Realizations

It’s bitter-sweet, the process
Of realizing truth
The moment of recognizing
The things such as freedom and youth
Are gone; though I may try to reach
With yearning finger-tip
I can only touch their memory
In a tender, trembling grip

In the blue haze softly nestled
On the layered distant hill
I can hear an echo
When the night is warm and still
The echo that reminds me
I will never hold the hands
Of summers far behind me
Lost on times vast golden sands

It’s bitter-sweet, the process
Of coming face to face
With the realization
That there is no time and place
To hold the ones beyond my reach
Though my arms may ache
Time and life steals them from me
For as time gives it takes

But in this realization
There comes a sudden peace
For the Hand that gives and takes
Holds love that will never cease
As I reach to take from Him
Mercy's gift to me
Another moment of His love
Life's only certainty


All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin


I wrote this poem, took our van
to the mechanic, came home and completely
re-wrote the last verse!

I met a neighbor who is my age
at the mechanic. I have known him all my life.
At little before Christmas they were dealt a powerful blow!!!!
He has cancer. He is under-going very intense treatment,
yet he radiates a calm and peace that can only come
from one Source! A fresh realization washed over me....
there is only one certainty in this life...
God's everlasting, changeless love!
If you read this will you pray for him?