Poem of the Week: June 2016

June 22: Graduation Is a Time2

June 24: I Do Not Wish to Take Your Mother’s Place

June 25: I Want to Make It to My Graduation

June 26: There Are No Words to Match My Gratitude

Friday, June 24, 2016

I Want to Make It to My Graduation

June 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many public schools hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem from someone who might not live long enough to graduate.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I want to make it to my graduation

Even though I haven't long to live.

I want that one last hard-earned celebration

To give me all the joy that it can give.

I want your pride around me like a song,

To walk within its passion and its beauty,

To feel its pleasure in me sweet and strong,

To be possessed of all of those who love me.

And then I want the lazy afterglow,

The long, slow chatter of the waning day,

The easy confidence of those who know

That something precious has been put away.

Death's a dawn in that its golden light

Reveals the loveliness long hid by night.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/iwant5.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

June 22: Graduation Is a Time2

June 24: I Do Not Wish to Take Your Mother’s Place

June 25: I Want to Make It to My Graduation

I Do Not Wish to Take Your Mother's Place

June 24, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many public schools hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem from a stepmother.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I do not wish to take your mother's place,

And yet my pride and pleasure are no less.

You may not be the daughter of my flesh,

But you are still the daughter of my heart.

I know my very presence in your life

Can't help but to remind you of the pain

And anger of your parents' separation.

And yet my only purpose here is love.

Stepmothers and stepdaughters are a pair

Created both by joy and by disaster.

We did not choose each other, but were chosen

By love and by the anguish of love's end.

But we can choose to love each other well,

Accepting fortune's gift with unfeigned grace.

Know as you step forth this graduation:

You have my love as long as I have life.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/idono5.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

June 22: Graduation Is a Time2

June 24: I Do Not Wish to Take Your Mother’sPlace

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Graduation Isn't Gradual

June 23, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many public schools hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem about the shock of graduation.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation isn't gradual.

In fact it's quite abrupt, a sudden shock.

It's more like rushing towards a waterfall:

One moment we're afloat, and then we're not.

Sure, we see it coming up ahead,

The water roaring into the abyss.

We make a joke and look away instead,

Unable to acknowledge what this is.

And then the moment's past, and we're the same.

Everyone is smiling, sunny bright.

Someone kisses us and calls our name,

And then we think, well, everything's all right.

But life is like that: things get smashed inside,

And we don't even know it. Foolishly,

We think we're in it only for the ride,

Yet mourn for all that can no longer be.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/grad6.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

June 22: Graduation Is a Time2

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Graduation Is a Time2

June 22, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many public schools hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is a humorous graduation poem about going just a bit insane.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation is a time

When our thoughts turn naturally

To vandalism, sex, and crime,

Now that we at last are free.

Our teachers think we're well prepared

To make decisions on our own;

But now, perhaps, they're running scared

As they listen to this poem.

Don't worry, folks, we aren't crazy,

Though sometimes we look that way;

Just annoyed, bored, and lazy

As we make it through the day.

So just like birds out of a cage

Or slaves set free from toil and pain,

We aim to try to act our age

And be for now a bit insane.

For life too soon will close its doors,

And then as we grow old in years

We'll teach our own kids to be bores,

But hopefully they'll stuff their ears

And do as we did, not as we do,

Facing life a tad askew.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/grad5.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

June 22: Graduation Is a Time2

Monday, June 20, 2016

Friends in High School Are Forever Young

June 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many public schools hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is a high-school graduation poem about leaving friends behind.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Friends in high school are forever young.

Unchanged, they're where you always will belong.

The crowd is never gone, the pleasure stays,

The music of the moment always plays,

The time remains a field of wistful grace

To which you may return from anyplace.

Of course, you may still know them later on

When you are someone else and years have run;

And you may love them dearly, and they you,

But time must make their friendship something new.

Meanwhile, flourishing within your heart

There is a whole, of which you were a part:

A group of friends, one in love and pain,

In whom your longing comes alive again.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/friends.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

June 21: Friends in High School Are ForeverYoung

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Moving On from Middle School

June 20, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many public schools hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is a middle-school graduation poem about moving on.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Moving on from middle school.

Growing up, I guess.

Going on to high school.

Happy, more or less.

Sometimes life is like that.

Leaving stuff behind.

Nothing much remaining.

Memories in the wind.

Yes, sometimes life is like that.

Here and then it’s gone.

That’s OK. I’m ready.

Moving, moving on.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/moving.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

The Things You Taught Me I Will Always Know

June 19, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day thank-you poem from a grateful child.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The things you taught me I will always know.

How could I not? The roots have sunk so deep:

All lessons of the heart that I will keep

No matter who I am or where I go.

Kids learn from what their parents are, and so

You are my book of life, the thoughts I reap;

Only in your arms I quiet sleep;

Under my words your voice sings soft and slow.

From you I learned the rules of right and wrong

Against which I at times had to rebel,

Though with regret I carry with me still.

How lucky I am to have been loved so well,

Even as I pushed against your will,

Relying on a father fair and strong.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/thethi.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

June 14: I Have You in My Bones

June 16: Daddy, I Love You

June 17: Fathers Who Must Love from Far Away

June 18: Perhaps We’ll NeverUnderstand Each Other

Jun 19: The Things You Taught Me I Will AlwaysKnow

Perhaps We'll Never Understand Each Other

June 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem from a son who fights with his father.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Perhaps we'll never understand each other.

Loving doesn't mean that we agree.

If that were so, then I would say, why bother?

But there are things I know I'll never see.

I'm sure your heart knows what I don't yet know:

The pain of loving a reluctant son;

The anger, coming fast and building slow,

Of being helpless to control someone.

You want only that I grow up right,

But you know what right is, and I still don't.

I have to learn to wield my inner light,

And if I follow yours, well, then I won't.

I'm sorry for the anger in the air;

Though we fight, my love is always there.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/perha2.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

June 14: I Have You in My Bones

June 16: Daddy, I Love You

June 17: Fathers Who Must Love from Far Away

June 18: Perhaps We’ll Never Understand EachOther

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Fathers Who Must Love from Far Away

June 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem for fathers who are separated from their child.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fathers who must love from far away

Are distanced from their child by more than space.

The child changes almost every day.

How might the father hope, then, to keep pace?

Even so, the deeper bond remains

Regardless of the losses and the gains,

Sight unseen, yet strong and full of grace.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathe7.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

June 14: I Have You in My Bones

June 16: Daddy, I Love You

June 17: Fathers Who Must Love from Far Away

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Daddy, I Love You

June 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem from a little child.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Daddy, I love you

For all that you do.

I'll kiss you and hug you

'Cause you love me, too.

You feed me and need me

To teach you to play,

So smile 'cause I love you

On this Father's Day.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/daddyi.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

June 14: I Have You in My Bones

June 16: Daddy, I Love You

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Happiness Comes in Many Shapes and Sizes

June 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem for someone who is childless.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness comes in many shapes and sizes.

Anyone can find a proper fit.

Praised be those who take life bit by bit,

Poised to polish setbacks and surprises.

Yet life is always more than one surmises.

Fortune favors those who favor it,

And whether caused by choice, chance, whim, or writ,

Turns out to be a text that one revises.

How might you, childless, celebrate this day,

Enjoying what will never be your own,

Reminded of a loss you might regret

‘Mid families out to pay their homage due?

So may you cherish children on your way,

Delighting in the ones you have on loan,

And do with love and art the things that let

You father what is beautiful and true.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happ73.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

June 14: I Have You in My Bones

June 15: Happiness Comes in Many Shapes andSizes

I Have You in My Bones

June 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem from a child who was abandoned by his father.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I have you in my bones, the way I laugh,

The way I shrug, a moodiness that gathers

When I don't get my way. You are half

Of me, and yet I've never met you. It matters,

Oh, yes, it matters. You are in my smile,

The way I whistle when I'm happy, a certain

Skip up the stairs, a jaunty sense of style,

Off-kilter, off-key. I peer around the curtain

Of your abandonment and wonder: What

If you had stayed, had loved me, had loved my mother?

And what does it say of me that you would put

Yourself so first? Is that also me? What other

Ugliness have I from you? Or grace?

They say I am the mirror of your face.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ihavey.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

June 14: I Have You in My Bones

Monday, June 13, 2016

Children Need a Daddy

June 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which falls on June 19.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem about what fathers are for.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Children need a Daddy

For many, many things:

Like holding them high off the ground

Where the sunlight sings!

Like being the deep music

That tells them all is right

When they awaken frantic with

The terrors of the night.

Like being the great mountain

That rises in their hearts

And shows them how they might get home

When all else falls apart.

Like giving them the love

That is their sea and air,

So diving deep or soaring high

They'll always find him there.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/child2.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Fatherhood.

June 13: Children Need a Daddy

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Rights Are Not Equivalent to Freedom

June 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about rights, freedom, and community.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rights are not equivalent to freedom.

All have claims upon the lives of all.

Make yourself a servant of the kingdom,

Acting in the interests of the whole.

Deeds are sermons preached upon the plain

As each from each has much to lose or gain;

Nor is faith the free choice of one soul.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/rights.html. For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

June 10: Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

June 11: How Might One Untie the Knot

June 12: Rights Are Not Equivalent to Freedom

Saturday, June 11, 2016

How Might One Untie the Knot

June 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is about how the awareness of God’s love leaves one no alternative to the vicissitudes of faith.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How might one untie the knot

That binds one to God's love?

For love imposes innocence,

And innocence, remorse.

The tenderness that time forgot

No caustic can remove:

The laws of cause and consequence

Are cut off at the source.

Love comes simply as one is,

Condemning one to hope,

Restoring culpability,

Awakening one's pain.

So loved, one cannot be but His,

Though one be moved to grope

Towards some amoral liberty

That seeks the void in vain.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/howmi6.html. For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

June 10: Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

June 11: How Might One Untie the Knot

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

June 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about how good works sustain faith.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Righteousness remains the rock of faith,

As what one does sustains what one believes.

Mere hypocrites might pray, the Prophet saith;

Actions must be words the heart conceives.

Do, then, what acts and rituals are due,

As faith becomes a flame that feeds on you,

No less than as a fire consumes dry leaves.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/righte.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

June 10: Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep

June 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about reading the Holy Book not just for its wisdom but also for its beauty.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Read the Holy Book as though asleep,

And in a dream awaken to its beauty,

Making it the music of your moment

And weaving it like gold throughout your day.

Do not journey through it just to reap,

Avid for the kernels of your duty,

Neglecting the thick flowers in your way.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/readth.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Reason Is No Cause for Revelation

June 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about faith and reason.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Reason is no cause for revelation.

A moment comes and goes; a word endures.

More than sense must underlie sensation.

A holy mind and heart such faith secures.

Depend, then, on your fasting to awaken

A love of Allah easily forsaken.

Nor is there mooring where one’s reason moors.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/reason.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

June 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is about the role of Ramadan in reminding us of the primacy of eternal life.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Ramadan reminds us that the world

Around us is a temporary place

Made for an equivocal embrace

As we ride this rock through vastness hurled.

Dance upon the Earth with joy and laughter

As long as you remember what comes after.

Nor will you find your home in time and space.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramad2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

June 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the relationship between discipline and rapture.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rapture comes most easily within

A discipline that divvies up the day,

Making time for timelessness, and space,

A rolled-up rectangle holy anyplace,

Dear temple of delight where one might pray,

Assigned some sweet-tongued verses to begin

Now hallowing this hollow cask of clay.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/raptur.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

Make My Sorrow Pride

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about the pain of grief.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make my sorrow pride.

Enter me with light.

Mourning turns to morning,

Or so I would believe.

Reach me with your tide.

Inundate this blight.

Awaken me with longing,

Lest I live to grieve.

Deaf, dumb, blind inside,

All I am is night,

Yet too frail to leave.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/makem2.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

June 3: There Is in Grief a Saving Grace

June 4: Maybe There Is More to Life Than Living

June 5: Make My Sorrow Pride

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Maybe There Is More to Life than Living

June 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about how life is a gift that is sometimes worth giving.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there is more to life than living.

Existence has more meaning as a means.

Maybe life's a gift that's well worth giving

Once the sacrifice distills the dreams.

Remember, then, the heroes we have squandered

In ignorance and fear and lust and greed.

All sacrifice ought equally be honored

Lest we confuse the courage with the need.

Destiny decrees the undreamed end

As some die for the dreams they would defend,

Yet yearning for what lies beyond the deed.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe3.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

June 3: There Is in Grief a Saving Grace

June 4: Maybe There Is More to Life Than Living

Friday, June 3, 2016

There Is in Grief a Saving Grace

June 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about the saving grace of grief.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is in grief a saving grace,

A melody of love

So beautiful no angel could

A mourner's heart so move.

The pain is just a measure of

The value of the loss,

A gift that will remain a gift,

For life can be no less.

The love's not lost, nor will it be

Eroded by the wind,

But will become the soil in which

You plant new seeds each spring.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther35.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

June 3: There Is in Grief a Saving Grace

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Memory's an Antidote for Death

June 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about memory and death.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Memory's an antidote for death.

Each love remembered does not wholly die.

Maybe one thinks loved ones will recall

One’s sacrifice preserved in ritual,

Redeemed by more than meets the buried eye.

In homage do the fallen draw their breath.

All, then, have a stake in memory,

Living in the hope of honor due.

Death might all obliterate, but all

Act with their post-mortem lives in view,

Yet longing to be loved in worlds to be.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/memory.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.