The Roots of Hatred

May 30, 2013 #739

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about hatred.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The roots of hatred run so deep
We drink their poison in our sleep.
Deep within or deep below,
The roots run deeper than we know.

Day and night, and night and day
We while the precious time away
Hating, writhing, seething, ranting,
All the while new hate seeds planting.

In the mind and in the heart,
In the whole and in each part,
The anger clenches flesh and soul,
Taking a titanic toll.

O love, the wind that winnows well
The hate that holds the heart in hell,
Come and kiss the urge to kill,
And storms abate, and tempests still.

Love comes alone to those who call,
And love themselves along with all,
Love the roots and love the tree,
And know that you are part of me;

And know that I am part of you,
And you become the things I do,
And what I hate is what I am,
Both hungry wolf and slaughtered lamb.

So do not hate the hate within,
But love the love, and love the sin,
Love the beast and love the prey,
For both one word of wonder say.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem at http://youtu.be/fEmoKh-sr2g.

Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

May 23, 2013 #738

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Memorial 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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Murder ought not ever be a duty,
Even though for soldiers it must be.
Maybe one is bound by love or beauty
Only after one is safe and free.
Remember, then, those who murdered for you,
Invading, burning, bombing in your name,
And those whose plain white tombstones are before you,
Long dead, with neither guilt nor pride nor shame.
Deep within the heart the cause of war,
Alive and well, assures us there’ll be more,
Yielding hatred, fear, revenge, and pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

See me recite the poem at http://youtu.be/y2Eo7XvTYCA.

Happy Graduation

May 16, 2013 #737

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happy graduation! For at last
A goal long sought has finally been achieved!
Praised be those who persevere, for they
Prepare the ground for gardens that will come,
Yielding fruit for many yet unborn!
Give back the gifts that else would bind you fast,
Returning to the wind what you've received.
A learner's not a storehouse but a way,
Doing what will ever be undone,
Undoing what was once so proudly worn.
All that you have labored for is past.
There is no longer knowledge long believed.
In truth, the truth is subject to decay,
Opening a world of wonders, one
Not cubbyholed or clipped, of mystery shorn.

© by Nicholas Gordon

See me read the poem at http://youtu.be/_QtCVgP_VwA.

Mothers Must Make Meaning Have More Meaning

May 9, 2013 #736

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Mothers must make meaning have more meaning,
Opening a window onto love.
The world begins with them, and so what they
Have in their hearts is what life has to say,
Even if the years quite different prove,
Reversing what, retained, might be redeeming,
Sense that would make sense of every day.

© by Nicholas Gordon

http://youtu.be/brAN8DD8_ME

Faith Is What One Cannot Know

May 2, 2013 #735

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about faith.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Faith is what one cannot know,
But one decides is true,
As though one looked out on a wall
And painted on a view.

One knows the provenance of one's
Belief, but truth is more
Than stating with some certainty
What stands outside one's door.

Truth has many voices
That speak to mind and heart
In many languages derived
From science, myth, or art.

Faith is just one inner voice
That sings in harmony
With what the mind can comprehend
And what the eye can see.

And if one feels God's presence where
No proof can find its way,
Yes, that is real, as real as grass,
And true in its own way.

© by Nicholas Gordon