Make Not Much of What You're Missing

December 27, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A philosophical Christmas poem about finding satisfaction:

Make not much of what you're missing;
Each gets gifts as they come due.
Rest assured, regarding wishing:
Riches are reserved for you.
Years of want require wanting;
Christmas gives what one receives.
Happiness ought not seem daunting,
Renting space in what one grieves.
In your heart is all you need,
Sustained by giving it away.
Though you burn and break and bleed,
Mere suffering's no place to stay.
As you are is as you will,
Sure of winds that wish you well.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/makeno.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends
December 22: Christmas Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves
December 23: Christmas Really Isn’t About Toys
December 24: Could There Be Angels Waiting in the Wings
December 25: Glad Tidings Are a Coat of Many Colors
December 26: Charity Begins Where Interest Ends
December 27: Make Not Much of What You’re Missing

Charity Begins Where Interest Ends

December 26, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A philosophical Christmas poem about charity and selflessness:

Charity begins where interest ends,
Having little interest but in giving,
Removing self from self, that there be space
In which a much-loved guest might feel at home.
So might one find delight, though ravens rend
The unembroidered fabric of one's being:
Miracle of unrequited grace,
A wave of wonder welling up from stone,
Singing as it breaks of selfless grieving.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chari3.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends
December 22: Christmas  Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves
December 23: Christmas Really Isn’t About Toys
December 24: Could There Be Angels Waiting in the Wings
December 25: Glad Tidings Are a Coat of Many Colors
December 26: Charity Begins Where Interest Ends

Glad Tidings Are a Coat of Many Colors

December 25, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A Christmas poem about the variety of contributors to religious faith:

Glad tidings are a coat of many colors,
Lest warmth be the only use for clothes.
A moment of redemption is a blessing
Derived from generations of cross dressing,
The product of choice cloth from these and those,
In each of which are gnostic strips of others.
Deeper than the dreams of doting mothers,
In seas that lie beneath the ancient floes,
Neither touched nor untouched by transgressing,
Gripped alone by naked grace, one grows
Silent in the synagogue of lovers.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/gladt2.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends
December 22: Christmas Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves
December 23: Christmas Really Isn’t About Toys
December 24: Could There Be Angels Waiting in the Wings
December 25: Glad Tidings Are a Coat of Many Colors

Could There Be Angels Waiting in the Wings

December 24, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A Christmas poem about loving the beauty of Earth as angels love Heaven:

Could there be angels waiting in the wings,
How might we call upon their ecstasy?
Rainbows are not visible on days
In which we are the glory and the light.
So may we hear the songs our sunshine sings,
The music that adorns our winsome ways;
May we know how good it is to be
As we celebrate the holidays,
So much in love we weep as angels might.

© by Nicholas Gordon

A #Christmaspoem about loving the beauty of Earth as #angels love Heaven. See it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/couldt.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends
December 22: Christmas Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves
December 23: Christmas Really Isn’t About Toys
December 24: Could There Be Angels Waiting in the Wings

Christmas Really Isn't About Toys

December 23, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A Christmas poem about putting more emphasis on the spiritual meaning of Christmas:

Christmas really isn't about toys,
However much we love them, young and old.
Reductions in the fat of Christmas Day
In time restore its vigor and its health.
So let us with more care consume our wealth,
Though children should have toys with which to play.
More sweet and joyous music must be sung,
And thoughts of peace and mercy make their way
Silent and uncluttered through the noise.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmasre.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends
December 22: Christmas Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves
December 23: Christmas Really Isn’t About Toys

Christmas Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves

December 22, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A Christmas poem about learning to love as Christ loved:

Christmas is for cowards, too, and thieves.
How might they be loved as dearest friends?
Redemption starts where satisfaction ends.
Instinctively, one does as one believes.
So did Christ love everyone the same
That everyone might love the same as He.
Most children that are loved will loving be
As they become the people they became.
So shall you love all creatures in His name.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmasi3.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends
December 22: Christmas Is for Cowards, Too, and Thieves

Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends

December 21, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25.

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

A Christmas poem about Christmas and friendship:

Christmas is a holiday for friends,
However they may be, or not, related.
Remember that the three wise kings were strangers
In search of one remote, uncanny dream.
So may we all be far more than we seem,
Together bound for dark and haunting changes,
More lovely for the loves we have created
Along the lonely paths from means to ends,
Stumbling towards that star of Bethlehem.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmasis.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas
December 21: Christmas Is a Holiday for Friends

Sing of Love, That Graces Every Season

December 14, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about why love is especially needed in this season of cold and darkness:

Sing of love, that graces every season,
Eden's child dressed in robes of time,
A dancer through long hallways lined with reason,
So beautiful that few remain behind.
Of love then sing, and kindness, and affection,
Needing warmth as winter settles in.
Sing of loyalty, life-long connection,
Granted those who light the lamp within.
Renew each day that sacramental fire,
Each day again choose love, an act of will
Emanating from life's chief desire --
To love and to be loved and cherished still.
In this season of extended darkness,
Now uncurtain windows full of light,
Giving to the world in all its starkness
Such splendor as will see it through the night.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/sing17.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings
December 14: Sing of Love, That Graces Every Season

Poem of the Week

January 5, 2012 #666

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Epiphany.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each of us might follow a bright star,
Perhaps to a redemptive revelation,
Intending, then, to change the way things are,
Passionate to socialize salvation.
However, please beware of what you do:
Ambition, even selfless, can turn sour.
No truth fits all, though burning inside you,
Yearning less for paradise than power.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 22, 2011 #665

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Christmas.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Morning never comes on Christmas Day!
Eons pass and still the sun won't rise
Running late, the parents check closed eyes,
Retrieving gifts they long had hid away.
Years pass too quickly; loves and friendships stray.
Christmas comes and goes; the magic dies.
Happiness is hard and elsewhere lies.
Reality erodes one's sense of play.
Innocence remains a memory,
Sustaining hope and faith in later years,
The gift of what the child once believed.
Morning comes, of course, eventually,
As dreams give way to deep and unshed tears,
Still waiting for a glory long since grieved.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 8, 2011 #663

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for the holiday season.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Satisfaction, like the sea, is tidal.
Each day, each week, each month it comes and goes.
Along the heart's shore, feeling's never idle,
Singing across sand in tidal flows.
One's happiness is much more like the sun,
Not influenced by currents, winds, or moon,
Self-energized, a power plant of one,
Giving light that others need to bloom.
Remember, in this season of desire,
Every moment you are free to love,
Enveloping your fortune in your fire,
That all life's beauty might within you move.
In each of us there is an unspent yearning,
Needing, wanting, wishing, turning, churning.
Gladness may be seasonal, but grace
Sings its song outside of time and place.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 17, 2011 #660

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a wedding/happy holidays poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

When you read this, we'll be wed,
A married couple wishing you
A Merry Christmas, New Year's too,
And happiness in days ahead.

May we all be joined in love,
And share the joys with which we're blessed,
Bear with charm and grace the rest,
And to all good neighbors prove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 6, 2011 #615

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Epiphany.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each year again the gifts are given gladly,
Perhaps because one wants to be a gift.
In goods there can be good, yet sometimes, sadly,
People get the thing but not the drift.
How could the wise men come without some token,
A gift to give the child, new born a king?
Nor could their words speak as their gifts had spoken,
Yielding love incarnate in a thing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 23, 2010 #613
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Merely being is a miracle.
Each is both aware and unaware.
Running underneath one's thoughts, a canticle
Repeats one's silent gratitude as prayer.
Yet life does not allow for much devotion,
Claustrophobic in its constant need.
Hunger puts the mind in constant motion,
Reckoning the harvest from the seed.
In ritual and art one finds a moment
Still enough to peer into the deep,
To see beneath the will the wonderment,
Music of such joy that one must weep.
As angels sing, so sing that you might hear
Silence that no mortal long can bear.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 16, 2010 #612
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Season's Greetings poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Say what you will about the winter gloom!
Each year the turn towards light's a celebration.
And so it is with life: the darkest doom
Succeeds in summoning its own salvation.
Open, then, your heart to what may come,
Nor should you fear the advent of the night.
Selves are far more than their selfish sum,
Graced within with everlasting light.
Revels move indoors as darkness falls
Early, lit by laughter, songs, and love.
Even as the cold wind wailing calls,
The lilt of life and longing stronger proves.
In this season of good will and cheer,
Night and frost undo the dying year.
Gifts pour in; the joyful music plays --
Signs of hope and slowly lengthening days.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 9, 2010 #611
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Happy Holidays poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Hardiness is kin to heartiness.
A full-sized laugh can fill an empty heart.
Perhaps there is a play in playfulness,
Passion honed by skilled and patient art.
Yet what one wills will never lack for longing.
Happiness is just another role,
Of which the main attraction is belonging,
Linking one to some well-rendered whole.
In holidays one finds a time for joy
Dependent on a script that is well known,
A time to play the reveler and buoy
Yet again what fortune would destroy,
Sunshine singing on the silent stone.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 24, 2009 #561

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make not much of what you're missing;
Each gets gifts as they come due.
Rest assured, regarding wishing:
Riches are reserved for you.
Years of want require wanting;
Christmas gives what one receives.
Happiness ought not seem daunting,
Renting space in what one grieves.
In your heart is all you need,
Sustained by giving it away.
Though you burn and break and bleed,
Mere suffering's no place to stay.
As you are is as you will,
Sure of winds that wish you well.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 17, 2009 #560

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Season's Greetings poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sense makes little sense this time of year.
Each has reason to dispense with reason.
As darkness soon descends, the festive season
Shines out upon vast rolling fields of fear.
Old customs still survive, long loved and dear,
Now bought and sold, it's true, as is the fashion,
Still filling faith with poetry and passion,
Giving to dark days a touch of cheer.
Reason says there's little cause for worry:
Electric lights have long since tamed the darkness;
Even winter doesn't wish us harm,
Taught to be a nuisance well contained.
In our hearts, though, time still stirs the slurry;
Now the dark stokes fears of nothingness.
Gifts mean more, and love becomes the warm
Sanctum in which hope can be sustained.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 25, 2008 #513

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Merry Christmas to my love!
Enjoy the holiday.
Revel where the angels move,
Rejoice in what they say.
Years burn life down to a stub;
Christmas comes and goes.
Happiness lies at the nub,
Refuse of one’s woes.
Inside the husk there is the seed,
Shivering with glory.
The midnight cold, the dire need,
Mere setting for the story.
All the labor, loss, and pain
Sings of beauty born again.

© by Nicholas Gordon