Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Nameless Nymph



While we slept, She returned...lolling on leafless limbs
and strolling the frozen furrow


 

She sheds vesture lily-starred
Dons a dress of gilded gem
Crowning field and boulevard
With a dazzling diadem

She, while people slumbered, slipped
From summer’s care-freer clime
To tease treetops, doffed, white-tipped
With whispers of Father Time

She, without fanfare or fame
Fells earth’s final flower-shows
And nobody knows Her name
Where she comes from, where she goes

Dreamers stare where echoes chafe
Torn between what is and was
Where the wind is like a waif
Looking for lost leaf-applause

© Janet Martin

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Dialogue at Daybreak





Darling, earth is kissed with morning; tell me, where shall we begin?
With the wars where love and worship test domains beneath the skin
Darling, calm amidst storm’s chaos is a hard thing to achieve
Yes, but only if we fail to fully trust Whom we believe
Darling, life would be a pity without love to conquer all
Yes, my dear, let’s stand together for alone we surely fall
  
Tell me darling, was it worth it, when the winter closes in?
Were the miles that lie behind us worth these atrophies of skin?
For, oh my love, there is no turning back to start again
But the earth is kissed with morning; tell me, where shall we begin?
Who knows when somewhere we passed the halfway mark from Here to there
Yes my dear, let’s live each day as if we have no time to spare

Darling, there is much at stake here in this wake and sleep facade
Yes, we should make the most of it before touch turns cold as sod
Before God, who knows the number of our days when we are born
Snuffs the flame that lights the gamut of time’s tolling morn to morn
Darling, oh my darling, tell me when we meet that place we part
Will you always keep a candle burning for me in your heart?


© Janet Martin

 The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 
Rom.13:11-12

Monday, November 20, 2017

Lessons Learned and Re-learned

For today’s prompt, day 20, write a “what I learned” poem.

The Past no one can reach,
But oh, it reaches far
 To teach us just how long the arms
Of short-lived actions are

***

The future never looks
Like we pictured, when past
It's landscape is the shape of choices
Oft made far too fast

***

Sometimes life-circumstance
Forces fresh point of views
And though circumstance
 Seems out of our hands
Response, we always choose

***

When I think less of 'me'
And more of 'we' and 'us'
I find I have the eyes to see
Beyond my fretting fuss

***

The longer that I live
The shorter seasons seem
So I have learned to treat each day
With reverent esteem

***

The longer that I live
The less it seems I know
The less I know the more I need
God's grace, whereby I go 

***

The School-master of life is wise
And kind to we, sight-blind
If we forget much that we learn
We should keep this in mind
Though His lessons to mortal dust
May not always seem such
It is so we may learn to trust
He who loves us so much

***

To be wise in one's selfish eyes
Blinds us to evil's way
To fear God is to shun the lies
That else would lead astray 

***

Not on platforms of victory
But crawling in the dirt
Is where I learn true sympathy
For a brother's hurt

***

When crowds have fled and death lies red
Upon earth's grave-ward lea
Still there is One, when life is done
That will abide with me

***

Ah, dread would fill my head with fear
And fear would be a noose
Without God's promises, my dear
To cut this captive loose

***

How pray tell, can we find comfort
And peace on this earth, war-torn
From the Word that never alters

***

Now a few practical discoveries

I have learned that writing poems
Does not get the laundry hung
Does not dust, sweep, scrub the kitchen
But oh, it keeps the spirit young

***

I have learned there is no fountain
Filled with youth's euphoric flit
But the potion in a poem
Is the next best thing to it 

***

He who looks with humble honor
No matter what he may see
Finds pure beauty in the common
Through the eyes of poetry

***

Not the cold gold of a dollar
Not the pomp-and-show grandstand
Success lies in every scholar

Janet Martin

 above pages from book pictured below












Abundant Mercy

For today’s prompt,Day 19, write an abundant poem. 
There are so many instances of abundance in the world: 
Abundant sunshine; abundant happiness; abundant evil; and in November, abundant poetry!






We who wear both want and wonder
Walk where Love never forsakes
From His Heaven mercy thunders
Through time’s blunder-chiseled wakes

We who trip and slip and stumble
Are not left to our own means
Mercy, mentor to the humble
Pours in hope-restoring streams

We who make a mess of blessing
When regret opens our eyes
Find abundant mercy waiting
To forgive repentant cries

We who need so much assurance
In this trouble-rubble race
Lean on mercy’s kind endurance
From a faithful Father’s grace

We who weep and mourn find courage
Mercy meets us where we are
Frees the heart and mind from bondage
On the black night pins a star
 

© Janet Martin


 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lam.3:22-23


But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!…
Eph.2:4-5

Saturday, November 18, 2017

I Meant To Say 'I Love You'



 PAD prompt 17: For today’s prompt, write a “what I meant to say” poem. As someone who takes his time to consider what to say, I often find myself in this position of knowing what I meant to say…after the moment has passed. If you’ve ever been in that position, here’s your chance to write out what you meant to say.


 um, I haven't told Matt yet...
I forgot to bring in his hockey equipment last night:(
 
( post script; when Victoria saw this photo she shrieked so I showed her what I wrote about it below then she laughed, choosing to 'embrace' as well, instead of clean...for now:)

Dear son, I meant to say I love you
by airing out your hockey equipment for you,
but then I left it in the rain...

 Dear daughter, instead of saying 'I love you so much'
I asked you to clean up your room
...again

Hubby, why does my 'I love you' come out
too easily misunderstood
because somehow it didn't sound quite like
I know it could or should

...and God, why is it easier to spout love
in poesy-sweet rhymes
Oh, oh, no small wonder I blush
when I think of all the times
I shut the door
 or shut The Book
or shut my eyes
and ears
to Your love
ever faithful
through my tantrums, fears and tears

..so today I pray for ways to tell again
to those whose lives I touch
"I love you" (with no 'buts' attached)
So very, very
Much

Janet Martin

.. so He nudged me to walk over to Victoria and give her a big hug, right where she was,
and tell her "I love you very much" so I did, much to her puzzlement
so, I told her what I was writing
and how I don't tell her in plain 'I love you' language nearly enough, that I do!
AND...I didn't tell her to clean up her room but chose to embrace Her expressions of
loving the life she lives;-)