You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

 A poem about the experience of atonement on Yom Kippur:

 

You cannot be the person you might wish,
Opening the door to who you are.
Morning comes alike to fowl and fish,
Kindled by a mystery from afar.
In you there is a music all your own
Pouring through the sluices of your heart,
Passionate with love as you atone
Unmoored from self by ritual and art,
Restored to some bright whole not yours alone.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Dream of the Ancestor. By Asher Fulero. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yourca3.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

Labor Is a Job or a Vocation

 

A poem for Labor Day about two ways of looking at one’s labor:

 

Labor is a job or a vocation:

As in all of life, it’s what one would.

Blessed are those who choose their situation,

Owning through their lives their livelihood.

Regardless of the job, despite conditions,

Do it well, with all your mind and heart.

All of us play life as though musicians,

Yielding well or ill our chosen part.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bansure Raga. By Doug Maxwell. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labor5.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

Just Remember Well How Much I Loved You

 

A name poem from a deceased German pointer to his grieving master:

 

Just remember well how much I loved you,
As I knew, oh how well, that you loved me.
Grief, like any sunset, is quite lovely,
Given that its glory comes from love.
Even as your mourning turns to morning,
Remember what your pain said of our joy.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Elegy. By Wayne Jones. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/jagger.html. For more poems about animals, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/animalpetpoems.html . For more epitaphs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html .

Watching My Son Conduct the Nutcracker

 

A father’s beautiful memory of his son:

 

Watching my son conduct The Nutcracker,
I danced across the memories of my heart,
Feeling once again the joy and wonder
Of witnessing his first ascent to art.
He was a child then, decades ago,
Sawing away in the second violins,
Beethoven's Fifth, that rising tremolo
Leading to a blast of brass and winds.
As the music flew into the sun,
Bursting into waves of molten gold,
My tightly held composure came undone,
And life itself became too much to hold.
Now my son's the maestro, yet the grace
I felt then is touched by neither time nor place.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: White River. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/watchi.html. For more poems about children, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

May Your Marriage Be as Blessed as Ours

 

A wedding blessing from parents to children:

 

May your marriage be as blessed as ours,
As full of love, as joyful, rich, and sweet,
Lifelong soulmates, friends, erotic partners,
Each for each, the angels that watch keep.

May your home be blessed with friends and family,
With music, laughter, pleasure, passion, life,
With learning, knowing, caring what comes after,
Together, one, as husband and as wife.

May you ever be sustained by beauty
In what you see and feel, create and do,
In who you are, what you enjoy and value,
And in the dreams that we pass on to you.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Emotional Love Theme. By Biz Baz Studio. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mayyo5.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

There Are Things I Can No Longer Do

 

A poem in which an aging parent passes on some family responsibilities to the next generation:

 

There are things I can no longer do
Once essential to my sense of me.
It seems so strange to pass them on to you,

Strange and very beautiful, as you
Take on the burdens of the family,
Doing what I can no longer do,

Things I cannot, even should not do,
And understand why you can't leave to me.
I want to say how proud I am of you,

How grateful we can all rely on you
To take my place as head of family,
Taking care of what I used to do,

Switching roles, which I've found hard to do,
And to accept what's happening to me.
More and more I must depend on you

To do the things I can no longer do,
As less and less I can depend on me.
How strange! What I routinely used to do,
I must, with much regret, pass on to you.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bittersweet. By SYBS. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther52.html. For more poems to children, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html . For more villanelles, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/villanelles.html .

War May Not Be the Answer

 

A political poem about slogans:

 

War may not be the answer,
But what is the unanswered question?
Peace? Safety? Justice?
Or, perhaps, simply survival?

For what was the answer to Hitler?
Did Munich buy "Peace for our time"?
And how might peace pacify Putin?
Contrast Ho Minh with Kim Sung.

The desire for peace can be used
To serve the interests of war.
Peace demonstrations and missiles
Can equally weaken defenses.

Statements one cannot prove false
Prove to be excellent slogans,
Bearing the burden of bonding,
Stirring the passions of hope.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Allemande. By Wahneta Meixsell. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/warmay.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .