Riffs Are Invocations

 

An epitaph for a jazz scholar:

 

Riffs are invocations,
Odes direct to soul,
Brief improvisations,
Each a perfect whole.
Rhythms subtly shift
The syncopated rhymes,
Grace the complex gift
Of this, my own sweet times.
Let me be their chronicler,
Days of seers and signs.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Runnin Partner. By Aaron Lieberman. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/riffsa.html. For more epitaphs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html .

Before the Terror Comes the Tyranny

 

A political poem for Bastille Day warning of the dangers of revolutionary chaos:

 

Before the terror comes the tyranny.
A bloodstained flower has roots in bloodstained soil.
Some would steal the fruit of others' toil,
Then claim it as a right of property.
In revolutions, though, if chaos reigns,
Legitimacy is lost, and many will
Look back with less distaste at former ill,
Eager more for order than for gains.
Days of terror yield dictators new,
As the many yield power to the few,
Yearning for the clarity of chains.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Chariots of War. 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/befor4.html. For more Bastille Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/bastilledaypoems.html .

Eventually, You Settle into Love

 

An 18^th anniversary poem:

 

Eventually, you settle into love.
It deepens, fed by subterranean streams.
Given time, it becomes a habitat,
Home, refuge, portion, comfort, fortune.
Treasure it -- you'll know no greater beauty.
Embrace it -- it requires your affection.
Enjoy it -- it thrives on your delight.
Nor will its well within your hearts run dry.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: A Kiss for Amanda. By DJ Williams. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/event6.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

Innocence Is like an Open Door

 

A poem for Independence Day (USA):

 

Innocence is like an open door:
Not safe, but requisite to being free.
Darlings of our rhetoric, we wonder,
Evil as the rest but for our words.
Perhaps we know what horrors are in store,
Even as we dream of what might be,
Needing, as we preach and teach and plunder,
Defenses that would Xanadu preserve.
Even so, the freedom we are for
Now stands for all a common legacy,
Called forth by masters tearing worlds asunder,
Embraced by slaves consumed with righteous hunger,
Destined to dispute those whom it serves.
All innocents must keep their hopes at sea,
Yearning for an ever-distant shore.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Just Stay. 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/innoce.html. For more poems for Independence Day (USA), go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/july4thpoems.html .

Abby Is a Queen Without a Country

 

A name poem for Abby, who has the personality, but not the power, of royalty.

 

Abby is a queen without a country,

Blessed and cursed by destiny to be

Bereft of title, subjects, power, bounty,

Yet reigning in each word like royalty.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: 7^th Floor Tango. By Silent Partner. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

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

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 .