Showing posts with label peonies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peonies. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Peony-June


Peak peony-blooming time and longevity
 depends a lot on the temperatures of June.
This year's moderate to slightly cooler temps 
will hopefully vibrantly extend the much anticipated lifespan 
of our beloved peony!

Here is an attempt to share
a bit of pink petal-pleasure with you.
Enjoy!





Many a face has been buried deep in your perfumed bloom
Many a burdened carried then lost in your ruffled loom
Many a heart has been lifted, and many a witness awed
And many a bouquet gifted straight from the hand of God

Many a poem has thundered, many a poet been born
Many a marvel wondered while praising thy lovely form
Many a prayer has been murmured, and many a care set free
In thee, plush harbinger of summer, in thee, pretty peony

Many a gladness kindled, and many a sadness cheered
Many an atheist humbled by many a Beauty endeared
Where many a bud has broken and many a posy has strewn
Many a petal-pink token of many a peony-June

© Janet Martin











Thursday, June 16, 2022

Because It's All So Brief...from First Frond-Shimmer to Sheaf


A blend of panic and perfect pleasure
pervades my senses as I stand among
the brief and precious bloom of peonies...





(I just noticed on this photo above, 
the persistent bindweed has already resurfaced between the rocks, g-r-r-r!!
after I thought I tackled it thoroughly two weeks ago!! see this post)



Last night I realized the fading sheen of green in the neighboring grain field!
...evoking a tender tug, aware of the impending inevitable; June's farewell
Happy 2nd half of June!

The ups and downs
and in betweens
of grays and browns
and blues and greens
Unfolds an
ever-wending wow
from molds of
never-ending now
The ebb and flow
that tunes the sky
with dawn’s hello
and noon’s goodbye
Unravels as it
binds to sheaves
what sparkle-whit
unwinds and weaves
Where bidden nuance
woos its art
to hidden viewpoints
of the heart
Where oft we stand
to gaze, agape
at mist-soft land-
scapes taking shape
While hunger plunders
hills and holes
While wonder thunders
in our souls
With ups and downs
and in betweens
of grays and browns
and blues and greens
  

© Janet Martin


Psalm 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.



Wednesday, June 15, 2022

What Ifs Versus What Is...


He who promised is faithful.
Heb.10:23

A flower isn't a flower until the bud unfolds the bloom!
What Is in bloom now?
Peonies in the flower garden!
And the Flower of What Is, in life...



The ‘what ifs’ of regret cannot undo what has been done
Where What Is sets time’s tables with fresh favors, mercy-spun
What if instead of wishing for what no wish can undo
We make the most of what is within reach of me and you
God’s mercy new each morning and His all-sufficient grace
Forgiveness for repentance, and His Word to gird our faith

What if instead of fretting and forgetting favours wrought
We focus on remembering What Is, with grateful thought
What if we trusted He who will our every need supply
Where What Is always hinges to far more than meets the eye
Far more goodness and mercy than mortal can comprehend
And love that has no boundaries of beginning or end

The ‘what ifs’ of yesterday and tomorrow borrow care
Today is overflowing with what is enough to bear
What if we take what is, in spite of so much that is not
And humbly honor He who gives us everything we've got
His everlasting promises, His love that will not fail
His wind beneath our wings, His anchor in the galling gale

The ‘what ifs’ of regret are futile; this new day set free
Is brimming with what is waiting for us to ‘taste and see’
What if we love God first and our neighbour next because
What is still most important has always been these two laws
Then what if we rely on He who is in full control
And simply love Him with all of our heart and mind and soul

© Janet Martin

Not all 'what ifs' are 'if onlys'
Sometimes What If is the spark that kindles the dream/bud before the flower!

Originally, the second line in this poem was
'Where What Is sets time’s tables with fresh battles to be won'
but the more I pondered (though the battles are real and often grueling)
the battlefield is cradled in His mercy!
His redemption is complete!
His loving kindness faithful!

Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good: 
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; 
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Phil.4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, 
whatever is true, 
whatever is noble, 
whatever is right, 
whatever is pure, 
whatever is lovely, 
whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
think about such things.




Tuesday, June 22, 2021

The Farewell We Are In...


Whenever I see the peonies begin to wilt and wither
I'm filled with a sense of loss...




Loss tends to make us bend a little closer to the bloom
To revel in the fragrant folds falling from summer’s loom
How subtle whirs the shuttle taming tendrils of the vine
Into a paisley fretwork of echo-woven design

Loss tends to make us kinder where we had been blind before
To how swift petals fade and fall to bloom for-nevermore
Whether the loss we suffer is a friend or season-flit
We find our hearts grow softer in the aftermath of it

Loss tends to make us more aware and thankful for Today
That ever- fleeting chariot that draws the years away
Filled with a holy hunger we can never quite appease
While petals fall from flowers like hours to memories

Loss tends to make us mindful of a deeper sense of Now
Its sorrow seems to kindle sweeter happiness somehow
As we learn to live slower and take time to take time in
Because Loss tends to tune us to the Farewell we are in

© Janet Martin

But as I mourn the end of another peony season I turn to
see that once again, the lily-lanterns are lit...


Loss tends to make us bend a little closer to the bloom...



The grass withers, the flower fades, 
But the word of our God stands forever.”
Isa.40:8

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Poem-Thunder


On a picture-perfect June Saturday with lots to do
poetry thunders!
💗

A poem, is like a bouquet
Of peonies, soft pink...



Like bud that pulses, pops and spills
In green leaf canopy...



A poem is more than mere verse
More than meter and rhyme
It wrangles feelings into words
Melds common with sublime

It gathers moments that would fade
Without a second thought
Snared from seasons as they parade
Through graces, soon forgot

A poem takes us by the hand,
Nay, tugs at inner strings
Its truth, beauty and love withstands
The ever-change time brings

It courses through the utmost part
Of hearts; steeds, hunger-shod
Always showcasing, with word-art
The majesty of God

It preaches, teaches, reaches where
No naked eye can see
To storm Soul’s sacred thoroughfare
Hinged to eternity

A poem, from life’s ugliness
Of thorns that pierce and prick
Points out the blood-red loveliness
Of Hope’s rose-kindled wick

A poem thunders without sound
Through wonder's speechless gaze
Where wonder is the holy ground
Of worship's flawless praise

A poem, is like a bouquet
Of peonies, soft pink
It cheers a dark and dreary day
With petals made of ink

A poem celebrates the thrills
That fill the earth with glee
Like bud that pulses, pops and spills
In green leaf canopy

Like innocence of little child
Pirates of stolen breath
Where joy and sorrow drive us wild
With birth’s promise of death

Where insecurity and fear
Could smother happiness
Where we are altogether here
By the Creator’s ‘yes

Where, now and then, lest we turn blind
To Hands, (not without scar)
A poem can gently remind
Us how precious we are

© Janet Martin


Because your steadfast love
is better than life,
my lips will praise you!

A few more June joy-praises...




Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Seasoned Promises...


 Don't you just LOVE the seasoned promises that pop in pink, plump peonies?!


Lord, give us eyes to see
Lest, sight-blind we forget
The Author of earth’s poetry
Is ever with us yet

This world of want and woe
Would weigh us with despair
But your kind grace whereby we go
Strews glimpses everywhere

Then, in this human race
As we press to yon Bar
Lord, give us eyes to see Your grace
Exactly where we are

…and fill our hearts with praise
And humble happiness
You crown our hurt and hope-filled days
With seasoned promises

© Janet Martin

“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, 
even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. 
And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. 
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, 
cold and heat, 
summer and winter, 
day and night 
shall never cease.” 
Gen.8:21-22




Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Perfect Order




The vibrant bloom is drooping
And my pulse is charged with grief
As I see the quiet workings
Of a stealthy, subtle thief
As sure as spring turns into summer
And the summer turns to fall
Is the fair and fleeting favor
Of life’s youthful madrigal

Soon its eager glow is ravaged
By the pilferage of time
Soon the bud of blossomed beauty
Succumbs to the season’s rhyme
And the flower weeps its petals
Back to earth from whence it came
Leaving nothing but its memory
And the whisper of its name

Yes, the vibrant bloom is drooping
Man cannot dissuade the course
Or design of nature’s order
Nor the Hand beneath its force
To everything there is a season
And a time for every plan
We cannot thwart God’s perfect reason
For we are simply…man

© Janet Martin

I noticed that the peonies are beginning to die and something akin to grief stirred in me to realize another year of peonies is quickly passing...


Isa.55:8-13 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
  and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”