Fortune Is the Child of the Will

 

A philosophical Father’s Day poem for a divorced and distant father about the relationship between choice and chance:

 

Fortune is the child of the will,

As what one chooses spins the wayward wheel.

The choice determines where the chance will fall,

Hurtling, bouncing like that fickle ball,

Eluding what result would most appeal.

Remember to embrace both good and ill,

Since both are gifts, are one, are you, are real.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Pouring Out. 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/fort14.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html . For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems .

Want Is Oft the Windrush of the Will

 

A political poem about immigration:

 

Want is oft the windrush of the will,
Impelling one ‘cross continents and seas.
No barriers can long withstand the wind,
Driving desperate souls to distant shores.
Remember that the wind is rarely still.
Unequal pressures propagate the breeze
Stirred by swirling passions from behind,
Hungry for the hope that calm restores.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Flecks of Light. By The Tower of Light. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

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

So There You Are, Your Audience Before You

 

A number poem for a folksinger in the moment before beginning her performance:

 

So there you are, your audience before you,
Each quite regular in their attendance.
Very soon, you know, they will applaud you,
Engaged, enriched, sustained by your performance.
Now, however, at the edge of silence,
The moment between potency and act,
You marvel at this window on your salience,
So close to dream it does not seem like fact.
Eventually, you step onto the stage,
Vividly what you set out to be,
Embracing fortune, even as you age,
Not least for the favor of your artistry.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Allégro. By Emmit Fenn. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/sother.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

Maybe in the Grip of Pain

 

A Memorial Day poem about love, grief, and grace:

 

Maybe in the grip of pain
Each moment seems like years.
Maybe there is beauty that
One cannot see through tears.
Remember that it's love that is
Impossible to bear,
As loss would not be torture without
Love to lead it there.
Days of grief are days of grace,
Although quite different on their face.
Yet love is what they share.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Elegy. 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/mayb12.html . For more poems for Memorial Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

Sally Sings Incessantly

 

A name poem for a woman who can’t help humming the music playing non-stop in her head:

 

Sally sings incessantly,
As though her inner voice
Liked murmuring in melody,
Liked opera sung a bit off key --
Yet which was not her choice.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Cookoo’s Nest. By Nat Keefe and Hot Buttered Rum. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/sallys.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

Heave a Happy Sigh of Pain and Pride

 

A poem for Mother’s Day to a mother whose grown-up child is about to leave home:

 

Heave a happy sigh of pain and pride,

Anticipating loneliness and freedom,

Putting plans for your new life aside,

Pausing to look back at your lost Eden.

Yes, you'll miss your child, now full grown,

Miss her terribly, as though you were

On some stark, barren inner plain alone,

The windswept stars with cold unease astir.

How poignantly you're ready to move on,

Each stage a garden time commands you leave,

Released from what you loved, your duty done.

'Tis our dearest burdens that we grieve.

So may new songs inspire you to dance,

Delighting in the gifts of circumstance,

As you pull back time's curtain to discover

Yet another garden, green as ever.

 

© 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 heav10.html. For more poems and proverbs about marriage, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

Proverbs on Marriage

Marriage is part business, part romance;
Part contract, part licensure, part dance.

Why marriage? Isn't love enough?
Not really, when the sea gets rough.

Those who don't control their fate
Learn quickly to manipulate.

What makes a marriage work is work;
Happiness is not a perk.

In marriage, the stone fortress of
Each sovereign must be breached by love.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bucolic Acrylic. By Dan Bodan. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/marrip3.html. For more poems and proverbs about marriage, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .