord
And join the angels hymn
Janet Martin
I'm listening to the Christmas songs while doing housework.
Powerful messages in each one, words of hope and peace and joy and love.
Hallelujah!
Thank-you
Jes' Thinkin' (Edited Re-post)
There’s somethin’ ‘bout this time o’ year
It brings us thoughts of loved ones dear
An’ we start wishin’ they was near
As it tugs at our ol’ heart-strings
We hear their laughter echoin’
Their voices on the evenin’
Of good ol’ days rememberin’
An’ it tugs at our ol’ heart-strings
I’m not one to sit down an’ cry
But sometimes I git me some dirt in my eye
An’ when you aint lookin’ I quick wipe ‘em dry
As you tug on my ol’ heart-strings
There’s just somethin’ ‘bout this time o’ year
It gets me to wishin’ you was here
Instead of just in my thoughts I hold near
As you tug on my ol’ heart-strings
So iffen yore circle aint broken yet
I’m a-tellin’ ya’ now so ya’ don’t forget
Tell ‘em ya’ love ‘em an’ tell ‘em again
Til it tugs on yer ol’ heart-strings
‘Cause afore ya’ know it they’re gone from your door
An’ they’re not around to tell ‘em no more
An’ your gonna miss ‘em, yep, that’s for shore
As they tug on yer ol’ heart-strings
Janet~
A Lesson in Love
Poets Are We
A shy sort of lot
Bashful, but not weak
As we unfold thought
Too honest to speak
For it seems unbidden
Our hearts are stirred
By what is hidden
Within a word
As images leap
From innocent script
And life’s passion bleeds
From our fingertips
Are you lonely tonight
And dreaming of home?
Let love hold you tight
In the arms of a poem
Poets never sleep
We are hopelessly smitten
With an insatiable need
To write the unwritten
My dear, do not fret
Over what yesterday stole
To live in regret
Is blight to the soul
The poet is a weaver
Of cast-away string
A quiet believer
Of paper and ink
A poet is a lover
And you are my love
Around me you hover
Beneath and above
Within me you bask
Torment and beguile
I tip my flask
To your lips, and I smile
Janet~
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
While You Were Gone...
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/wednesday-poetry-prompts-156
While you were gone the ivy grew
To deck the garden wall
Where once I used to sit with you
And watch the shadows fall
And we would dream and we would sigh
And wish for things to come
But then you left without good-by
And now that girl is gone
While you were gone the laughing brook
Bled dry and flows with reeds
The old dirt path that once we took
Is overgrown with weeds
But I still see that secret place
Behind the old oak tree
Where first your soft lips brushed my face
And stirred the want in me
While you were gone my hope grew dim
And drifted to the sky
I learned that love is not a whim
And some tears never dry
While you were gone the years somehow
Wore out the garden gate
I see a woman standing now
Where once a girl would wait
Janet~
What Have We Done?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bO1CVPWRA&feature=relatedhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Another year is slowly closing its fist
On shadows of sorrow and joy reminisced
Deep in our soul stirs a bitter-sweet glow
As we view the goals of twelve short months ago
Have we accomplished those things we resolved?
Or have days somehow just compiled and evolved
Absorbing our moments of reason and rhyme
Caught in the current of a vapor called Time
Open your hand; tell me, what do you see?
A soft, gleaming seed; opportunity
And with this small gift we quench the ache
Of wondering what kind of difference we make
It takes but one moment to smile or to pray
Planting hope for tomorrow in someone’s life today
We cannot control circumstance; bad or good
All we can control is our attitude
Another year is slowly closing its fist
I will not gaze in dismay at my list
Of forgotten promises, failure, regret
I’ll look at the gift of this moment instead
Janet~
Sometimes as another year draws to a close
it is easy to become over-whelmed by the swift passage of time
and the accumulation of failure and unfulfilled hopes.
Wait in the Lord,
Be of good courage
And He will strengthen Your heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. Ps. 27:14
The Futility of Ink
How does one write a perfect poem of love?
Is just to state the obvious enough?
Or must I in all fairness ask some questions first?
Darling, what makes you hunger most, or thirst?
What do you notice at quick glance, is it my lips, my eyes?
Is your concern what lies between my ribs…or just my thighs?
Is it words or touching, love; that moves you to the core?
If I should die tonight, tell me, which one would you miss more?
For I think above anything I should like to write
The very perfect love poem, but I never get it quite…
Yet I would like to try to know the man behind your eyes
What you think when you’re alone; what spawns those sighs?
And what is it you ache for that you think you cannot tell?
What makes you feel like I just do not know you very well?
To write a perfect love poem, must I really know?
Or shall I simply close my eyes and let the ocean flow?
Ah, words are futile syllables with which to pen
This Thing which thrills, fulfills and torments men
To write a perfect love poem, darling, I cannot do
But oh, it is a perfect storm, and I love you
J~
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sitting Here Alone at Night and Thinking...
The moon lies hid in the breadth of the sky
The dark is a black, unrelenting veil
No shadows of tree or willow-limb sigh
The wind is a low and monotonous wail
The silence is thick and heavy and deep
Memories are quick and unwilling to sleep
The flames in the fireplace flit and dance
The clock marks the hour in strict, perfect stride
Somewhere a first love is taking its chance
And somewhere someone's final chance has died
I am neither; but caught up in the midst
Of apart, yet together; of what was and what is
Life is a battle of paltry decay
Gain is the backdrop of misery and death
Even the darkness is merely the prey
Of dawn; it melts in the light’s faintest breath
Hope is the whisper that pierces the night
Love is the Master that spurs us to fight
Here in the dark and the quiet, alone
Minutes and memories and musings compete
A flicker, a shadow, a breath, present gone
Until history and eternity meet
When that day will be not one soul can tell
But Time is the key to Heaven or Hell
Janet~
Let Them Come...
Let them come
A motionless motion
pushing to eternity’s palm
my present-tense
while I try to decipher
their infinite scope
whether past or beyond
let them come
in merciful half-breaths
moving failure and success
to archives inaccessible
lest I become discouraged
or proud
of feeble attempts at perfection
let them come
the medium drawing me ever
farther or closer to you
as I try to measure
them they disappear and I cannot know
how long
a moment is…
As You Whisper
Your lips brushing close to my ear
With secrets only you and I can hear
A surge of rare intimacy
Laced with passion
Rushes through me
As you whisper
It may be a sudden, casual thought
But then again, it may be not
As others glance at us curiously
My heart pauses
Momentarily
As you whisper
No hint escapes but the slightest smile
Darling, your whispers drive me wild
It doesn’t need to be much
I just like it when
Your lips almost touch
Me, as you whisper
J~
His Whispers
In white tissue paper and ribbons of blue
And whispers of mercy unfurled
In offerings of patience and grace ever new
He grants a fresh dawn to this world
In smiles of wee children and thoughts of a friend
In hands of compassionate care
God grants to this earth little whispers of Him
As we lift to Him humble prayer...
Janet~
This morning the earth looks like a gift
wrapped in blue and white...
Monday, December 5, 2011
Love Poem
It tugs at me with restless force
And strength I can’t explain
It fills me with fiery discourse
And bitter-sweetest pain
Vexation of the purest kind
A tempest wild and blue
And yet the thing that soothes my mind
…it is the thought of you
Love is a many splendored bloom
It is both rose and thorn
A gentle fragrance in the room
The heart within me, torn
Thus, I do not resist its pain
Or withhold any pleasure
In every heartbeat you remain
My everlasting treasure
J~
Saving Grace
http://magpiethttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifales.blogspot.com/
The stench is palpable
winter,
fish sandwiches,
coffee and sweat,
but the most over-powering element
in the crowded room
is not the smell
but the heavy pall
of loneliness
and tedium...
The back-to-work whistle,
their saving grace
Janet~
Jesus Christ Forever
Soon we shall lay aside this robe
Of weakness, flesh and want
Where all the sorrows of this globe
Cannot torment nor taunt
Then sickness, need and selfish gain
Return, as we, to dirt
With no more tears of grief or pain
To vex, dismay and hurt
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
This is the way of man
Doomed, as convicts to our lust
But for One greater plan
As Love descended from His throne
A babe in Bethlehem
To give His life and to atone
For all the sins of men
No greater gift will ever be
Than that first Christmas Day
When God gave to rebels as we
His precious Son to slay
But as He looked beyond His loss
It satisfied His favor
For He saw victory in the Cross
As Jesus became Savior
Come; gather ‘round this Christmas Day
Join in the celebration
For the Truth, the Life, the Way
Is free to every nation
Lift up your hearts in praise to Him
For none on earth can sever
Us from the Babe in Bethlehem
Jesus Christ forever
Janet Martin
Sunday, December 4, 2011
New Year's Eve Party...for Two;)
http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/
Vanilla-scented moments, smooth as silk
Melt on Time’s subtle trivet
Dripping over its crusted precipice
Without an inkling of thought
Mission completed
Fodder for genuflection
Air laden with desire
Amorous fantasies
Morphing reality...
...Somewhere a dog barks
As December becomes January
Unnoticed
J~
These Prayers are not Vanilla
http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/
A light on a precipice high above life
My bark laden down with its cares
But my mission will not succumb to this strife
I’m kept by my dear mother’s prayers
It’s more than a subtle inkling of hope
More than an amorous poem
In foam-crusted tempest my vessel will cope
As my mother’s prayers lead me home
Faithful trivet in life’s testing flame
A glow in the chill of December
In my mind I hear her whisper my name
As I genuflect and remember
Janet Martin
Sunday Wordle words are; 1.December, 2.vanilla, 3.precipice, 4.subtle, 5. Inkling, 6. Bark, 7.crusted, 8.laden, 9.genuflect,10. mission, 11.amorous, 12. trivet
Okay, the title is a stretch, I admit…but I wanted to use vanilla!
I also had not quite used up all my light-house ideas from 'real-toads' this week so this is what decided my theme for the first crack at these words...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Darkness of Winter
http://carryontuesdayprompt.blogspot.com/2011/1http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif2/carry-on-tuesday-134.html
The dark of winter
Creeps over daylight hours
Warm surf is a dream
Darkness of winter
Settles on desolate fields
Thought is a hunter
I find strange comfort
As the darkness of winter
Lures me to firelight
Janet~
Friday, December 2, 2011
Winter Masterpiece
Soundless, clouds of tumbling snowflakes
Deck earth’s passive, calm repose
Like a rush of ghostly children
Crowding from school’s far-flung doors
Silently their shrieking laughter
Clings to fences, field and face
Flood of mirth from heaven’s rafter
Wraps the earth in soft embrace
Maybe it’s the down of angels
Maybe it’s the kiss of God
Ten-thousand-thousand silver spangles
Crown the dull and dreary sod
Intricate, micro-perfection
Tracing lashes, cheeks and lips
Miracles with no direction
Brush earth’s out-stretched finger-tips
Earth, clad in shades of redemption
Resplendent, pristine work of art
Dazzling robe sent down from heaven
Picture of a blood-bought heart
Ten-thousand-thousand crystal whispers
Metaphor of boundless grace
Breathes a calm and holy splendor
Over winter’s master piece
Janet Martin
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Isa. 1:18
Unshakable Proof
http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2011/12/friday-picture-prompt-to-lighthouse.html
A Light-house
On a solid Rock
His Word
Won’t lead astray
Eternity will be
Our proof
That His Love
Is The Way
Janet Martin
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Torturous Tango
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Soul-song
http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2011/12/think-tank-thursday.html
If you listen
Well, I guess that
You won’t hear a thing
It’s another kind
Of language
Caught in whispers
Deep within
And I can feel my heartbeat
In a tender sort of pain
Its timbre, blue and bitter-sweet
Yet, warm as summer rain
I feel it rise within me
In a sweeping melody
As its tenure rushes through me
Like a storm on midnight’s sea
For its whisper is an ocean
Yet its ocean but a sigh
And its lone proof of existence
Is a teardrop in my eye
If you listen closely
Well, you still won’t hear a thing
But I can hear it clearly
In a montage deep within
Its lips upon my memory
And its voice against each breath
Its notes a sudden longing
And an aching in my chest
Not a flicker, not a murmur
Not a single, tiny trace
Of the orchestra within me
But the half-smile on my face
J~
What Were You Thinking?
What were you thinking
As you lay in that manger
While we crowded ‘round you
Amazed at Your birth?
What were You thinking
As you stepped out of Heaven
Knowing the reason
You were coming to earth?
What were You thinking
As angels were singing
Declaring to all
That a Savior is born?
There in that stable
While the heavens were ringing
What were you thinking
On that first Christmas morn?
Did you think as you lay there
Of a field named Golgotha?
Did you see a cruel cross
On a hill, Calvary?
There in the midst of
The cattle and oxen
What were you thinking
As the star shone brightly?
Ah yes, you were thinking
The thoughts that still held you
As you knelt, praying
In Gethsemane
Lord, you were thinking
Of lost sheep with no Shepherd
You were thinking of us, Lord
You were thinking of me
Janet Martin
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matt.1:21
Hey, I'm trying...a girl cannot go 'cold turkey', 'kay? I'm listening to Christmas music while doing my housework and sometimes the love that Jesus had/has! for us just blows me away!
Farewell, Dear Mother
While we bid farewell
To dear mother below
God opens His arms
And is smiling ‘hello’
While here we are weeping
But not without hope
The angels are singing
‘Welcome home, welcome home’
While sorrow is the
Tender-sweet lining of love
We know dear mother
Is with God up above
We bid our farewell
With peace flowing free
For mother, dear mother
Is where she longed to be
Janet
Written to Brent, Jan and family at the sudden passing of her mother.
Dear mother of sixteen children has found eternal rest.
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...
A Higher Goal
Breath by breath and step by step
Toward a Gate we’re going
How soon night swallows up the day
And death, life’s minute glowing
The remnants of another year
Are slipping into history
And what a-waits beyond this sphere
Is Hope’s beckoning mystery
The pathway to love’s higher goal
Is strewn with tears and groaning
But God, the keeper of our souls
Offers His Grace atoning
No plea unheard, no grief unseen
No need escapes his vision
As step by step and breath by breath
He guides us to His kingdom
Janet~
I simply cannot believe that we are turning the page to December already!
Posts may be a little more sporadic in the next few weeks...if I can figure out how to bottle the Muse:)) You poets out there will know what I mean.
May our hearts turn toward the real Reason for the Season! Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever! Heb. 13:8
I will be posting a few more photos perhaps, to give readers a glimpse into Canada Christmas, and the little corner of the earth that I call home.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Sonnet of Waning Even-tide
When daylight fades and twilight’s lids grow heavy
When sky and earth don night-time’s muffled shawl
When all the ships are harbored in the levee
Silence unmarred, save for the loon’s faint call
When dreary toil is laid aside til morning
When Home-fires soothe our petty wants and woes
When darkened limbs are stripped of spring’s adorning
Skeletal against the dim-lit half-moon glows
I sense upon night’s stealthy cusp, a warning
The portent of a quickly waning rose
Ah, life is but a swiftly fading flower
How fair the bud, still waiting to unfold
How brilliant is youth’s vibrant morning hour
How sweet the dream harbored in vision bold
How quickly now the bud becomes a blossom
Its glorious beauty cheers the hastening day
While in the hidden portals of love's bosom
Softly she lets the small dream sail away
Better than dreams, the golden fruit of wisdom
Better than youth, a crown of silver-gray
Where does the darkness go in dawn's returning?
Where does the spirit fly when bodies rest?
Where is the fortune now that steals our yearning?
What is the hope that burns within our chest?
Where is the One who rules Time's still transition
The seasons, days and tides that slip to naught
Where is the final object of our vision?
The gathering of treasure that we sought
Have we obtained love's ticket into Heaven
Or must we tell life's Giver we forgot?
Janet~
Morning at The Window or Windows...
http://vnesdolypoems.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/today-im-antisocihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifal/
a morning at the windows...
watching as the miraculous dawning
expands across the sky
nudging deflated shadows
back, beneath trees and awnings
I watch a lone bird fly
across the tinted canvas
that only God can claim
the trees, stark pencil-drawings
etched in perfect stillness
isn't it a shame
that we miss these perfect mornings
as we stare at Windows
instead of through them...?
Janet~
Inspired by Violet Nesdoly's poem today.
First Time for Everything...Limericks
http://poeticbloomings2.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/in-fohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrm-poet-the-limerick/
Once there was a girl named Janet
Who would hide behind words like cannot
But one day she tried
And fears logic defied
And awoke on a wonderful planet
Once there was a would-be poet
Who was far too frightened to show it
But poet’s are kind
And their love, softly blind
She’s met enough, now, to know it
Words are still free in recession
Penned in sweet, care-free confession
When asked, is it true?
We reply, it’s up to you
And return to the poet’s obsession
Janet~
Just People...
http://www.writerhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/2011-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-30
We’re just people…
Without God allowing it
There is nothing we can do
We’re just people
I am me
And you are you…
And we need each other
Oh, it’s true
Because when we need each other
It’s amazing what
‘Just people’ can do
When we put an arm around the grieving
Share with them a mutual tear
When we love without condemning
We draw bits of heaven near
When we walk a second mile
All alone and in the rain
Knowing somewhere angel’s smile
Because we share another’s pain
When we touch the little child
And sometimes let them lead the way
When we forgive and reconcile
When we pause a while to pray
When we give and no one sees
But the Father up above
When we get down on our knees
And sit with those who can’t stand up
When we seek the others best
Never thinking of our own
Knowing someone will be blessed
By the little love we’ve shown…
When we join hands in unity
And lay aside our strife
To be all that we can be
In this little thing called life
When we love the way God loves us
Never mind our shape or skin
When together we join forces
Then together we will win...
We’re just people
Yes, it’s true
I am me
And you are you
But we need each other
Oh, this is true
Then oh, it’s amazing
What ‘just people’ can do
Janet~
Today's Prompt: Against the odds
Life Song
I have heard it in the still of the midnight
Strummed by a wandering breeze
Or from you breathing softly
As you sleep next to me
I have heard it in the laughter of children
As Daddy return’s from his toil
I have heard it in utter silence
As a seed pushes through the soil
Where love is stronger than judgment
I’ve heard its melody
Or as I turn a brittle page
Of ancient poetry
In the clutter of every-day living
In a moment of undeserved grace
I've heard it rise from life's ruins
To kiss a tear-stained face
I’ve heard it in the hollow of longing
In midnight’s quietness
A song of life and living
And quiet thankfulness
Janet~
By the Time You Read This...
By the time you read this
Midnight will have swept
Another day to the past
While morning is hovering
A silver-white thread
Beneath the night’s charcoal mast
By the time you read this
We all will have stepped
One day closer to eternity
Even now ever surely
A moment has crept
From present to history
By the time you read this
You and I will have slept
Closely or oceans apart
Moments move on
Without thought or respect
But you, love, remain in my heart
J~
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
After Closing Time
Akin to the still of a graveyard
Is the deserted market-place
The stands, like squat, faceless statutes
Stare silently into space
A stray leaf scuttles up the street
As if to amplify
The emptiness where mobs of feet
By day, go rushing by
Come, buy your apples, trinkets, bling
Come, buy yourself a treat
We’ve got the best of everything
Our prices won’t be beat
The merchants and the barterers
Each seek the sweeter deal
Bargain and antique hunters
Looking for a steal
The square, a sea of splendor
The scowl, the gleam, the smile
They drift between each vendor
And up and down each aisle
Until the shroud of twilight
Signifies its close
The humble merchant smiles tonight
And buys his wife a rose
Akin to the still of the graveyard
Is the deserted market-place
The hawker and the merchant gone
Leaving no shred or trace
Of all the hustling, bustling throng
That shuffled past its ware
Nothing but a stray leaf scuttling along
On a bare and empty square
Janet~
Still We Come
Still we come
Each in our own fashion
To bow before
The Lord of all creation
Still we come
To kneel beside the manger
But to us
Praise God, He is no Stranger
Yet, still we ask
What can we bring that pleases
Such love as this
This One that we call Jesus
Still we come
To marvel at the wonder
Of God’s own Son
As babe within a manger
Still we come
In human imperfection
To bow before
Our Life and Resurrection
Oh lift your voice
This is the King of Glory
Sing and rejoice
This is Love’s perfect story
Still we come
Fraught with sin’s vile diseases
For there is none
That cannot come to Jesus
In wonderment
Drawn by His vast compassion
To love beyond
Man’s earth-dimmed comprehension
Still we come
To bow before our Savior
Man’s common bond
Is Jesus Christ forever
Janet Martin
This was inspired by the little guys I baby-sit...
It was the Nativity Scene, not the tree, that captured their wonder...
(I did not notice that they had combined both sets until after the picture, oh well:)
Perfect Awakening
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/2011-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-29
The correspondence of finger-tips
Is surely love’s sweetest language
Teasing me from passive dreaming
To the soft awareness of you
Touching me
Wherever in the world you are
J~
Today's Prompt: a day poem
or a night poem...ah, the endless possibilities:)
Monday, November 28, 2011
Bedtime Stories
We travel the world
She and I
Her bed is a vessel
That can sail or fly
We swim with mermaids
And walk on the moon
We are the sailors
Of a magic pontoon
We march out of Egypt
‘neath Moses command
We race on the beaches
Of tropical sand
We eat at the King’s table
Or sleep in a box
With the three little bears
We meet Goldilocks
We are the cowboys
The ruffians, the queen
We pick grapes in Sicily
Rove Ireland’s greens
We shiver with pioneers
And suffer their woes
We live in a palace
And wear the queen’s clothes
We brave the storms
And the pirates at sea
We swing from the stars
And land in Chile
We cry with the orphans
Sing with the Von Trapps
We explore with Tom Sawyer
In an acorn, take naps
And we simply can’t wait
For our next thrilling trip
To the past or the future
On our white, linen ship
As we travel the world
From our cozy, warm nook
A mother, a girl
And a story-book
Janet~
Unshared Story
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts/2011-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-28
On the week-end when no one was looking
You were so nice to me
But back to school Monday, held things more important
Like popularity
We lived on the north side
And I assumed that was why
You gave yourself a license
To laugh; I tried not to cry
Age and time bestow maturity
We move past the resentment and pain
I saw you yesterday; and instantly
I knew that scars remain…
Janet
Today's Prompt: -----Story