House Next Door - Poem

 House Next Door

I often wonder,

   Who lives in the house next door?

What happens behind its walls?

   What paths did they explore?

Could it be a young mother

   Seeking calm in fleeting peace,

While her infant finally lay sleeping

   After nights that never cease?

Or a young father, battle-weary,

   Stretched out on the floor to rest

After a work day's labor,

   Needing nourishment, no less.

Perhaps someone smiles, taps and sings,

   Dancing through the day's routine

To music that lifts and enlivens

   Drudgery into cheerful scene.

Or a youth wearing headphones,

   Lost in noise, a wild selection,

Surrounded by electronic stimulation,

   Chasing connection through disconnection.

Perhaps screens - phone, TV, laptop

   Clutter counters, order's place.

Endless gadgets, tools of chaos

   Stealing calm from every space.

Maybe a young child,

   With toys strewn across the floor,

Propped by dreams, resisting sleep,

   In their rumpled bed once more.

Could there be someone gifted,

   Extraordinary or famous,

Seeking refuge, a quiet place,

   Or a creator, inventor, a genius?

There might be one in mourning,

   Lost to grief or deep sorrow,

Needing solace or comfort,

   Pleading for a brighter tomorrow?

Or perhaps it's someone uncertain

   Of who they are, shy and unsure,

Lacking courage to step or explore

   Outside their own front door -

Maybe a soul, sin-burdened

   With pain or regrets untold,

Seeking escape or forgiveness -

   A wrestling and restless soul.

Or one of fragile strength,

   Whose limbs need quiet rest,

After years of service in a

   World of constant press and duress.

I see them kneel at long day's end,

   Giving thanks to Heaven's friend.

Showing love with a tap, hug or kiss,

   Holding close life's tenderness.

Peering through their windows

   And prying open more,

I pause and suddenly realize -

   I'm the house next door.

Janice Harten

22 Jun 2024

Reawaken - Poem

 Reawaken

Soft rise of morning's glow,

   O'er crest of distant mountains flow,

Stirs a bundled dreaming sparrow,

   Awaiting dawn's tomorrow.

Sheer blushing wash

   Glimmers through chilled orchard's calm.

Geese glide 'long clear, silken ribbon,

   Their flight in new day begun.

God's presence hovers o'er all

   In the still, breathless air.

He lovingly surveys his creation,

   Glorious purpose reawakened.

Janice Harten

18 Jun 2025

Pure Beguile - Poem

Pure Beguile

Delicate blues and swaying greens,

   Soft twitter hums on musical breeze,

Child and chickadee en l'air swing.

Sun and light shadows gently frame

   Butterfly's dainty glissade sway,

Chassé, grand jeté, it flits away.

Bouncing curls and ribbons bright,

   Her pirouette's pure beguile,

Trace the air with God's gentle smile.

Janice Harten

9 Jun 2025

Stripling Warrior - Poem

Stripling Warrior

Fathers sent sons forth in their stead,

   Their swords, in covenant earth, laid to rest.

Old hatreds purged; their hearts made clean,

   Nobel sacrifice and faith; in Christ redeemed.

Untested youth, chose to follow God's plan,

   Life and freedom defended within foreign land.

Their straight, fearless valor, a sight unseen.

   This was the stripling warrior creed.

Their strict obedience to every command,

   Rallied and inspired other soldiers to stand

On Christ's mighty power, and boldly lean.

   This was the stripling warrior creed.

Not one of two thousand sixty sons perished,

   Teachings of their faithful mothers they cherished.

Strengthened and shielded by angels' unseen

   They witnessed what miracles God did achieve.

True, exact, sober, obedient, upright,

   Pure in heart, faithful, valiant in fight.

Never before witnessed and never since seen,

   This is the stripling warrior creed.

Janice Harten

September 2018

Alma 24:15-19, Alma 53:20-21, Alma 57:25-26

Puddles of Sorrows - Poem

Puddles of Sorrows

Puddles of sorrows

from rivers of tears

attempt to drown my suffocating heart

Master of shifting waves

grasp me from these frightening depths

and fill my breath

With whispers of hope for

a pained, hardened soul

to be softened, redeemed and made whole

Janice Harten

22 Feb 2025

Isle of Jekyll - Poem

Isle of Jekyll

River of blowing, flowing soft sand
races barely above dusty floor, creating foggy shore
wispy white and low
sweeps for a moment then gone, suddenly invisible

Sand dunes swollen lumps upon seawall shielded row

trap and swallow palms, grass, gritty dock and all

wherever powdery grain blows

in slow undetectable, unrelenting motion

Vanishing, persistent footprint chases curling wave

and gentle foam crawls then rolls away

enticing, drawing intrepid toward underworld mystery

and bold stories longing to be told

Moist shell dollar, oceans unburied treasure

momentarily scooped and gathered

not intended to be kept or captured

disintegrates and dissolves back into natures ashen matter

Hidden crabs peer somewhere

from within watery pinholes

tiny movement reveals sand bubbling, quickly refilling

their presence exposed

Draped Spanish moss sways

twists and dangles in waltzing, danciful delight

from mighty boughs of grand ancient oaks

adorned in lacy flowing grays

While elsewhere, stark exposed wood skeletons

lay perishing in creeping graveyard from salt and sea

enormous roots imitate fractured branches jutting skyward

ghostly stoic fascination

Bundled historic tall-tale buildings with elegant checkered past

view dots of distant cargo, luxury and fishing ships

dozens of pelicans lined in graceful flight

glide each evening in wistful, silent dusky light

From peppered balcony, salty wooden tables overlook worn pier

where local fishermen with romping, curious children

laugh, play, position poles and hope to reel in

and grill daily tasty minions

Turtle-slow, quaint and simple

topped with tart key lime green pie

sudden rumble, flash and downpour, then momentary drizzle

unpretentious life on Jekyll

Janice Harten 4 May 2025

Earthen Sundae - Poem

Earthen Sundae

Chocolate mounds
plopped, stacked and
tottering
ready to be licked
before they drip
onto smothered
crunchy
red and green sprinkles

Leaning
cavernous sloppy scoops
arched and
balanced wondrously
precarious
topped and peering into
wispy
cream and blue

Heaping perilous creation
of delicious consumption
too much to swallow
in one view

Janice Harten
23 May 2024
Arches National Monument