Drive....

The sailor travels the moody crest
Of cobalt and turquoise sea
The soldier obeys the commander’s request
As he battles the enemy
The farmer plows and plants the field
The astronaut studies the stars
The preacher seeks a heavenly yield
The mechanic fixes cars
The secretary types and files
The officer serves and protects
The dentist polishes fading smiles
The janitor cleans the mess
The trucker hauls whatever we need
The doctor works for our health
The banker protects the fruits of greed
Of need and phantom wealth
The fireman douses the ruthless flame
The teacher educates
The sports-man gets paid to play a game
The inventor creates
The carpenter works with hammer and wood
The factory-worker with steel
The waiter hopes the food is good
The cook prepares the meal
The nurse provides soft, tender care
The gardener tills and prunes
The barber trims and styles our hair
The singer strums his tunes
No matter the means by which we live
No matter wherever we roam
There is a universal drive
For love and home sweet home


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Janet Martin

Well Done

Though my back is aching
And my feet are sore
And I don’t feel like taking
It anymore
Though my hands are calloused
But the work never ends
It will be worth it
Someday, my friend

Though my eyes have wept
Till the tears are gone
And when I have slept
My pillow’s a stone
Though I am weary
With body worn
Someday I’ll forget
All the trouble I’ve borne

Though trials are many
But comforts are few
And being lonely
Is nothing new
Someday we will shout
With joy loud and fervent
As God says, ‘Well done
Good and faithful servant’

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Janet Martin

Well done, thou good and faithful servant.Matt 25:23

Her

She still can feel the sun-kissed sand
So warm beneath her back
The gentle whisper of your hand
The sky so lush and black
Although it’s been long hours ago
Since she has sat with thee
To watch the evening melt into
The skyline of the sea

She leaves her fresh and youthful glow
Upon life’s shifting sand
Through ballads murmured keen and low
She wields a faithful hand
But if perhaps she shifts her gaze
To hide a lingering truth
Tis simply that beyond this haze
She hears a song of youth

For as the sun begins to dip
And wane across the sky
A subtle smile plays on her lip
Within this lullaby
The sand is warm beneath her feet
An hour is forever
Her beauty soft, your kiss so sweet
And love a raging river….

….yet in her pensive reverie
There is no hint of anguish
For life must its own ballad be
In tones that dare not languish
But if the gloaming eventide
Could offer her a chance
She’d draw you to the ocean’s side
And dance…..and dance…..and dance

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Janet Martin

Sensations

Chocolate and skittles melt on my tongue
So does your name, if I just hold on…..
The warmth of a smile or the dew of a kiss
A comforting shawl in the grey of the mist

The breath of a whisper, the strain of a song
The thrill of a dance to keep my heart young
The taste of a memory on the tip of my mind
The scent of love in a form well-defined

The brush of your fingers so soft on my skin
The echo of laughter beyond the cold wind
The glow of a candle like a flickering prayer
A symphony born in the cool night air

The tick of a clock at one a.m.
The sigh of a heart and a restless whim
The crash of the waves on a distant cove
The bitter-sweet taste of the lonely in love

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Janet Martin

Wilderness

Beneath a dark and morbid sky
In love's silent soliloquy
I recall the fairer day
Where in green pastures we would play

Where stars would glisten over-head
Suspended on an unseen thread
And we could almost touch the lights
On those sultry summer nights

But now the sky is inky black
The darkness like a smothering wrap
The barren wilderness my curse
As I tremble in my thirst

Then, your quiet memory
Stirs a little light in me
Oasis in my wilderness
Life within its barrenness

Cool, cool drink of nectar sweet
Soft green grass beneath my feet
Friendship's softest touch to bless
In love's lonely wilderness

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Janet Martin

Tango

Like the sound of an accordion, a steady sullen beat
It’s music softly drifting down a sultry summer street
It stirs my slumbering senses in a mournful soulful tune
And in it I am carried to that lane beneath the moon

The notes like silky satin run their fingers through my mind
The present is forgotten in this melody so fine
And deep within it fans a flame of my dormant desire
As softly I call out your name I cannot quell this fire

The melody entwines itself around my trembling soul
In it I resign myself to live as though I’m whole
For I am the lone dancer in this memory sweet and kind
As I sway to the music of the tango in my mind

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Janet Martin

The Only 'We'

I know…there have been many others
Who have loved and then let go
Many moonlit midnight walks
Beneath its breathless glow
Many footprints side by side
Upon the sands of time
Many who have wept and cried
And asked the question ‘why’

The graveyards and the sepulchers
Are filled with silent laughter
Tears of broken-hearted
And the dreams that follow after
As the footprints which were side by side
Slowly drift apart
Fading in the tears they’ve cried
Oceans in their heart

Yes, there have been others
Who have walked a lonesome mile
Yearning for the hour
And the hint of yester’s smile
But there is only one you
And there is just one me
We are the only ‘us’
We are the only ‘we’

God did not bring us together
Simply to draw us apart
He will help us to weather
The storms that rage in the heart
God is the great Mediator
Father of you and me
With Him we will walk together
For we are the only ‘we’

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Janet Martin

A Lifetime Ago

It feels like a lifetime ago
That day
Beneath the azure glow
Of May
When we talked
About little nothings
But the little nothings
Really were something
Because I miss them
We were together
Then
Wide open summer
When
The only horizon
Was you
And we were happy
As we shared
Our little nothings
In the soft, green grass
Of May
Up on that hill
I can see it still
Like yesterday
Ghost in the moon-light
A lifetime ago
On a lonely night
Or at least it seems so
But in reality
I know
If I should choose
To count the days
In many ways
A lifetime can be
A week or so
But it can feel
Like a lifetime ago
When your eyes
No longer see
Me.




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Janet Martin

Looking for Love

She hides in the closet and covers her ears
The darkness her solace to hide all the tears
While Mommy and Daddy are fighting and yelling
When can she be happy; there’s really no telling?
As she whispers to no one and cries to the walls
“I just need someone to love me, that’s all”
In that dank little corner, the darkness her cover
She can’t help but wonder. Will anyone love her?
And she cries…..looking for love

With sad eyes she searches through the smoke and the gloom
A drunken hero lurches across the bar-room
Is he coming to see her, to tell her she’s sweet?
Maybe he will take her to a room down the street
In the arms of a stranger, the darkness her cover
She’ll risk all the danger; she needs someone to love her
She cries as she’s thinking and hating her deed
She weeps as she’s drinking and drowning her need
And she cries…..looking for love

She panics in fear for soon she will show
And people will sneer for her deed they will know
She weeps for the sorrow that grows in her womb
No hope for tomorrow, how loveless her doom
So she looks for an answer then heeds cold advice
That snuffs out the heart-beat with fingers of ice
She lies in a puddle of hatred and grief
Recalls how she’d huddle in the dark for relief
And she cries…..looking for love

Someone is standing in the door of a chapel
She sees they are handing out shiny red apples
Her deep inner hunger is a cold raging fire
She can wait no longer for her life-time desire
She’s drawn to the door by this kind-hearted smile
But she’s reaching for more than the fruit on a pile
As she gazes in longing at the warm, tender face
Her search for belonging accepts love’s embrace
And she cries….looking for love


And now there is peace, there’s a light in her gloom
A sweet, sweet release from her valley of doom
Some one has told her of a great God above
How He longs to hold her in His arms of love
Now she has a Father, a Savior and friend
Her searching is over as joyful tears blend
With tears of great sorrow for days of deep loss
But there’s hope for tomorrow at Calvary’s cross
And she smiles……for she has found love

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Janet Martin

Come unto Me, all you who are
weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Matt.11:28

(hey D. you may recognize a few 'replays....love theme:)

One More Day

Let me hold you just a little longer
Then I’ll let you fly away
Wait til I’m a little stronger
Won’t you wait just one more day?
Then perhaps I will be able
To release my hold on you
One more day is all I’m asking
Just for one more day with you

Let me touch your cheek, my darling
Listen to the twilight blue
Let me wake another morning
To spend one more day with you
If I had just one more hour
Maybe I could let you go
One more dance among the flowers
Or beneath the moon-light glow

Let me kiss your cheek, my darling
Linger in your tender sigh
Let me walk with you my darling
Where our dreams and angels fly
I’m not asking for a fortune
Or for things so fine and new
All that I am asking darling
Is for one more day with you

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Janet Martin

Dedicated to all of those who
wish for 'just one more day'.

Winter's Rose

The garden lays a frozen plain beneath the cold blue snow
Does she dream of spring again as howling north-winds blow?
Hidden ‘neath her frigid shroud, the miracle of birth
Awaiting spring-times tender cloud to warm the heart of earth

Waiting until her arm throbs with perfumed blooms again
Waiting until frozen sobs grow warm in April rain
Waiting while the winter wind moans and howls and blows
Knowing spring will come again, this is winter’s rose

Hope, the wings in every dream, the strength in every mile
Hope in shades of ever-green and spring-times emerald smile
Hope in spite of winters reign, it’s love-light softly glows
Hope will melt the snow again and this is winter’s rose

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Janet Martin

This time of year I start to think
about gardening again! I cannot wait to go and dig
in the dirt that is waiting under all the snow!!
I love to plan my garden this time of year!
I never remember to picture it with last years
weeds, or pests and diseases! I always picture it
healthy and perfect!!! I guess that is the hope
which plants the seed. It for now is my winter rose!

Epitome of Torment

The epitome of torment
Must surely be
If I love you
But you don’t love me

The epitome of torment
Is strange but true
To be loved by everyone
But you

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Janet Martin

Just Around the Bend

The soft, warm breath of spring-time
Is just around the bend
Its tender kiss upon the cheek
Is like a long-lost friend
It waits beyond the frozen field
As silently we yearn
And hope that winter’s chill will yield
To spring-times glad return

So lift your drooping shoulders now
And quell the restless sigh
The darkness of the winter-brow
Is quickly passing by
And soon the laughing breeze of spring
Will tame the frosty gale
Oh, do not cease to smile and sing
Spring waits beyond the vale

Not far beyond this border
Where roses never fade
We’ll dance in emerald meadows
And in gardens heaven-made
No winter lasts forever
Its solemn knell draws nigh
And just beyond the river
Is that spring-time in the sky

So what of muddy waters
They will run clear again
In crystal, gleaming rivers
Beyond this land of pain
It waits in grand perfection
Like a sweet and longing friend
Eternal spring and Heaven
Are just around the bend


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Janet Martin

Traces

No, I’ve never really seen you
Never looked in to your eyes
Are they brown or grey, hazel or blue
Do they twinkle when you smile?
Are they brushed with flecks of gold?
Do they sparkle, do they glow?
No, I’ve never really seen you
But oh, I love you so

No I’ve never really seen you
Or gazed into your face
I’ve never even touched you
Yet it seems I sense a trace
Of you in almost everything
I hear and see and do
It seems I hear you whispering
And oh, how I love you

No, I’ve never really seen you
Only glimpses now and then
As you touch me with invisible blue
And I can breathe again
You whisper tender mercies
Into my longing ear
And in my lonely places
I feel that you are near

No, I’ve never really seen you
Yet I see you every day
No, I’ve never really touched you
Yet you’re never far away
I’ve seen, yet never seen you
In a million different faces
No, I’ve never really seen you
But oh, I’ve seen the traces

In everything created
I’ve seen a trace of you
Each time I am defeated
I catch a glimpse or two
No, I’ve never really seen you
Or looked into your face
But in each morning that is new
Oh Lord, I see a trace

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Janet Martin


Then Jesus told him,
Because you have seen you have believe;
Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have believed. John 20:29

Because of the Lord's great love
we are not consumed.
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning:
Great is Your faithfulness. Lam.3:23

Longing

So, I’m thinking perhaps, that maybe
The things I’m longing for
Are not the plans You have for me….
The goodness yet in store
Perhaps I’ve never really sought
The fullness of Your will
The longing deep within my thought
Simply the void for You to fill

I’m thinking maybe all this time
That I’ve misunderstood
The meaning in the simple line
That You are great and good
The frame on which I measure
The essence of Your love
Cannot portray this treasure
That You shower from above

You can satisfy our longing
Each aching, deep desire
Our thirst for true belonging
Can be quenched as You inspire
Within Your out-stretched arms, oh Lord
You seek to draw us near
To satisfy the longing heart
With perfect love so dear

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Janet Martin
02/12/09

"For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the Lord,"Plans to prosper you
and not to harm you.plans to give you hope
and a future". Jer. 29:11

I was thinking about a Psalm I had with
a poem yesterday....Ps.145:19,
and how He tells us He will give us the desires
of our heart....it got me to thinking.