Today's Bargain...

Gray skies a dollar
Sunset, make it four
Bare tree is a bargain
Green tree costs you more
Snow for a nickel
And rain for a dime
Sun for a quarter
Ten dollars for time
The breeze is a bargain
At just fifty cents
The dew in the morning
Will cost you six-pence
A hug must be earned
And don’t you forget
A smile not returned
Will put you in debt
Summer is not
A vacation, you know
I’ll charge by the hour
Or exchange it for snow
The song of the bird
Of the sea or life’s dance
Can only be heard
If you pay in advance
For the time that I gave you
The orange and the red,
The crimson and purple
And the gold as it bled
From each meadow and hillside
In autumn’s grand crown
I charge you a year’s worth
Of all that you own
The flowers in the garden
Or along the old fence
You cannot afford
With your dollars and cents
The sun-rise, the chatter
Of wee boys and girls
Are yours for the price
Of ten diamonds and pearls
The stars and the moon
Are a rare luxury
Sold for the tune
Of two years salary...

…Oh God, you must love us infinitely
For you shower Your wonder upon us for free!

Janet~

Thank-you God...

My Undoing...

When you kiss me like that
Oh, but kiss me like that
I feel the chill dissipate
When you hold me like that
Oh but hold me like that
I forget everything that I hate
Tempted and tried,
I will no longer fight you
My total undoing is infinite bliss
I came in here just to tease and to spite you
But you trumped my plan with your upside-down kiss...

J~
Magpie tales

My Best Words

I cannot say them,
My four best words
Until you have spoken three
I cannot say them
Until I have heard
Those three best words spoken to me
Then, my heart over-flows and I say them to you
As I hold you close; 'I love you too'

Janet Martin

I always tell my kids I love them as I kiss them good-night
(well, the younger two:) the older girls, it seems are never home at bed-time;))
they return the words but many times as they hear me going down the stairs they will
say one last time "I love you' and over and over
I am thrilled and humbled anew to be able to say these four best words 'I love you too'

Holes...

To fill up the missing of you
Is like trying to fill with water
A hole in the sand…
Sometimes without meaning to
I find myself reaching
With my heart, for your hand

To fill up the missing of you
Is like trying to re-capture
The past and hold it near
Sometimes without meaning to
I reach for your memory
But all I find is a tear

J~

A Hand to Hold

May we never brush off as a mindless cliché
The words that will hold us through life’s rise and fall
There really is One who will show us the way…
And ‘God really will take care of it all’.

Janet Martin

It seems we can grow calloused to the power of His word
as we try to shoulder our own cares in this world…

Come unto Me, all You who are weary and heavy-laden
And I will give you rest. Matt. 11:28

I pray that each of us somewhere in this world can find
a 'Jesus with skin on'...A hand to hold when we are lonely,
A shoulder to lean on...we all need that.
Will we be someone's hand or shoulder today?

Adding to my Suspicions

You crumple the blue clouds into a dark ball Adding a chill to each breath you exhale You strip away lingering petals of fall And petrify frostily, dawn’s misty veil You slip your fingers beneath my coat-collar And laugh, as I shiver at your icy clutch Gathering your troops, you sweep into the hollow Where flowers relinquished their blooms to your touch You moan at my doorway and rattle the window Grabbing my attention from embers that glow And I must admit you have raised my suspicions… …I think you are holding a world full of snow Janet Martin

Wife's Suspicious Mind...

My dear, I believe I owe you
A sincere apology
Maybe I really don’t know you
And you expected nothing from me
When you left me a ‘love-note’ this morning
Then called me up at noon
To see how my day was going
Saying ‘honey, I’ll be home soon,
and oh, I forgot to tell you
that you still look like a teen to me
and you’re really hot in your new jeans’
H-m-m-m, what new jeans I ask me…
And maybe when you asked how I’m feeling
You were asking about my health
And when you helped me clean up the kitchen
You wanted nothing in return for yourself
And those flowers you brought home this evening
Are a most lovely center-piece
Thank-you for helping me clean up
I hate when the place is a mess
And when you asked me how I was feeling
Right then I was feeling all right
But suddenly I am dog-tired
And I have a head-ache tonight…

Janet Martin

...okay, I could not resist a little fun;)

To all of the guys who would love to court their wives with genuine chivalry,
without our suspicion or feminist attitude which has made it very difficult
for the dear gentle-men in our midst...I sincerely apologize

for today's prompt: Suspicious mind

Mom's Suspicious Mind

If you whistle

When you never whistle

Or amble nonchalantly

Across the floor

With a furtive second-glance

Over your shoulder

Or a tip-toeing exit

Out the back door

I get suspicious…

If you over-agree

When I give you advice

And tell me I’m beautiful

And everything nice

If you whisper and giggle

Until I poke in my head

Then you turn to your home-work

Like nothing was said

I get suspicious…

If I ask where you were

And what you were doing

To bring you home

At quarter-past three

And all you can say is

‘Honestly, nothing’

I hear an echo

In my memory

…and I get suspicious

Janet Martin

Today's prompt; Suspicious mind