Poem of the Week

December 30, 2010 #614
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a New Year's Day 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
 
Hints of Heaven, hints of Hell,
As the year turns again.
Perhaps with you all is well,
Perhaps you are in constant pain.
Years come and go, millennia --
Nothing changes in the heart.
Each revolution's trivia;
We play new clad the same old part.
Years come and go, each as bad,
Each as good as those before,
As full of joy, as cruel, as sad,
Returning as we hope once more. 
 
© 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 2, 2010 #610
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Chanukah 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
 
Clearly there were Jews and there were Jews --
Hellenized, not Hellenized, not caring.
Assimilation let one pick and choose,
Not wedded to the faith that one was wearing.
Until a king sought Judaism's end,
Kindling a flame that burned inside,
A miracle that would the faith defend --
Here for us, a faith that else had died.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 25, 2010 #609
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Thanksgiving Day 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
 
Trees about to bloom, in bloom, full-leaved;
Harrowing escapes, fresh plums and pears;
A cold, gray afternoon, a son long grieved;
Nearing home, the last long flight of stairs;
Kindnesses returned, a glimpse of breast;
Scent of lilac, hunger, tell-tale pain;
Gifts one cannot use, a playful pest;
Illnesses one would not wish again;
Victories, defeats, the urge to dance;
Imitation whipped cream, the real thing;
New thoughts, a lingering death, a brief romance;
Grace to love whatever life may bring. 
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 18, 2010 #608
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a set of proverbs.
 
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
 
SELFISHNESS AND SELFLESSNESS
 
1. The last vestige of egotism is the desire to sacrifice oneself for others.
2. The reward for self-sacrifice is self-adulation.
3. The desire to “make a difference” is a desire for personal significance, the cause of much evil, error, and pain.
4. True selflessness requires one to relinquish the desire for power.
5. The motivations for action ought always to be joy and love.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 11, 2010 #607
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Veterans Day 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
 
Victories are never victories.
Every battle waged is a defeat.
The end contains the seeds of the repeat.
Even heroes will take liberties.
Remember this, then, when you go to war:
Although the cause be just, the means is not.
None can write in blood without a blot
Seeping back beneath the bedroom door.
Death cries for vengeance; destruction for destruction.
A battle plan is always a reduction:
You kill your foe yet murder so much more.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 4, 2010 #606
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical 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
 
Generations are like streams
Fed by storms in paradise,
Leaping down in waterfalls
That smash upon the rocks below.
 
More placid now, they bear the weight
Of barges on their oily breasts,
And cool the coils of power plants,
And make of love a sacrifice.
 
Near the sea they flatten out
And drop their rage among the reeds,
A swamp of toxic testament
Filtered through the mangrove roots.
 
They start and end with love. Between,
They pick up silt and carry it
Through life, up to the delta's edge,
Where, washed by fear, they join the sea.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 28, 2010 #605
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Election Day (USA)..
 
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
 
Politics brings out the worst in us.
One is more vile the more there is at stake.
Leveraging a little animus,
It turns mere opposition into hate.
The lava bubbling underneath each heart,
Inhibited by guilt or love or fear,
Comes bursting forth, by scribes with subtle art
Stoked vigorously as new elections near.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 21, 2010 #604
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a number 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
 
Fifty-one is entering the fall,
In which the colors of her life will brighten.
For her the painted world is but a wall
That shields a void no passion can enlighten.
Yet one can mime its mystery in all.
 
O season of remembrance! A shawl
Now covers the dark branches that will whiten,
Each laden with a dream none will recall.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 14, 2010 #603
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a political 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
 
The triumph of the victor means
The losses have begun.
To be well-nigh invincible
Is to be on the run.
 
Power is a current that
Goes swiftly out to sea.
One's will is wind on grass; one's only
Hope is to be free.
 
Safety lies in wisdom more than
Strength since strength must die,
While wisdom rides the waves beneath which
Sunken victors lie.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 7, 2010 #602
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Columbus Day 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
 
Could I have seen the consequence
Of my bold exploration,
Looking back before I left
Upon my life's creation --
Millions genocidally
Butchered, starved, enslaved
Under laws and governments
Sustained by men depraved --
Despite all this, I would have gone,
And new lands found, and new worlds known,
Yet drawn by winds I craved.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 30, 2010 #601
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a number 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
 
Seventy-one lives well with his afflictions,
Entering the ambiance of his age.
Vulnerable in ways not seen before,
Eating less, exercising more,
Not easily he alters predilections
To fit within the contours of his stage.
Yet how much good it does is hard to gauge.
 
One finds oneself now near the distant shore;
Now the cliffs rise up with more conviction,
Enduring truth no sea can veil or suage.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 23, 2010 #600
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a friendship 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

May poetry flow
From your moonlit garden,
From your cool, dark fountain,
Untouched by age.
 
May your spirit read
The book of life
With the same enchantment
As the child within.
   
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 16, 2010 #599
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Yom Kippur 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
 
You pray not for yourself alone but all.
One never chooses sin in isolation.
Most evil is not merely personal.
Kindness looks for common inspiration.
In every act there is community.
Perhaps one would prefer it were not so.
Placing each's guilt on all may be
Unfair, but then each righteous soul must see
Reflections of itself in every woe.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 9, 2010 #598
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Rosh Hashanah 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
 
Reason ought not be the enemy
Of myth, but rather its interpreter,
Showing one what else one might not see,
Hindsight to which faith might well refer.
Holding onto myth does not require
A blindness to what science has to say.
Salvation is not merely a desire
Hoped for in some long-outmoded way.
A myth, like art, sustains itself through beauty,
Not only true, but doing double duty
As both the cast of conscience and the fire,
Habitude no argument need sway.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 2, 2010 #597
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Labor Day 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
 
Let there be a right to earn a living!
All who wish to work should have the chance.
Bad times come and go with circumstance:
Ought we then be hiring or just giving?
Rest assured, there's always much to do:
Demand's determined more by funds than need.
All we give away is wealth we bleed,
Yet work for wages would that wealth renew.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 26, 2010 #596
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical 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
 
I know I cannot satisfy the sun
Nor earn the pleasures of a quiet day;
Spring is not a prize that I have won,
Nor am I here because I've had my say.
My thoughts are not the product of my wits,
Nor are my myths the product of my dreams;
I am a confluence of moments – bits
Of longing borne by cold and laughing streams.
Love also is a gift beyond deserving:
Large-eyed, nocturnal, armed with delicate paws;
Nudging shameless for affection, serving
Equally my need and its own laws.
Miraculously delivered, drunk with light,
I stagger towards the long-expected night.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 19, 2010 #595
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary 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
 
Happy fourth anniversary --
A moment to reflect on life and love.
Praised be those who whittle what they see,
Presuming their surroundings to improve.
Yearning needs companionship, and choice
Finds most content when joined, as though in song,
Open to a harmonizing voice,
United in conviction twice as strong.
Rejoice, then, in the fortune of your fate,
The sweet dependence of your chosen state,
Happy in a love where you belong.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 12, 2010 #594
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Ramadan 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
 
Return to the sweet discipline of faith!
A ritual is rich in grace and feeling.
Make yourself a servant that you might
Attend with less of will and more of sight,
Doing what is asked, not what's appealing,
Alive with light, free of want and hate.
Nor does one moment pass that is not healing.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 5, 2010 #593
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem about a profession.
 
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

Gerontologists are generally gentle,
Engaged as they are in ending life with grace.
Remember that experience is mental;
Old age is no more destiny than race.
Need can make the needy nasty, querulous,
Testy, tearful, childish, obsessed,
Obstinate and ornery, tempestuous,
Livid, listless, lecherous, depressed.
Open, then, your heart, as well you must,
Giving more than you might now suppose.
In time, may you find tenderness in trust
Singing sweetly underneath life's woes,
The lilt of love that lingers, long and deep,
So beautiful it makes the angels weep.
   
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 29, 2010 #592
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a name 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
 
Maria is a woman of the world:
As fluent in kultura as in tongues;
Reigning with a smile, poised and pearled;
Inside, duty; outside, charm unfurled;
A diplomat at ease on many rungs.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 22, 2010 #591
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a feminist number 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
 
Thirty-six sets out on her career
Halftime, with her baby on her mind.
If women are emancipated, still,
Remaining issues wait upon the will,
That tends to track the turmoil of its kind,
Yearnings that can sing and soar and sear.
 
So must she balance melodies with skill,
Interior harmonies, by love designed,
X-rays of a heart that one can hear.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 15, 2010 #590
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical anniversary 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
 
Here among the cabbages
A rhapsody takes root,
Pastorale for savages,
Passion that bears fruit.
Yearning is unquenchable,
A thirst no drink can slake,
Nor can a desperate canticle
Need's brutal chokeholds break.
Instead, there is a symphony
Vast as all that is,
Echo of eternity,
Replica of bliss,
So beautiful and lasting
All must their spirits buoy,
Replenishing the passing
Years with love and joy.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 8, 2010 #589
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical number 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

Fortune comes in many shapes and guises.
It is by choice what one might never choose.
For those who like to limit their surprises,
There's always less to gain and more to lose.
Years bring heartbreak one cannot refuse.
 
Even so, one's fortune is oneself.
If choice and chance like lovers bring to birth
Good progeny or bad, there is no gulf
Hovering between one's wish and worth.
There is but one ecology, one Earth.
   
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 1, 2010 #588
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an Independence Day (USA) 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
 
Is this the beginning of the end?
Now is when we start to fall?
Debtors to both foe and friend,
Eventually obliged to all?
Perhaps we can pull out of this,
Electing leaders who will lead,
Not stuck in this paralysis,
Dreading most what we most need.
Each must give that all might gain,
Nor ought we shun the sacrifice.
Could we but bear the healing pain
Equally, we'd pay the price.
Dependence on another's will
Assumes that we their coffers fill,
Yielding ever to their advice.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 24, 2010 #587
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem to a teacher on his retirement.
 
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
 
No one juggled time as well as you,
Interweaving literature and law,
Nor served as long and well, nor rendered to
Our students so much life as in your store.
Favors were your pleasure; ease, your grace.
Although you did much, much of what you did
Lay unobserved, so leisurely your pace,
Careful to keep agita well hid.
Over forty years you taught of beauty,
No less for love than conscientious duty,
Embracing with a zest your time and place.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June17, 2010 #586
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Father's Day 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
 
Fathers cannot fathers be
Alone, no matter where they are.
There is no mountain range or sea
High or wide enough to bar
Each child from traveling within,
Reuniting oft with him,
Secret sharer from afar.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June10, 2010 #585
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a wedding 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
 
The bells ring not for just these two
Who will be joined in love today.
They also ring for me and you.
 
And not just for the families who
Now celebrate, as well they may.
The bells ring not for just these, too.
 
And not just those who know or knew
These families well, who came their way.
They also ring for me and you.
 
And not just those who came to view
The bride, the gown, the whole array.
The bells ring not for just these, too.
 
And not just those whose love is true,
Or those who would their doubts allay.
They also ring for me and you.
 
For all are joined in love, and do
Rejoice to hear the sweet bells play!
The bells ring not for just these two.
They also ring for me and you.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 3, 2010 #584
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a graduation 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
 
Give a little thought to what comes next.
Remember: education isn't training.
A person needs to struggle with a text,
Delving into truths beyond explaining.
Understanding means you must go under,
And make your own the ground on which you stand.
The urge to learn comes from a sense of wonder
Ill-served in those who like their knowledge canned.
Open up your mind so that your soul
Not be confined to one small, shallow bowl.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 27, 2010 #583
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Memorial Day 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
 
Memories are all that I have left.
Each becomes a well-worn photograph.
Missing is the warmth, the touch, the heft
Of life, the smile, the reassuring laugh.
Real people change, they grow, relate, unfold.
In time we share the adventures of their lives
As they marry, have kids, change jobs, grow old,
Loving us – their parents, husbands, wives.
Dead people are alive in us, but they
Are not within themselves. No love revives
Your love, which I once cherished day-to-day.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 20, 2010 #582
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a number 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

So may your silver years pass pleasantly,
Even as you rest beside the river.
Vanities are gone, ambitions, schemes,
Evanescent as night's vanished dreams,
Nor need you be as prodigal a giver.
There is much that now will never be,
Yet what is, is more alive than ever.
 
The current hurries by; the tall grass teems
With creatures, each intent on some endeavor.
Old memories float like white sails out to sea.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 13, 2010 #581
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an epitaph.
 
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
 
Life blessed me with a sunny disposition
Even as I lived through terrible storms.
Sport was my passion; justice was my mission.
The world, I thought, was something one reforms.
Embrace it, then, with all your warmth and joy!
Rebel, as I did, for, and not against,
Resolving to create, not to destroy,
Open-armed and loving, not incensed.
Delight, exuberance, a child's wonder --
Not naively did I these display.
Even though the wide world split asunder,
Yet one needs to live and love and play.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

 
May 6, 2010 #580
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Mother's Day 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
 
Happy Mother's Day to a dear aunt,
A refuge from conditions and demands,
Perhaps because you have a different slant,
Perhaps because your love is free of plans.
Yet for whatever reason, you are there
More simply and directly than the other,
One with whom a child can always share
The kinds of joys too carefree for a mother.
Happiness can use a bit of room,
Even in the midst of an embrace.
Relevance requires not the womb:
'Tis love and labor that replenish grace.
So do you play this secondary part,
Dealt not by birth but by the willing heart,
Aunt extraordinaire, whose love will bring
Years of memories that dance and sing.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 29, 2010 #579
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a feminist 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
 
To the heroines still not well known,
Those who would be famous were they men,
And those whose sunlight never fully shone,
Veiled for life behind men's fear of sin:
 
Now it's time your tales were well told,
Well past time you got your bit of glory!
We need to rescue you so that the old
Slant no longer skews our common story.
 
Those who love the truth and know the past
Is never past, that stories steer one's choices,
Will want to look for heroines in the vast
Store of women's lives and hear their voices.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 24, 2010

Dear Subscriber:

Just to let you know that my site is back online and no longer flagged by Google as contaminated.

The site was never actually contaminated. It turns out that the server of the site that hosts my site was contaminated and a few thousand sites hosted by that company, Network Solutions, were affected. But the server is now clean, and Google has revisited my site and taken off the danger sign.

So if you'd like to hear me read the poem of the week or listen to the music I chose for it, you can find it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html.

Thank you for your continued interest in my work.

Nick Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 22, 2010 #578
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Earth Day.
 
At the moment, you cannot see this poem on my site, Poems for Free. Google has for some reason tagged my site as dangerous because they found one instance today of a link on my site leading to a site that was infected with malware. I'm working with my host site and with Google to resolve the problem and will let you know when my site will be safe and available once again.

Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Mountains mark the boundaries of our dreams.
Over them lies nothing more than Heaven.
Use them to take well your wistful measure,
Nor can you enter them without the pleasure
That comes from being dwarfed by one great given,
As Being becomes just the God it seems.
In awe one finds a tonic for the soul,
Needing to pay homage to the whole,
Silent angel swelling sacred streams.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 15, 2010 #577
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a number 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
 
Twenty-three believes that life may perish.
What would any lover do but save it?
Each moment is an act of desperation,
Nor can one plead the beauty of sensation,
Though there is much good grace in those who crave it.
Yet now one must sustain what one would cherish.
 
There's nothing for it but to live one's anguish,
Having made one's life a sign, and wave it
Relentlessly, till one becomes a nation,
Embracing all who'll face despair and brave it,
Even though the rest their world relinquish.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 8, 2010 #576
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary 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
 
Happy First Anniversary!
A moment to stand back and look at life,
Pleased with this first year as man and wife,
Pleased with dreams that now have come to be.
Yet these are just the first few opening measures:
For you there is a symphony in store,
In which the years will ask of you much more,
Rewarding you with rich and varied pleasures.
So may this moment sing of joy and love,
The first of many that your hearts will move.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 1, 2010 #575
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an Easter 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
 
Even as the Earth turns into Spring,
Angling its torso towards the sun,
So like birds our hearts begin to sing,
Touched by time as tides by moonlight run,
Ebbing as faith faces the long night,
Returning with the laughter and the light.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 25, 2010 #574
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Passover 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
 
Pour yourself like wine into the glass,
A liquid shaped by glass blown long ago,
Singing every year the words you know,
Songs that do not change as your years pass.
Old glass, new wine; new matter, ancient form;
Vintages that burst with life and joy;
Enduring hope no horror can destroy;
Ritual that makes a faith a home.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 18, 2010 #573
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem about a profession.
 
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
 
There is no greater passion than for beauty --
Ecstasy distilled into a song --
Nor calling more exquisite than the duty
To make our own the truths for which we long.
Here's to you, then! And for what you've done
To be the muse who mirrors well our hearts,
Restoring the lone many to the one
Common love that underlies all arts.
O love of being, bearer of our pain!
Well might we praise the gardeners who bring
Our passions into bloom, that we again
Might hear the sunlit bird within us sing.
Long may you ply what practices you've learned,
Profiting all by artistry you've earned.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 11, 2010 #572

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Mothering Sunday (the British Mother's Day).

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

Have no fear, for love is all around you.
All come helpless from a common womb.
Perhaps you do not know that love surrounds you.
Perhaps you do not know that you're in bloom.
Yet mothers, too, are children, ever loved,
Minded by the living and the dead,
Old enough to give, as time has proved,
The need no less, though time and tears have fled.
Have faith that love's a mystic tide that flows
Equally to and from the heart,
Returning, turning as it comes and goes,
'Mid moon and moon your sea, your song, your art.
Sing, then, of this moment of your giving,
Deep within the ebb and flow of living.
All you feel is what was felt for you,
Yearning your own yearning will renew.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 4, 2010 #571

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a number 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

Forty-two has friends and a young daughter.
Open up her life and you will find,
Resting at the unprotected center,
The quiet self-assurance of her mind,
Yielding nothing as the years unwind.

There is no future that can be designed.
What course the will may set, the wind will alter.
One is oneself one's fortune, cruel or kind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 25, 2010 #570

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name 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

Madeline Violet has come down to Earth,
A pinpoint of passion possessed by her need,
Destined to be the sweet husk of a seed
Eternally living through birth after birth.
Love her – this angel that innocent came
Into the world, though not by her will!
Now in the grasp of your wisdom and skill,
Enduring her first tastes of beauty and pain.
Vested in you is a trust none can keep,
Immense as a universe, vast as a quark,
Of the bonfire of being, one brief, playful spark,
Lovely with longing so frail one must weep.
Even as you vow more love than you know,
The angel is dancing to music below.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 18, 2010 #569

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for George Washington's birthday.

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

Great ends demand great sacrifice,
Else the dream becomes a debt.
Open hearts will pay the price,
Redeeming loss without regret.
Great leaders also make demands,
Else the mandate turns to dust.
Willing minds find willing hands,
As courage shared engenders trust.
So a nation moves ahead,
Having found its avatar,
In hard times hungry to be led,
Navigating by its star.
Great followers must take great care
To choose a leader who will be
Out of love and duty there,
Not shy, but still reluctantly.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 11, 2010 #568

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Valentine's Day 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

Blessed are those who cherish well their loves!
Each enduring love is like a river:
Making bloom the land through which it moves,
Yielding bounty in exchange for labor.
Very few appreciate this treasure,
As most desire more while giving less,
Liable to miss joy pursuing pleasure,
Each dragged into love under duress.
Nor does one understand so easily
That love requires one to be a lover:
Intimate in ways that set one free,
Needing for one's sense of self the other,
Even as one is oneself an other.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 4, 2010 #567

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a love 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

Desire is
The hook
Love
The eye
Which forgives
More
Than it
Is
Willing to
See

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 28, 2010 #566

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a get well 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

Grace comes with a patina of pain.
Each creature must endure what it desires.
There are days one would not wish again,
When all one is, is wish till pain expires.
Expire it does in time, and will for you,
Lest it seem as though time will not run,
Lounging by the bed though dawn is due,
Sensing savagely you want it gone.
Oh, yes, we know that this is life, though we
Outlive both pain and joy. The will to be
Nothing wills but for the inner One.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 21, 2010 #565

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a number 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

Forty-eight reserves the right to ramble,
Open to what gifts might come her way,
Remembering that every day's a gamble,
That absolutely nothing's here to stay,
Yearning for far more than she can say.

Even love eternal cannot last.
In time it passes on, like hours, like years,
Granting grace in golden goblets cast,
Hammered in a heat that blinds and sears,
That breaks the heart with happiness and tears.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 14, 2010 #564

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

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

Maybe there is more to life than living.
A person is a ripple in a stream,
Roiling the waters with a dream,
The revelation that makes life worth giving.
In love one finds a reason for believing,
Needing love to make life more than seem,
Love that makes the mundane moment gleam,
Undoing fate with faith, and death with grieving.
There is no love but at the risk of death,
Having valued something more than self,
Embracing what gives life to life, and grace,
Replacing fear of death or loss with joy.
Know then that the dreaded end of breath
Is not the end one ought to aim for, else
None would speak to fortune face to face,
Granted life no bullet can destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 7, 2010 #563

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary 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

Happiness hangs loosely on your lives,
A garment that you wear with fortune's blessing.
Praised be both the wisdom and the will
Pressed between the pages of your days,
Years and years of choices amid chances.

For now, this day, the rhapsody revives
Old memories of love beyond expressing,
Returned as music, passionate and still,
That turns and turns with wonder as it plays,
Yearning that refuses trite romances.

There is a place in all love that survives --
Home, where nakedness needs no undressing,
In which, with candor and sufficient skill,
Reason turns away its clear-eyed gaze,
Deferring to the heart, which weeps and dances.

© by Nicholas Gordon