No 'Free' in Freedom

Up the somber, tree-lined street
The steady stream of solemn ranks are led,
As sun-beams dance to the drummer’s beat
Filtering through the branches overhead
Beyond the tears and past the trees
The music of a small child’s laughter swells
Stark contrast to the infantry
Bowing ‘neath the tolling of the bells

Then, as the bag-pipe sound exalts
The melody of sweet Amazing Grace
The banner-covered coffin halts
For it has reached its final resting place
The last note fades, the cannon flies
Echoing across a distant shore
But none as stirring as the mother’s cries
“There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore

Put down your banners, lay down your guns
My sweet baby boy has died
Tributes, salutes, many battles won
Won’t bring him back” she cried
“Take away all the roses for nothing will be
Like it ever was before
The price of freedom is too hard for me
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore”

Freedom (part two)

Up the rocky skull-strewn trail
A teaming, screaming throng of hatred surged
Swarming ‘round a form so pale
Upon a place called Calvary they converged
Beyond the tumult, wild and raging
Not a solitary friend is found
Stark contrast to the shouts and praising
As the palm-tree branches decked the ground

Then as the sound of steel on steel
Rings beyond the horror on the hill
As they drive in each cruel nail
‘Gainst the cries of ‘Father, not My will’
And as they raise the blood-stained cross
In victory the maddened thousands roar
As Mary weeps her deepest loss
“There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore

Take away your hammers, lay down your swords
My dear precious son has died”
As the lightning flashed and the thunder roared
There at His feet she cried
“Take away all your hatred, your jeers and chanting
For you have slain my Lord
Take away all your weapons, your raging and ranting
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore”

There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, oh what a price
So that we may be set free
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, love's sacrifice
Is beyond understanding for me
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, let us value each day
And cherish each living breath
Oh, what a price Jesus Christ had to pay
Our freedom paid by His death

Janet~

Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I'm Not That Old....Yet

….but I’ve lived long enough to see
This world is full of misery
The fruit of sin has bleak reward
And life is dark without the Lord
I’ve live long enough to know
That youth is like the melting snow
A brief and dashing interlude
Before the spirit is subdued
As somberly life’s truth we see
This world is full of misery

I’m not that old …..yet
But I’ve lived long enough to learn
The spirit will forever yearn
Until it looks to God above
And drinks of His abundant love
Oh, I’ve lived long enough to see
This world is full of misery
But greater far the love of God
Man’s hope upon this sin-cursed sod

I’m not that young….yes, I’ll admit
I wish I were….sometimes, a bit
But then I look around and see
This world of grief and misery
And with each step I realize
I’m one step closer to the skies
Closer to eternity
And freedom from life’s misery

Janet Martin~

But thanks be to God.
He gives us victory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ….1 Cor.15:57

The Cost.........

So many lives lost
This is the cost
To protect and preserve our freedom
But One death on Calvary
Sets every man free
And reserves us a place in His Kingdom

~Janet~

For Christ also died for sins once for all,
the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God,
having been put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit; 1 Pet. 3:18

Freedom

Land of the free as the cannon-balls fly
We gaze in awe; fireworks in the sky
Flashes of glory, we cheer they are gone
Somewhere a mother weeps at a cold grave stone

See the bright colors; oh grand celebration
God bless us all and God bless this nation
While across the sea some other cannon flies
While we gasp with glee another soldier dies

God bless the True north strong and free
God bless America and liberty
Help us remember, with each cannon that flies
While we enjoy freedom, somebody dies

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Field of Daisies

Take your tropical vacations
Travel all around the world
See the wonders of the nations
And their finest sights unfurled
I am satisfied with summer
In its pure and simple bliss
Drop me in a field of daisies
‘Neath the sunshine’s soft warm kiss

Take me to the brink of heaven
Where the summer breezes play
Where the endless cares are driven
To horizons far away
Where the morning warm and hazy
Beckons in a lacy dress
Take me to a field of daisies
‘Neath the blue skies soft caress

On a hill-side swept with laughter
Of a thousand, thousand blooms
Where I gaze at heavens rafters
From the grandest living-rooms
Here in meadows, soft and lazy
On the summer-scented sod
In a field of perfect daisies
I have seen the hand of God

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

No 'Free' in Freedom

Up the somber, tree-lined street
The steady stream of solemn ranks are led,
As sun-beams dance to the drummer’s beat
Filtering through the branches overhead
Beyond the tears and past the trees
The music of a small child’s laughter swells
Stark contrast to the infantry
Bowing ‘neath the tolling of the bells

Then, as the bag-pipe sound exalts
The melody of sweet Amazing Grace
The banner-covered coffin halts
For it has reached its final resting place
The last note fades, the cannon flies
Echoing across a distant shore
But none as stirring as the mother’s cries
“There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore

Put down your banners, lay down your guns
My sweet baby boy has died
Tributes, salutes, many battles won
Won’t bring him back” she cried
“Take away all the roses for nothing will be
Like it ever was before
The price of freedom is too hard for me
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore”

Freedom (part two)

Up the rocky skull-strewn trail
A teaming, screaming throng of hatred surged
Swarming ‘round a form so pale
Upon a place called Calvary they converged
Beyond the tumult, wild and raging
Not a solitary friend is found
Stark contrast to the shouts and praising
As the palm-tree branches decked the ground

Then as the sound of steel on steel
Rings beyond the horror on the hill
As they drive in each cruel nail
‘Gainst the cries of ‘Father, not My will’
And as they raise the blood-stained cross
In victory the maddened thousands roar
As Mary weeps her deepest loss
“There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore

Take away your hammers, lay down your swords
My dear precious son has died”
As the lightning flashed and the thunder roared
There at His feet she cried
“Take away all your hatred, your jeers and chanting
For you have slain my Lord
Take away all your weapons, your raging and ranting
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore”

There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, oh what a price
So that we may be free
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, loves sacrifice
Is beyond understanding for me
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, let me value each day
And cherish each living breath
As I thank God for freedom every day
For the ‘free’ in my freedom is death

All Rights Reserved
Janet martin

Housewife Hooky

The rigid dictation of
Washer and spinner
The endless inquisition of
‘Mom, what’s for dinner?’
The loads of laundry
In copious piles
The cobwebs, dust bunnies
Can all wait awhile

The sink full of dishes
The crumbs on the floor
Defy all the wishes
Beyond my front door
Inside these walls
I’ve had glimpses of heaven
But today they are bars
Of a housewife’s prison

Cast off the fetters
Of dish rag and mop
Fling wide the windows
The door cannot stop
These feet that are yearning
To run ‘cross the green
Where just a short while ago
Snow angels had been

Dash with the breeze
That roves cross the wild
Laugh with the brook
Like you did as a child
Taste the warm kisses
Of sunshine again
Hug the spring meadows
And dance in the rain

There is no passion
And there is no lure
Like the call of the open
In a spring morn so pure
Tomorrow the dishes
Can be put away
Yield to your wander-lust
Play hooky today

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Let 'em Go

Burnin’ rubber in the parking lot
Driving way too fast
Givin’ all you got
On your way to
You have no idea where
But freedom is a long highway
With the radio on
A pocket full of change
A girl on your arm
And the wind blowin’ through your hair
So you’re good and gone
Livin’ big on being young


‘cause you don’t really have a care
The gas tanks full
And you have got
your mothers prayers
And every dream is possible
Your seventeen
And wiser than you’ve ever been
Sittin’ cool
You’re nobody’s fool
And you’ve got the smell of
Spring in the air
The kiss of the sun
In her golden hair……

So I say let’ em go, sure, what’s the hurry
They still don’t know
That all too soon the arm of worry
Wraps them in a somber robe
Just around the bend
It waits, a timeless friend
Let ‘em go,before long they’ll realize
The sun is setting in their eyes
And they were driving way too fast
To get to where their freedom’s past
Where silver trades the locks of gold
Drivin’way too fast to…. gettin’ old

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

When I was out on my run tonight
they went roaring by and I said to myself....
"let 'em go..." :)

Priority-check

You spent a night in the garden for me
Praying with sweat-drops of agony
Knowing full well what lay ahead
You chose to pray for me instead…
All night through you wept and prayed
How much time should I give you today?

You stood in Pilate’s hall for me
Bore the shameful mockery
You took my stripes, each hateful blow
Forsaken, still you loved me so
Falsely accused, You turned not away
How much time should I give you today?

You bore my cross as Your mercy flowed
And blood-drops stained the rugged road
The road which led to Calvary
Where you gave Your life for me
Yet still upon the cross You prayed
Lord, how much time should I give you today?

Three days You lay in tender wait
To open wide sweet freedom’s gate
You rose victorious, love has won
Should I treat such a gift as stone?
Too busy now to stop and pray….
How much time should I give you today?

You watch me like a precious child
You never leave me in the wild
But pour Your tender love on me
Though I have loved unfaithfully
Still You watch me all the way
How much time should I give You today?

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Lucky One

A row of books upon a book-shelf
Colored covers hide the tales within
And only if we stop to turn the pages
Will we find how each story begins….

He came back home today, they call it furlough
A well-earned rest from all the bloody scenes
They say he’s changed, the boy from Silver Hollow
Is not the jolly lad he once had been
They cannot see beyond the blue reflection
As he stares off somewhere beyond the stars
Seeing all lined up in sad perfection
His bloody souvenirs, his hidden scars

They all agree he’s one of the lucky ones
So many of his friends will not come home
They slap his back in grand congratulations
And say ‘drop over for a drink sometime’
But he’s not like a book that they can open
Nor can he close the covers of his mind
As he returns unbidden to the pages
Of horrors that he thought he left behind

He longs to scream aloud, ‘there are no lucky ones
No winners in this bloody hell called war
But silently he turns to count his trophies
His crimson souvenirs, his hidden scars
Only God can see what’s on these pages
The torment of the echoes in his mind
Oh God, he did not want to be the author
Of a story that he just can’t leave behind

A row of story-books upon a book-shelf
Pretty covers hide the tales within
And only if we stop to turn the pages
Will we know how each story begins….

All rights Reserved
Janet Martin

LEST WE FORGET!!!!!!!

A New Kind of Grace

I’d love to wander alone with you
Past the winter where skies are blue
And the kiss of the sun would warm our bare-feet
In the late after-noon in solitude sweet
The sigh of the breeze and the stir of the grass
The breath of the trees as we tip-toe past
Would be the music of our choice
As we roam the hills beyond the noise
Of everything plain and common-place
Discovering again,a new kind of grace

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Little Angel's Heaven

Through meadows sweet her eager feet the dewy blossoms waken,
She stirs the dust where wanderlust her childish heart has taken,
With picnic basket and teddy bear,
Sun bonnet and ruffled underwear,
And ribbons clinging to her hair
As by her prance, they’re shaken

With hops and skips her basket tips yet never seems to scatter,
While fairy-queen and evergreen hark to her ceaseless chatter,
Dear teddy bear and lilac tree,
Even the busy honey bee,
Nod and listen wordlessly
To what, it does not matter

The laughing breeze and shady trees with loving vigil guard her,
Bereft of care, this angel fair basks here in nature’s ardor,
Where time and haste do not exist,
Where blossoms are caressed and kissed,
She never wonders if she’s missed,
This precious little daughter

Oh, what I’d pay for just a day to walk the trail she wanders,
Where sparkling brooks and mossy nooks watch as the hour she squanders,
But far too soon adulthood hails,
And draws her from these precious trails,
A heaven made for little girls
That years from now, will taunt her

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Cure for Tumbled Thoughts

You tumble…..
Tumble….
Tumble…………
Like clothes in a dryer,
Over each other…
Over….
And over…….
Wish I could smother
The ones that seek to
Make a liar
Liar.
Liar…………….
Out of me….
Set me free
Free…..
.free
From this dizzying cycle…..
As they tumble……..
Tumble….
Tumble…………..
Bright and muted colors
Swirling.
Twirling……………..
Round and round…
I think I’ve found
The answer…..
Peace at last!!!!!!!!!!!
M-m-m-m—m!!
Coffee, you never let me down!!!!
Cheers!!

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

just a little early morning humor:):):)

Chance to Fly

Oh, I would wander down the lane
Of childhood if I could
Oh, I would linger once again
Within the emerald wood
Where teddy bear and forget-me not
Would whisper in the wooded lot
As unsuccessfully I sought
Fulfillment to my dreams

I would go if given a chance
Back to the care-free sun
And in the evening shadows dance
In childhoods meadows run
And there within its dusty breath
I’d ponder things like heaven and earth
And give another new dream birth
And long for freedom's wings

Ah, freedoms wings have come at last
But still I cannot fly
For childhoods winsome dreams are past
My wings can’t reach the sky
But now and then my longing glance
Envisions childhoods carefree dance
And I know if I had the chance
I think I’d try to fly

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Guilt

You are sorrow within laughter
You are sadness in a smile
You are the absent twinkle
In a precious loved ones eye
You are poison in life’s wine
A shard in joy’s full cup
You cause your victim to look down
Instead of looking up

Guilt you’re an ugly burden
We stagger beneath your weight
You will not budge though we vainly try
To forget the deed we hate
You are still there like a fleck in the eye
Why, oh why won’t you leave?
We cannot taste the sweet pleasure in life
With your bitter nectar of grief

How can we cast this burden aside?
And dance where the innocent play
Someone has told of One who died
To wash dark guilt away
If we confess our deepest sin
And with our hearts believe
He will wash and make us clean
If we His love receive

Then He will give us strength to bear
Our failures and regrets
But we will bear the guilt no more
Dissolved in the blood He shed
The shadow in our peace is guilt
Convicting us of sin
For this His perfect blood was spilled
To make us pure within

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin


Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the
law of the Spirit of life set me
free from the law of sin and death. Rom.8:1

Oh, Misery

Oh misery
I hate your company
I’m thinking you must be
A cruel thief
Oh misery
Look what you’ve done to me
I’m sinking hopelessly
Within your grief

You are a heartless foe
And you torment me so
No matter where I go
You weigh me down
You’re like an iron shroud
A heavy thunder-cloud
In sad defeat I’m bowed
Beneath your crown

Oh misery
Can someone set me free?
Oh surely there must be
Another way
Ah yes, One hope remains
He breaks your iron chains
Holy, Supreme, He reigns
Turns night to day

Oh misery
He holds the only key
To glorious victory
For Him I grope
He is the King of kings
Ruler of everything
God alone will bring
Eternal hope

All Rights reserved
Janet Martin

Freedom's Gift

Have you fought a bitter battle?
Dreams lay trampled on the ground
Is the enemy the victor
Of the spoils that you once owned?
Do you stand, head bowed, defeated
Suffering in tears your loss?
Lift your eyes to Hope completed
Behold the Man upon the cross

Are the roses in your garden
Tattered fragments of the past?
There’s a perfect Rose of Sharon
Offering healing that will last
Are you forsaken, wounded, bleeding
Weeping for a hopeless cause?
There’s a Source for all you’re needing
Behold the Man upon the cross

Behold the man with crimson pouring
From His side, His hands, His feet
Behold the throngs which pass, ignoring
He, who gives us Life complete
Behold the Man, the King of kings
We shall never suffer loss
Because of Life salvation brings
Behold the Man upon the cross

Look down behold within your own hand
A deadly, wretched, bloody sword
Look up, behold the One that you’ve slain
Look up, behold the Lord of Lords
Look up, behold this glorious offering
Freedom’s gift to all of us
Perfect love and grace proffering
Behold the man upon the cross.

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Behold the Lamb of God which takes away
the sins of the world. John 1:29

Freedom Song (part one)

Up the somber, tree-lined street
The steady stream of solemn ranks are led,
As sun-beams dance to the drummer’s beat
Filtering through the branches overhead
Beyond the tears and past the trees
The music of a small child’s laughter swells
Stark contrast to the infantry
Bowing ‘neath the tolling of the bells

Then, as the bag-pipe sound exalts
The melody of sweet Amazing Grace
The banner-covered coffin halts
For it has reached its final resting place
The last note fades, the cannon flies
Echoing across a distant shore
But none as stirring as the mother’s cries
“There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore

Put down your banners, lay down your guns
My sweet baby boy has died
Tributes, salutes, many battles won
Won’t bring him back” she cried
“Take away all the roses for nothing will be
Like it ever was before
The price of freedom is too hard for me
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore”

Freedom has taken my boy from my door
There's no 'free' in freedom anymore
Free is not like it was before
There's no free in freedom anymore,
No, there's no free in freedom anymore.

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Freedom Song (part two)

Up the rocky skull-strewn trail
A teaming, screaming throng of hatred surged
Swarming ‘round a form so pale
Upon a place called Calvary they converged
Beyond the tumult, wild and raging
Not a solitary friend is found
Stark contrast to the shouts and praising
As the palm-tree branches decked the ground

Then as the sound of steel on steel
Rings beyond the horror on the hill
As they drive in each cruel nail
‘Gainst the cries of ‘Father, not My will’
And as they raise the blood-stained cross
In victory the maddened thousands roar
As Mary weeps her deepest loss
“There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore

Take away your hammers, lay down your swords
My dear precious son has died”
As the lightning flashed and the thunder roared
There at His feet she cried
“Take away all your hatred, your jeers and chanting
For you have slain my Lord
Take away all your weapons, your raging and ranting
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom anymore”

There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, oh what a price
So that we may be free
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, loves sacrifice
Is beyond understanding for me
There’s no ‘free’ in freedom, let us value each day
And cherish each living breath
Thank God for freedom every day
For the ‘free’ in our freedom is death

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

It was for freedom that Christ set us free:
therefore keep standing free
and do not be subject again to
the yoke of slavery. Gal.5:1

Let It Rain

Drooping flowers raise their heads
Waters fill parched river-beds
Dusty fields are green again
And I’m learning how
To dance in the rain

Clouds are groaning over-head
As they release the tears they shed
Take heart, their weeping’s not in vain
As I’m learning how
To dance in the rain

Toss your umbrella, lift up your face
Drink in the nectar of heaven’s embrace
Yes, pain still hurts and wishes remain
But I’m learning how
To dance in the rain

Tilt your head, look to the skies
Look deep into God’s tender eyes
You’re not alone, He holds your hand
And He’ll teach us how
To dance in the rain

All Rights Reserved
-Janet Martin-
10/29/09

Seems like God designed us to learn
more in the ‘rainy seasons’
than in the sunshine……thus producing growth!

He will be like rain falling on the mown field,
Like showers watering the earth…..Ps.72:6