That day, I woke to find no dawn
Had bathed in gold the promised morn
And once, where filled with vibrant song,
The air was still.  Night lingered on.
 

In all my griefs I'd turn to you
And somehow it would see me through
To touch your hand...to see your face,
But gone – you left an awful space.
 

When you left my life, all the dark grey things
Came seeping in on Death's cold wings
And shadowed through my tear-filled eyes
A thick black mantle cloaked the skies
 

And on such an empty, lonely day
When it seemed eternal night would stay
Never giving back the sunrise fair
Or spilling bird-song on the air,
 

I knelt beside my sleepless bed,
And from a heart, as empty, dead
As all the whole world seemed to me,
My soul cried to Eternity.
 

In the black, I saw a bright, bright thing
Like a far-off star on broken wing
Shimmer down the rivers of my sight
And  bathe my broken heart in light.
 

YOU were gone...but sunrise came that day,
Someone Else's hand soothed my tears away,
Deeper...deeper that I ever knew
Even circled in the love of you
 

Someone filled the wound of loss and pain
And gave the bright things back again!
Gave me Beauty for the cindered hours,
Made a garland of the brightest flowers
 

Of hopes and dreams, and gladness flowed
As oil that only Heaven knows.
Thus, my grieving turned to beats of praise
As I saw again the sunlit days.
 

BEAUTY FOR ASHES..JOY FOR PAIN,
I cried for YOU but JESUS came!
 

Now, when dawn breaks bright and lovely here
And I think of you...I shed a tear
Not to say 'I love you' as before,
But that you now know WHO loves you more......
 
 

Annette Keeble Martens.
 
 

© 2009 Annette Keeble Martens