Monday, November 9, 2026

Vast Fields of Crosses, All the Same

 


A poem for Veteran’s Day from the point of view of a parent visiting their child’s grave:

 

Vast fields of crosses, all the same,
Each embellished with a name.
This is what your love has wrought!
Embrace the child become a thought,
Reduced to regimented loss,
A name screwed on a plain, white cross!
Nor can you feel what you must feel
Since what is real cannot be real.
Devour the moment, make it yours,
As life continues on all fours,
Yearning, begging at closed doors.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Falling Rain. By Myuu. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/vastfi.html. For more Veteran’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/veteransdaypoems.html .





Monday, November 2, 2026

Eighty-Four Is Just a Number

 


A number poem for an 84-year-old who is still possessed of childish wonder:

 

Eighty-four is just a number.

It means but little to the soul.

Granted, yes, the body knows

How much one's mechanism slows.

The years of toil take their toll,

Yet the child's still full of wonder.

 

For is the tree no more than lumber?

One is still one, both young and old.

Unchanged by change, one comes and goes,

Root and blossom, branch and bole.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: If You Close Your Eyes, I’m Still with You. By Late Night Feeler. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/84.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .



Monday, October 26, 2026

Halloween's a Sudden BOO!

 



A poem for Halloween:

 

Halloween's a sudden BOO!!
And just as quick a scream:
Laughing in the scary dark,
Loving friendly fright.
On Halloween, ghosts are true;
Werewolves leap from dreams.
Every spirit in the park,
Each zombie, T-Rex, witch, or shark,
Needs to squeal all night!

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: It’s Coming. By Josh Kirsch/Media Rights Productions. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hallo2.html. For more Halloween poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/halloweenpoems.html .




Monday, October 19, 2026

Forty-Nine's an Activist

 



A political number poem for Election Day:

 

Forty-nine's an activist;
Of course, as well, an optimist.
Remember: speaking out's a risk
That makes no sense for a pessimist,
Yet does when will and hope persist.

Nor can a pessimist believe
In what shared courage dare achieve,
Needing all to each relieve,
Each a stitch in what all weave.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bike Sharing to Paradise. 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/49e.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html . For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .




Monday, October 12, 2026

The Right to Maintain Their Culture

 A poem for Indigenous People’s Day, adapted from Articles 11 – 12.1 of The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, about the right of indigenous peoples to maintain their culture:

 

THE RIGHT TO MAINTAIN THEIR CULTURE

 

Adapted from The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

 

Indigenous peoples have the right

To practice and revitalize

Their cultural traditions and cultures.

This includes the right

To maintain, protect, and develop

The past, present, and future manifestations

Of their cultures, such as

Archaeological and historical sites,

Artefacts, designs, ceremonies,

Technologies, and visual and performing

Arts and literature.

 

States shall provide redress

With respect to cultural, intellectual,

Religious, and spiritual property

Taken without their free, prior,

And informed consent,

Or in violation of their laws,

Traditions, or customs.

 

Indigenous peoples have the right

To practice, develop, and teach

Their spiritual and religious traditions;

The right to maintain, protect

And have access in privacy

To their religious and cultural sites;

The right to the use and control

Of their ceremonial objects;

And the right to the repatriation

Of their human remains.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Borderless. 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/theri5.html. For more poems for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Shall We Be More Than Strangers to One Another

 


A psychological number poem about the inescapable fact of otherness, even within enduring love:

 

Shall we be more than strangers to one another?

Even when we love, we are alone,

Vast inner universes, brief forevers,

Eternities within a temporal home.

Nor can such inner vastnesses be joined,

Trillions of feelings, thoughts, dreams, memories,

Years of inner life. The lilt of loins

Forgets, perhaps, the truth of privacy.

Otherness is a necessity,

Union that falls short of unity,

Reaching for a truth, truth can’t purloin.

 

© 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/shallw.html. For more poems about love, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .




Sunday, September 27, 2026

Sing of Love, That Universal Yearning

 


A number poem about love:

 

Sing of love, that universal yearning,

Evolved to motivate the act of being,

Vivid joy, fulfillment, ecstasy,

Enduring purpose, peace, satiety,

Needed to provide an explanation

That supports the pros of procreation,

Yearning for what it attains by yielding.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Chords of Harmony. 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/sing25.html. For more poems about love, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .