December Dusk

Over cold meadow still twilight comes stealing

Over my heart steals the wisp of a sigh

Here in the lull twixt late day and first-evening

I hear the close of a year drawing nigh

Sable surrender as moments retreat

Heart-wrenching, tender and blue bittersweet

Into the abyss of thoughts grave recollection

Spectacular triumphs and failures align

Tuning the echoes of midnight reflection

Time-tempered petals falling from life’s vine

Spiraling sparkle of laughter and tears

Filling the chalice of moment-shaped years

Paramount passion and trivial trouble

Slip like dawn’s dew-drops into the thin air

What is a moment; this silver-blue bubble

Cradling allotments of joy and despair?

Here in the twilight a melody seeps

Down from cloud-gardens to earth-frigid deeps

Rising then falling, the lilt of an hour

Feathers the sod; daylight disappears

The girl is a woman, the seed is a flower

Half-breath relinquishment spills into years

My heart overflows with hellos and good-byes

Here in blue dusk of December’s demise

© Janet Martin

The True Light

The darkness is not greater than the Light

One tiny spark will pierce the shroud of night

We are not doomed to blindness and despair

See how the morning melts night’s onyx air

Time’s Shepherd tends the hours while we sleep

His Light exceeds the gloom of midnight’s deep

From Dark to light; hope’s gate is open wide

We are the sheep for which this Shepherd died

Darkness cannot remain; the Light has come

Into this world; a Babe in Bethlehem

Shepherd became a Lamb; Lamb is the Light

I AM prevails beyond the transient night

He shines into the dark; Grace and truth rend

The veil that darkness cannot comprehend

© Janet Martin

John 1:1-15

Of Chapters Unwritten

 

Out on the skyline a new day softly gleams

Acquiescent out-pouring of moment-regimes

Unwritten chapters of what soon will be

Permanent pages in world-history

The Author and Finisher of Time’s lone volume

Entrusts to our finger’s life’s ephemeral plume

And thus now we splatter our laughter and tears

Obscurely they scatter from moments to years

Out on the skyline the turning of page

Sets into motion a gasp on this stage

Summer and sorrow and spring softly spill

Onto earth’s parchment from Time’s tempered quill

Beneath mercy’s promise God beholds our smears

Jots fraught with error; its plot blurred with tears

Questions and answers; then questions again

As happiness, heart-ache and hope fill our pen

Out on the skyline a new day unfolds

And nobody knows the storyline that it holds

Yet, it is not ours to decline or to flee

The moments ordained with what yet must be

Over each hand is the Hand that imparts

Grace without portion to comfort our hearts

Over and over His kind Hand bestows

Strength for each chapter in life’s moment-flows

© Janet Martin

Anonymous Angel...

 

Stripped of all pretense

You come to me

Mystery, fulfillment

Anonymously

As the still night is filled

With a whisper akin

To almost perfection

In what might have been…

J~

There is a strange allure in the 'almost perfect' of what might have been...

Of Retrospect and Reaching...

The sigh of a year rushes over my thought

Slipping like a tear to visages of naught

Unfolded moments are folded once more

Their visibility etched in a landscape of yore

Milky perception of all I should know

Taunts my reflection in Time’s glassy flow

Tragic indictments of haste’s foolish race

With tender enlightenment of love’s patient grace

Listen; can you hear it? Time’s flow does not stop

Nor the urge to keep reaching for an elusive top

The season of farewell slicks meadowland, tree

The blast of soon past haunts dawn’s tranquility

© Janet Martin 

Sunday Wordle #87: top, visibility, sigh, rushes, unfolded, tragic, listen, milky, glassy, lighten, blast, slicks

Keep-sakes~

 

Over and over and over

We brush the tears from our face

But not so with dear, precious memories

Etched forever in place

J~

Offerings~

 

Jesus, You owed us nothing

And yet You gave Your all

Jesus, we owe You everything

Why are our gifts so small?

Janet~

Words Will Have Their Place...

Words will have their place

In the coming days and years

But for now we embrace

In wordless prayer and tears

A nation mourns its loss

Is there comfort at all?

But this; God loves us still

He sees a sparrow fall

 ...and in His loving arms

Each child is safe; secure

Where no evil can harm

While we its grief endure

Janet~

this is for the vicitms in Connecticut,
For the family in our community who lost their teen-age daughter last night in a tragic accident...
or, for the families in our communities involved in a horrific shooting and the loss of life thereof , and for all who sorrow in this little life...

Where is God in the dark of this weekend?

As a Man Thinks...

We ought to give more earnest heed

To the measure of our thought

As a man thinks, so he will be

The hand by the mind is taught

We ought to give more earnest heed

Lest carelessly we let slip

The remembrance that each deed

Is more than a vaporous drip

We ought to give more earnest heed

To its recompense of reward

For surely what I have said

I will do, saith the Lord

We ought to give more earnest heed

To the things which we have heard

And plant the mind with seed

Gleaned from God’s sacred word

© Janet Martin

Hebrews 2

What are we feeding our minds and our children’s minds?

Of Certainties

This little day is dawning

A gift from heaven’s throne

We know not what is spawning

Within its vast unknown

But this we know for certain

The Love that lifts night’s veil

Then draws again its curtain

Will never, never fail

We comprehend with dullness

Life’s trouble-twisted path

We cannot grasp the fullness

Of God’s love or His wrath

Yet this we know for certain

That Death is but the Door

And Time, the transient curtain

To God’s forevermore

© Janet Martin

I remember a preacher saying, when I was a child, that if we could ever see the fullness of God’s love we would never question it because it goes beyond anything our minds can comprehend. Then He said, in the same measure, if ever we would see the full wrath of a Holy God we would never seek revenge.

We all will see one or the other in eternity. This is an Immortal certainty.

The Hand That Cups our Tears...

Oh God, if our hearts are broken

Beyond what we can show

Then how much more God, You must hurt

For oh, You love us so

Oh God, how we must hurt You

To blame You for life’s ill

And hate You for the evil fruit

Wrought by a man’s free will

Oh God, we see but glimpses

Of your infinite love

Yet, even in our deepest grief

A glimpse will be enough

When Your Son hung upon the cross

He suffered every grief

Because You loved us so, in spite

Of our unbelief

Oh God, help us to trust You

When we can’t understand

We weep, our tears are gathered

Within Your nail-scarred Hand

© Janet Martin

The tragedy in Connecticut grips a continent! We weep, we pray, we trust. Oh God, comfort the broken.

I didn't want to write right now; Words seemed so small, but Jesus loves the little children, and oh, He loves us all. 

Of Unfettered Shores

 

The heavens hold sun, moon and stars

Earth’s hollows hold its seas

And I hold in my heart of hearts

Love’s surge of memories

I cannot grasp unfathomed deeps

Of vast infinity

Nor cup the ocean as it sweeps

The reefs inside of me

Sometimes the dawn is serene, still

Sometimes its silence roars

As somewhere raging oceans spill

Across unfettered shores

J~

Of Miracles and Majesty

Borne on a Hand eye cannot see

A miracle unfurls

Upon a formless canopy

Above a slumbering world

The Artist spreads His master-piece

Across the silent deep

As miracles of hope increase

And draw us from our sleep

Proof of His grace breathes on the dark

And melts its shroud away

The sojourner beneath embarks

Upon another day

Borne on a Hand we cannot see

A miracle unfurls

As mercy’s glorious majesty

Brings Light unto the world

© Janet Martin

Watching the dawn unfold...

from deep dark nothings

pink, blue and gold 

unfurl

Miraculous Masterpiece...

  

The Habit of Her...

Her robe is threadbare; tattered

Her form is gaunt and bent

And on her cheeks are scattered

The tears of time’s lament

Yon lass of buxom beauty

Has yielded to the breeze

Her portion of life’s duty

A page of memories

…and yet she seems to hasten

Habits die slow and hard

Experienced whispers chasten

The dazed and dream-struck bard

She plucks with purposed candor

In guile-less honesty

Each season of its splendor

Each child upon the knee

Borne on the burnished morning

Benevolent disguise

As Wisdom’s steadfast warning

Reveals deception’s lies

Eager and yet reluctant

She pauses at the door

Where hope, keen and expectant

Will take her place once more

Her dirge is over-taken

By her successor’s birth

Ah, hope remains unshaken

Though she sleeps in the earth

There is a time for laughter

There is a time for tears

‘Before’ is soon the ‘after’

This is the way of Years

© Janet Martin

Discoveries of the Day...or Thursday Thoughts~

The heart is an ocean

On which tempests move

The deeper the hurt

The deeper the love

***

Why do we hurt those

We most dearly love

And those we love dearly hurt us?

Well, I suppose

It must be because

Pain is the flip-side of love

If we didn’t care

Then love would not hurt

Its worth would compare

To a handful of dirt

But when we love deeply

The joy it imparts

Threads itself painfully

Through the core of our hearts

***

The difference between pain in love

And just simply pain

Is that pain in love

Is not suffered in vain

Though it may drive us

To thoughts of despair

Love’s pain folds perfectly

Into a prayer

True love’s pain

Will not destroy

It is the rain

Before the joy

 ***

Those things we desire

Come fully equipped

With excuses and justification

While unpleasing demands

Seem oddly stripped

Of time and obligation

***

If pride goes before a fall

And a haughty spirit before destruction

Perhaps we all should crawl

And avoid needless attention

***

If we looked into the mirror

Of His Word with honesty

We would love each other

With true humility

© Janet Martin

This Day of 12/12/12

This day of 12/12/12

Will pass just like the rest

Dawning in the eastern sky

And dying in the west

This day of 12/12/12

Is an ephemeral shell

And just like every other day

We ought to fill it well

© Janet Martin

I wrote this earlier today, but never got a chance to post it...

Wednesday Poemlets

It’s so easy to get tangled

By its sheer, translucent ilk

As it weaves its snare about us

With intention smooth as silk

But the truth cannot be hidden

Like a book on darkened shelves

And we ought not to be smitten

And thus trapped, by ourselves

© Janet Martin

Man’s law is clearly written

To keep order in the land

But Love’s law breaks man’s reason

In its ‘second-mile’ command

The law of love is perfect

Though often not understood

But, if we recognize its Giver

Then we know that it is good

© Janet Martin

The day sweep over the darkness

The dark sweeps over the day

God’s grace sweeps over our guilt and shame

And washes it all away

© Janet Martin

Mystery rises with the sun

We know not what a-waits

Before another day is done

And slips through heaven’s gates

Before another day is done

We ought to not let slip

This chance to dance, ere it is gone

Sealed in past’s frozen grip

The little we can ever know

Will never be enough

We ought to trust God and let go

Of everything, but love

© Janet Martin

Hope for the hour

And strength for its task

Love for my neighbor

This is all I ask

© Janet Martin

Temptation taunts

In sleek disguise

It flaunts

In sugar-coated lies

We need to be

Discerning; wise

Its subtlety

To recognize

© Janet Martin

The hour is a flower

Softly unfolding

God, help me to see

The bloom I am holding

© Janet Martin

About Love...

Love gives and gives

It does not pause

To tally up the cost

But pours without

Reserve because

Love is what matters most

Love keeps no score

It does not fuss

Nor does it fret or boast

We love because

God so loved us

And that’s what matters most

Love is the only

Thing we have

Of everlasting worth

It is a servant

Never slave

A heaven-glimpse on earth

 Love gives and gives

It does not pause

To tally up the price

It gives no thought

To self because

To love is sacrifice

© Janet Martin

Happiness is Happening...

Happy is he who has learned to be

Content in the moment he holds

Instead of wishing for what seems missing

And searching until he is old

Happy are they who have found the way

To taste the moment on their lips

Instead of yearning for past’s no returning

As into the past, present slips

© Janet Martin

Happiness is happening,

Don't miss it!

 Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding.
Prov.3:13 KJV

Though Surge of Moments Rolls...A Song of Praise

Though surge of moments rolls

Across earth’s plundered plain

It can never quench the soul

Of hope’s joyful refrain

The demons of death’s doom

Tremble beneath the robe

Of Triumph’s Holy Groom

Holding Time’s tortured globe

Lift high your gladsome song

For it can never cease

Soon we shall join a scared throng

Hailing the Prince of Peace

The Babe in Bethlehem

Is Heaven’s King of kings

And Calvary’s slaughtered Lamb

Conquered Death’s curs-ed sting

The surge of moments rolls

In hours, weeks and years

The Christ of Bethlehem consoles

And holds these time-warped spheres

Our praises we repeat

For He will soon return

With angels legions at His feet

And gathered round His throne

His songs will never cease

Highest holy esteem

Love’s everlasting Prince of Peace

Is mankind’s hope Supreme

© Janet Martin

December's Song

It trickles in snowflake abandon

Hovering on the frost-keen air

Gentle yet urgent its anthem

A minuet; Joy versus Despair

It wafts in white, whimsical cadence

Softening in somnolent strain

Rising rhapsody of romance

A rare, reminiscent refrain

From tree-limb’s threadbare vesture

A tender mantra of farewell

Roams through the cold, barren pasture

And moans in the stricken dell

List to the song of the season

Draped in a dazzling shawl

Over life’s reckoning reason

Sweet let its melody fall

List to the hymn of December

Hope, joy and peace falling down

Ballad of love-blended memories

As another year dons its crown

© Janet Martin

More on Gifts...

 

Each morning you place it before us

Soon its dark wrapping has fallen away

As we grab its lucent fringes

Often forgetting to pause and say

‘Thank you’

It’s a gift we take so for granted

Failing to cherish its worth

Bestowed in love’s tender mercy

Graciously to each creature on earth

‘Thank-you’

I see it now through my window

Gleaming with hope and grace

Down from the faultless heavens

Into our erring embrace

‘Thank-you’

For each morning you place before us

A gift wrapped in blue, coral, gold or gray

Into our arms, proven thankless

Yet gently you give

Another day…

‘Thank-you’

© Janet Martin

The Best Gift We Can Give...

We won’t find it on their wish-list

They don’t ask for it by name

But as we shop this Christmas

We should remember it

All the same

It doesn’t look very fancy

It’s not expensive, and yet

It can be the most important thing

That all too often

We forget

Because it’s never on their wish-list

We can’t find it on a shelf

But this gift is so precious

Both for our child

And for our self

It’s nice to wrap their presents

To see them dance and smile

But Things are soon forgotten

Their pleasure lasts

But a little while

Beneath the shiny paper

Are toys and treats, books and blocks

But the thing they’ll most remember

Is something we can’t

Fit in a box

It’s a most special present

They’ll remember as long as they live

For to give them our Time

Lots and lots of our Time

Is the most priceless gift

We can ever give

© Janet Martin

Our Christmas Song (edited re-post)

Hail the fruit of Mary’s womb

In joyous celebration

Hail the Victor of death’s tomb

And hope of every nation

For this is Jesus Christ, God’s Son

He gives to us our Christmas song

Hail, the hand that held the nails

So we may be forgiven

Hail, hail His love that never fails

Sealing our hope in Heaven

Come gather ‘round and bend your knee

Hail, hail the One who sets men free

Hail, the Seed of mystery

The God who put on flesh

To walk in Love’s humility

And suffer unto death

Lift up your heart and raise your voice

Mankind has reason to rejoice

Hail the King on Heaven’s throne

The Babe whom angels heralded

The Son who passed through Caesar’s stone

Where roman soldiers guarded

Hail Jesus Christ, God’s precious Son

He gives to all a Christmas song

© Janet Martin