Tolerance Is Hard to Tolerate

January 26, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for The Year of the Boar, from the boar’s point of view.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Tolerance is hard to tolerate,

Hinting, as it can, of condescension.

Even so, it has a good intention,

Yielding an alternative to hate.

Embracing difference truly can create

An overwhelming love for all expression,

Resulting in a singular impression

Open to all sides of a debate.

For me, the truth's a wilderness of stars,

The universe revealed in all its glory.

How can one choose just one small bit of sky,

Estranged by one's beliefs from all the rest?

Being isn't bounded by one's bars;

Oceans aren't summed up in one story.

All that is will inundate one's why,

Removing walls long laid across one's quest.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/tolera.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 25: There Are Those Who Shy Away from Being

January 26: Tolerance Is Hard to Tolerate