Remembrance Day

A gun, a bomb, hatred and loss
Will never set us free
A Son, a tomb, love and a cross
Has sealed our victory

~Janet Martin~

“It is finished” John 19:30

This is my body given for you
Do this in remembrance of me. Luke 22:19

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

Reminded.....

Seems I need to be reminded
That fourth grade angels with golden hair
Still need hugs and teddy bears….
…and that neither Rome nor a man is built in a day
And it’s always been that way

Seems I need to be reminded
That into each life a little rain must fall
For without it there could be no garden at all….
…..joy and grief must have their day
And it’s always been that way

Seems I need to be reminded
While I covet the neighbors rose
I’m blind to the larkspur blooming at my toes…..
……. God supplies our needs each day
And it’s always been that way

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Janet Martin

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

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Janet Martin

Flash-back....

Forced-casual,yet purposeful stride
She 'strolls' toward me,sweet and bright-eyed
Friday night with the week-end in view
Grand delight, another school-week through
Calm and collected, smooth as butter
Carefully rehearsed, the speech she would utter
I smile as I ask her, “What is it honey?”
She smiles in return and says, “I need money”

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Janet Martin

Yes indeed!!!
I have come to recognize certain 'walks'

She had no idea as she 'strolled' to where
I was mowing the lawn tonight, that I was laughing
inside because I recognized 'the walk':):):)

Never Alone

You are not about to let me go
Are you Lord?
Though I have grieved you so
And earned hell’s reward
Somehow in the fruit of my choices
How ever bitter they be
Above all the taunting voices
I hear you whisper to me….

I’ll never leave or forsake you
You are one of My own
Wherever you go and whatever you do
My child, you are never alone

I don’t deserve the Arms I feel
I weep in shame
In spite of all the times I fail
To exalt Your name
You softly and tenderly whisper
Above my stubborn groan
If I am your Lord and your Master
I cannot leave you alone

I’ll never leave or forsake you
You’ll never escape my care
The forces of sin will not take you
For I am with you everywhere

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Janet Martin

I will never leave you nor forsake you...Heb.13:5

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

Sing Me a Song

Sing me a song of the morning dew
That sparkles in your gaze as I look at you
Sing me a song of the clear blue sky
The color of love that gleams in your eye
Sing me a song of the young and free
The way that once we used to be

Sing me a gentle serenade
Born of a love that’s heaven-made
Hum a soulful melody
Written for only you and me
Sing me the whisper that stirs in your soul
Sing like a lover would sing to his girl

Oh, sing of a valley, fertile and green
Sing with the freedom of seventeen
Sing with the passion of summer's wind
Sing with abandonment, cares left behind
Sing me a song understood by few
Like the very first time I looked at you



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Janet Martin

Keep-sakes

Image credit:  http://www.heartsmith.com/selena.html

I keep small pieces of my failures
To remind me now and then
Of where I was and where I’m going
And don’t want to go again
I keep small remnants of my sorrows
For they are a testament
Of hope within unseen tomorrows
And the joy beyond lament
I keep a fragment of my heart-ache
Like a sweet and aching charm
For as I see another’s heart-break
I can lend a tender arm
I keep the extract of a memory
That perhaps I should forget
But somehow serves to remind me
God’s not finished with me yet
And I keep the tender traces
Of a scent, a word, a sigh
For tis how I kiss the faces
In a memory passing by….

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Janet Martin

And I Smile

Words and images, sounds and voices
Linger in the hull of my mind
There they reside like ghosts of the night
An echoing presence, I find
But then, like a gift, when I need a lift
One may with a flicker appear
And offer a whisper, a chuckle, a breath
A kiss on the tip of my ear
And I smile

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Janet Martin

You....

You drift to me on the taunting wind
Like distant strains of a mandolin
Or the comforting chatters of a brook
Vaguely recalled from a winter nook

You graze the surface of my skin
Like the soundless breath of a butterfly’s wing
The ghost of a smile in the pale moonlight
Flickers and fades beyond my sight

The brush of your finger-tips, a restless sigh
That escapes from my lips as you pass by
And all that remains for me to see
Is the wind as it tosses the willow-tree

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Janet Martin

Again...

Standin’ in the middle of nowhere baby
Feelin’ the wind in my hair wonderin’ maybe
What you’re doin’ where you are,
Let’s be wreckless, jump in your car
And drive til we know where we are
Again….

Standin’ in the middle of a thousand memories
Spinning on a carousel of sand and green leaves
Can’t get off, don’t really want to
Until I can touch you, kiss you, see you
Again ….

Standin’ in the middle of the past and the future
Hearin’ the laughter like we used to
Maybe, baby, there’s a change in the weather
And we could ride this carousel together
Again ….

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Janet Martin

Blame this crazy ditty on Keith Urban!!!
I absolutely love the song 'Til Summer Comes Around!!!
(Defying Gravity cd)
It touches me in all the right places...
know what I mean????
The girls borrowed the CD from
the library, but mom's 'borrowed' it
from the girls:):):)

Well, back to window-cleaning...
The one thing about this bright sun,
reveals dirty windows!!!!
But me'n Keith we'll get through it!! Oh Yeah!!!

Slow-burning Memory

Slow-burning memory
Flickering in the wind
Burning through the pages
To a chapter in my mind
I’ve got no desire
To snuff out its flame
For here in its fire
I still see your name

Slow burning memory
Carry me away
Warm me with the kiss
Of a sweet yesterday
Just like a swallow
Of love’s finest wine
This slow-burning memory
Lingers in my mind

Slow-burning memory
Smoldering ember
Love’s tender offering
As I remember
Slow-burning memory
Bitter-sweet pain
Here in its flicker
I see you again

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Janet Martin

Our Song

Sometimes it plays upon my heart like the strain of a violin
And though it’s tearing me apart I beg to hear it again
I let its sorrow linger like a kiss upon my pain
As you run your fingers through my memory again

I feel the tender passion of the music as it plays
I hear the breakers crashing on a sea-shore far away
I let its sonnet linger as it sets my spirit free
I reach to touch the fingers running through my memory

As the chorus fades away like waves return to sea
As the turquoise turns to gray and touch to memory
As the silence of the present drowns out its melody
I reach to clasp your fingers running through my memory

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Janet Martin

J.

First Love

Do you remember when your heart raced
At the mention of My name
The brilliance of your love-light blazed
In glowing radiant flame
Remember when your love for me
Transformed your every thought?
You longed in true humility
The wisdom that I taught

Remember how you wept with joy
As you first realized
My eternal love for you
Was pure and undisguised
Remember when you bowed your knee
Confessed undying love
And how you would serve faithfully
Your deepest love to prove

Oh, do you remember
All the praises you would sing?
Oh, do you remember when
My love was everything?
My precious, I remember
And it makes me very sad
For oh, how I desire
The first love that once you had

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Janet Martin

Yet I hold this against you;
You have forsaken your first love. Rev.2:4

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

Forgotten

You were so important to me that day
Or so I thought
But heedlessly I walked away
And you were soon forgot
Is that then, really love at all
Momentary affection
A name I can hardly recall
Now in my recollection

Life, you hand me a vast array
Of choices on your platter
I gaze at your taunting display
Oh, does it really matter
What I see and taste and touch
My hidden word or thought
Does it matter very much?
Or is it soon forgot

Yes, it matters very much
The choices that we make
What we see and taste and touch
What we leave or take
For He who loves us; He who gave
His only Son begotten
Did not come down our souls to save
Just to be forgotten

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Janet Martin

When I fed them they were satisfied,
when they were satisfied they became proud
then they forgot me. Hosea 13:6

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….

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Janet Martin

LEST WE FORGET!!!!!!!

Regret

Now I remember what I want to tell you
The things I was going to say
Seems like I never quite said what I planned to
Why did I wait til today?
There always seemed to be some interference
Sometimes I was just plain afraid
Some days too busy, too proud or too lazy
But now it is just way too late

Now I remember what I should have told you
Today the words pour from my lips
Darling, I wish for just one day to hold you
Before time relentlessly slips
Why did I think there was always tomorrow
To say what I needed to say?
There is no comfort for me in my sorrow
I remember, but you’ve gone away

Darling, I love you and darling, I’m sorry
These are two things I would say
Darling, believe me and oh please don’t leave me
Lord, give us just one more day
Then if you take him I’ll still have forever
To remember what I can’t forget
Darling forgive me, I love you believe me
Lord, how can I bear this regret?

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Janet Martin

Childhoods Meadows

In childhood meadows time does not exist
Laughing and dancing in bare-foot bliss
Untainted and free from sorrow’s regret
Untouched by evil’s dark gauntlet
Unaware of their priceless freedom, they run
Through childhood meadows to the setting sun
We cannot go back there, you and I
We may stand and stare and wistfully sigh
But we are yesterday’s children now
With aching back and weary brow
Tending the garden of our chosen sorrows
Planted while heedless of our unseen tomorrows
So let them run and laugh and dance
Soon too they’ll pass the phantom fence
To stand with spectators on the other side
Pondering the moment of the great divide
Gone forever, its freedom and flowers
Joining the ranks in a world marked by hours
Marching to the beat of duty’s drum
Remembering the sweetness of youth’s freedom
Pausing in reverie now and then
To recall the meadows that once they lived in

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Janet Martin