Poem of the Week: December 2016

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 31: New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is New Year’s Day.

Today’s poem was written for the turn of the millennium.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Millennia are fairly common things:

In a billion years are quite a few.

Long or short, their roundness pleasure brings:

Life needs some pretext to start anew.

Each millennium's a fresh, blank page:

No future ever stretched so fair and far.

Now we wait upon the empty stage

In hopes we'll catch a glimpse of who we are.

Underneath is something vast and free:

Millennia are chains across a sea.

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is New Year’s Day.

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about the purpose of artificially designating one moment as the beginning of the New Year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hours mean no more or less than years.

A moment is a point with no dimension.

People count to undermine their fears,

Persuaded numbers lead to comprehension.

Yet time is an illusion of our motion,

No realer than the rising of the sun.

Each line we draw rests on a restless ocean,

Way, way beyond the scalable scope of one.

Years do not begin and never end

Except for purposes of calibration.

A need to share our yearnings, friend to friend,

Requires just one point of celebration.

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less thanYears

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is New Year’s Day.

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about one’s lease on hope being renewed each year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hope is often rented by the year.

A ceremony helps ensure the signing.

People like transitions to be clear,

Preferably at moments when they're dining.

Yet as a rental flat can be a home,

No one wants to terminate this lease.

Each thinks hope too poor a risk to own

While needing its bright arc for inner peace.

Years therefore start with hope again renewed

Even as the old year's wishes die.

After all the books have been reviewed,

Ring in the New Year!--with a gentle sigh.

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

Monday, December 26, 2016

Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is New Year’s Day.

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about the experience of permanence and change.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness depends on more than years.

All one's moments gather to a wave

Passing in a rolling swell of tears,

Passions too immense to name or save.

Yet New Year's is a crest on which to sing,

Now poised between the future and the past.

Each awaits what course the fates may bring,

Winds that never touch the things that last.

Years turn and turn with an hypnotic grace

Even as the depths of life lie still.

Although above one might not silence face,

Remember that below the divers will.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happi4.html. For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here's a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More thanYears

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Here's a Happy Harbinger

December 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is New Year’s Day.

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about hope being reborn with the New Year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here’s a happy harbinger,

A sign of good to come,

Placed where darkness dooms the day,

Placed where hope is gone.

Years, like people, age, and therefore

Need to be reborn,

Ending with a tired sigh,

Weary, weak, and worn.

Yet like a child, each new year is

Embraced with joy regained,

A harbinger of happiness

Returning once again.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heres3.html. For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

Saturday, December 24, 2016

How Lovely 'Tis to Take This Time

December 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is a Christmas poem about keeping the flame of love alive through friendship.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How lovely 'tis to take this time

To greet our dearest friends,

To wish them health and happiness

Before the old year ends.

Darkness comes late afternoon

And winter lies ahead,

But friendship is a glowing fire

When all seems cold and dead.

Just as in some vacant barn,

Unnoticed in the night,

The whole of human history turns,

So we, too, make things right.

We must keep alive the flame

Though darkness grip the Earth;

For in the love we find in friends

Is our chance for rebirth.

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

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 23: So Who Said It Was Easy

December 24: Hanumas Is Something Strange Indeed

December 25: How Lovely ‘Tis to Take This Time

Friday, December 23, 2016

Hanumas Is Something Strange Indeed

December 24, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is about celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas (Hanumas) on the same night.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hanumas is something strange indeed:

A Hanukkah and Christmas in one night!

Now mixed families must combine the two,

Uniting loved ones just as God would do,

Making separate flames a single light.

All who love by love are thenceforth freed

Simply in all love to find delight.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hanuma.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 23: So Who Said It Was Easy

December 24: Hanumas Is Something Strange Indeed

So Who Said It Was Easy

December 23, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a Hanukkah poem about keeping the flame of love alive.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So who said it was easy to keep old flames burning?

Even experts could use a little divine help now and then.

The easy part is to go out and be brilliant as Shakespeare.

Harder--much harder--to be the light dancing in someone else's eyes.

Lights such as love require more faith than fuel.

Of all leaps, the most dangerous is into the mind of your lover.

Regarding miracles: What is less explicable than

Remaining in love through the long icy anguish of anger?

All lovers long for freedom only slightly less than they fear it.

In the end, love burns not desire but fear.

Not one of us would be capable of keeping the fire burning

Except for the knowledge that it is the sweetest, best, and most

beautiful thing in our lives.

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

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 23: So Who Said It Was Easy

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 22, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Santa lights the Hanukkah lights

Eight days in a row,

As Jews sing carols winter nights,

Songs they love and know.

Out of many, one, but one

Need not reduce one’s faith.

Some love love, wherever from,

Glad to share the grace.

Remember that identity

Endures through love alone.

Exclusive faith eventually

Turns loving hearts to stone.

Into your well-chosen cup

Now pour a blended soul,

Giving not one blessing up,

Savoring the whole.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/santal.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is for a child of a mixed marriage about celebrating all three end-of-year holidays.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Three holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

Chanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s Day!

And we celebrate all three

‘Cause we’re a lucky family.

Jewish, Christian, American,

We cherish all the days we can,

Loving all, and not just one,

‘Cause all of them are lots of fun!

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/3holid.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Can Anyone Love Christmas Who's Not Christian

December 20, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is about appreciating Christmas even if you’re not Christian.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Can anyone love Christmas who’s not Christian?

How, if one does not believe in Christ?

Remember that in life no truth is certain.

In loving beauty, doubt is quite all right.

So one can see the beauty of the story

That God came down to Earth in human form.

Maybe all can share the hope and glory

Angels sang of when that child was born,

Singing songs of joy on Christmas morn.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/canan2.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 19, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is about the seasonal pairing of Chanukah and Christmas.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hanukkah and Christmas go together,

A pair of holidays quite complementary,

Pleased to have become more elementary,

Pleased to have become birds of a feather.

Yet once, of course, they were antagonistic,

Having more to do with their religions,

On which they long depended for their visions,

Lest faith become increasingly heuristic.

In our time, the holidays are friends,

Delivered by the same inclusive heaven,

A pair of pastries all puffed up with leaven,

Yeasted well for mercenary ends,

Sweetened well to bind once-bitter blends.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hanuk2.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

Sunday, December 18, 2016

So Might One Turn from Winter into Spring

December 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem that takes us through the seasons, ending with the holidays at the beginning of winter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So might one turn from winter into spring,

Emerging from the season's icy womb

Alight with life, with all the world in bloom,

So sweet a scent one cannot help but sing;

Or turn to summer as the blossoms fade,

Now whistling as one waters well one's garden,

Sensing one's terrain begin to harden,

Growing what would thrive in sun or shade;

Ramble through the summer into fall,

Each day a generous gift of lilting light,

Even though the cool wind hints of night

Too quickly, as one wishes time would stall;

Into winter turn with holiday cheer,

Needing joy to light the darkened way,

Grace that lingers through the lengthening day,

Silent celebrant of each new year.

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 15: Silent Night. The Whole World Holds Its Breath

December 16: Shine like a Moon upon Your Field of Snow

December 17: Silence Is a Quality of Snow

December 18: So Might One Turn from Winter into Spring

Friday, December 16, 2016

Silence Is a Quality of Snow

December 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about beauty and grace even in the dead of winter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Silence is a quality of snow.

Eager to hear it, I trudge through virgin fields,

Awake at the heart of nothingness, and so

Seized press on, as the world's white oneness yields.

Oh, what happiness! Though the deadly cold

Numbs the extremities, traveling inward,

'Ere it reaches the heart, I turn, the old

Songs singing in my head as I head homeward.

Give thanks, then, for the unforgiving silence,

Revelation in white swaddling clothes,

Eden's seed asleep as we find radiance

Even in the bleak December snows.

To be is to contain the holy light,

In nothingness the being ever born,

Never more the locus of delight,

Grace the equal gift of day and night,

Shining like a candle until dawn.

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 15: Silent Night. The Whole World Holds Its Breath

December 16: Shine like a Moon upon Your Field of Snow

December 17: Silence Is a Quality of Snow

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Shine like a Moon upon Your Field of Snow

December 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about the need for seasons to enrich one’s sense of life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Shine like a moon upon your field of snow!

Each buried root awaits the touch of spring

As you to your own celebrations bring

Such glory as reflects from down below.

Of mirrors let us sing, and holy light

Not ours, that yet we spread across the darkness,

'Twixt eternity and nothingness

Shining to illuminate the night.

Gardens wait, and naked stands of trees;

Rivers wait, and lakes, and frozen streams.

Eden waits to try again its dreams,

Enduring underneath our cruelties.

The world reflects your moonlight, white and still.

In what you see is what you are, though time

Needs cycles of the wind and of the will,

Granting to each sentiment its clime

So you may each sense of life fulfill.

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 15: Silent Night. The Whole World Holds Its Breath

December 16: Shine like a Moon upon Your Fieldof Snow

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Silent Night.The Whole World Holds Its Breath

December 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about the winter holidays and faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Silent night. The whole world holds its breath.

Each faith has its own seasonal salvation,

As myth becomes the antidote for death,

Sorrow turned to cause for celebration.

Of those who have no faith but just look on,

None need believe to join the pageantry,

Singing with a joy that’s not put on,

Glad for holiness that one can see.

Reason ought not scoff at myth, but find

Enduring beauty in the fictive frame,

Embracing subtleties of heart and mind

That else a soul would be hard put to name.

In faith one sees the power and grace of art

Not on a wall but seated in the heart,

Grace honed well by centuries of prayer,

Salvation one might savor if not share.

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 15: Silent Night. The Whole World HoldsIts Breath

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about the genetic roots of the winter holidays.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing of the rhythms of life,

Each creature’s genetical dance

As choreographed by light –

Such as each season grants!

O sing of the seasonal change,

Now summer, now winter within,

Solstices senses arrange,

Glad tidings as tides turn again!

Remember to sing of the subtle

Endocrine wisdom that all

Employ, though great cities may muffle

The music of mind with their sprawl.

In everyone there’s a grace

No civilization can kill,

Granted the whole human race,

Sense of Earth’s harmony still.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/singo7.html. For more poems for the holiday season, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

Monday, December 12, 2016

So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about the ancient roots of the winter holidays.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So ancient a festival ought touch the heart,

Even in its rather recent forms.

As light returns, the looking glass of art

Still reflects one's paleolithic norms.

One knows the days have reached their darkest hour,

Needing some shared sign to mark their turn,

Sensing that in symbols there is power,

Given inner depths one might discern.

Remember, then, that mangers and menorahs

Elucidate a more inclusive need,

Embodying what testaments and torahs

Try to say to those whose hopes recede.

In everyone, beneath the ice of reason

Now swim the joyful offspring of the season,

Grateful for the miracle of light,

Singing through the bitter winter night.

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touchthe Heart

Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Season’s Greetings.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem for a singer/songwriter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Some would sing to celebrate the season,

Elevating feeling into beauty.

A graceful melody requires no reason;

Still, one often finds one's muse in duty.

Of year-end holidays then sing, for they

Need music, art, and myth to weave their spell.

Sing, and add your pleasure to the day,

Grateful for the joy you render well!

Revel in the gift you have been given,

Even as you give what gifts you can,

Embracing the delight for which you've striven,

Tunesmith in a raucous caravan.

In love find what you need to play your part,

Not least, the secret sharer of your art,

Granting you, you do not know from where,

Songs to fill the cold, crisp winter air.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/somew6.html. For more poems for the holiday season, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate theSeason

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Here Is Common Cause for Celebration

December 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme, with the approach of the holiday season, is Happy Holidays.

Today’s poem is about celebrating the turn towards longer days and shorter nights.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here is common cause for celebration

As light lengthens, a harbinger of spring.

Perhaps the cold will be of long duration:

Patience, for you know what time will bring.

Yearning is the partner of sensation,

Heightening the glory of the thing.

Open, then, your heart to dark December;

Listen to the silent turn of time,

In which the light is scattered into embers,

Days on which the remnants barely shine,

As miserly and cold as you remember.

Yet here in darkness starts the upward climb,

Stepping towards the downward days of summer.

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

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays.

December 5: Have a Happy Holiday

December 7: Happiness Is Not a Holiday

December 9: Happiness, Even in a Desert

December 10: Hard By Celebrations There Are Tears

December 11: Here Is Common Cause for Celebration

Friday, December 9, 2016

Hard By Celebrations There Are Tears

December 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme, with the approach of the holiday season, is Happy Holidays.

Today’s poem is about the sadness that often comes with celebration.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hard by celebrations there are tears,

A lonely longing for what cannot be.

Perhaps one lets it enter foolishly,

Passionate to weep for vanished years.

Yet living in the moment one is free,

Having jettisoned regrets and fears,

Open to the grace of eyes and ears,

Losing self in silent ecstasy.

In celebrating, one is marking time.

Deep beneath the ritual ballet

A tide removes the trite and the sublime,

Yearning, turning, churning through the day,

Sweeping all one cherishes away.

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

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays.

December 5: Have a Happy Holiday

December 7: Happiness Is Not a Holiday

December 9: Happiness, Even in a Desert

December 10: Hard By Celebrations There AreTears

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Happiness, Even in a Desert

December 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme, with the approach of the holiday season, is Happy Holidays.

Today’s poem is about celebrating the holidays in a hot, dry desert.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness, even in a desert,

Adjusts well to what moisture it can find.

Perhaps it takes a little extra effort;

Perhaps one needs to keep it more in mind.

Yet one must still depend on celebration,

Holidays transferred from colder climes,

Offering the blessing of relation,

Love that takes the stage at special times.

In such reunions, happiness takes root

Deep enough to tap the deepest well,

Alive and blooming, bearing succulent fruit,

Yearning, yes, for some well-watered dell,

Still able to survive, as time will tell.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happ42.html. For more poems for the holiday season, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays.

December 5: Have a Happy Holiday

December 7: Happiness Is Not a Holiday

December 9: Happiness, Even in a Desert

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

How Have the Years So Suddenly Gone By

December 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme, with the approach of the holiday season, is Happy Holidays.

Today’s poem is about celebrations as stations in our journey through time.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How have the years so suddenly gone by?

As though we were distracted on a train,

Perhaps absorbed in fantasy, terrain

Passing shuttered from the inner eye.

Yet when the train stops, shuddering through each car --

Holiday or birthday, wedding, wake --

Old enough to feel time's wistful ache,

Looking up, we wonder where we are.

In time, we see the need for celebration;

Days unmarked are lost within the flow.

A journey needs its moment in the station,

Yielding motion to restored relation,

So fleeting one is loath to let it go.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/howha2.html. For more poems for the holiday season, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays.

December 5: Have a Happy Holiday

December 7: Happiness Is Not a Holiday

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Happiness Is Not a Holiday

December 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme, with the approach of the holiday season, is Happy Holidays.

Today’s poem is about how holidays hold families together.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness is not a holiday.

An everyday will do, an any minute.

Perhaps one lingers briefly by the way,

Pausing to breathe in the infinite.

Yet holidays are necessary pleasures,

Holding open else-neglected doors,

Offering a wealth of well-known treasures

Likely to renew depleted stores.

In doing what the holiday demands,

Delighting in its long-obeyed commands,

A separated family now joins hands,

Yielding to a deeper harmony,

Still together, though infrequently.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happ75.html. For more poems for the holiday season, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays.

December 5: Have a Happy Holiday

December 7: Happiness Is Not a Holiday

Monday, December 5, 2016

Heaven Is a Hollow in the Heart

December 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme, with the approach of the holiday season, is Happy Holidays.

Today’s poem is about how holidays are occasions to return to the child within.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Heaven is a hollow in the heart,

A little mountain valley fringed by tears,

Pure wilderness, untouched by craft or art,

Pure yearning, undiluted by the years.

Yes, we all have lessons to unlearn,

Having holidays in which to find

Occasional occasions to return,

Leaving burned-out fantasies behind.

Inherent in us all remains the child,

Deep beneath the layers of our lives,

A bit of hope too dear to be defiled,

Yet wandering in an Eden, lost and wild,

Self within the self that self revives.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heave7.html. For more poems for the holiday season, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays.

December 5: Have a Happy Holiday