Clear Away the Cobwebs of Convention

October 1, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a philosophical poem about the eternal nature of the past.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Clear away the cobwebs of convention!

Atonement’s not as simple as it seems.

A deed, once done, is stone, beyond redemption,

More absolute than anyone might dream.

Oh, yes, one still should pray to be forgiven,

And try with all one's love to make things right.

But what one does, by faith or passion driven,

Becomes a stela in the morning light.

The past cannot be changed – it is forever,

Eternally defining who one is.

Time may seem as fluid as a river,

But once past, is a graveyard sunk in mist.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/clear3.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 29: You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

September 30: I Sing to You When Words Are Not Enough

October 1: Clear Away the Cobwebs of Convention

I Sing to You When Words Are Not Enough

September 30, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29.  The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is about the music of prayer.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I sing to You when words are not enough,

When my heart’s so full they flow into a song,

When I lose myself in love, and what I say

Must be as beautiful as what I feel.

Your words must be music.

I hear it in prayer.

It is through its beauty

I know that You’re there.

I sing to You when words are not enough,

When all I am must turn to melody

To tell You all the things I want to tell You,

The truth of me, which You already know.

Your words must be music,

Your thoughts must be song.

I hear it while singing

And follow along.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 29: You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

September 30: I Sing to You When Words Are Not Enough

You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

September 29, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29.  The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for Yom Kippur about the interplay between ritual, self, and expectation.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You cannot be the person you might wish,

Opening the door to who you are.

Morning comes alike to fowl and fish,

Kindled by a mystery from afar.

In you there is a music all your own

Pouring through the sluices of your heart,

Passionate with love as you atone,

Unmoored from self by ritual and art,

Restored to some bright whole not yours alone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youca3.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 29: You Cannot Be the Person You Might Wish

You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

September 28, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for Yom Kippur about the desire to be known and loved by God.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You are not, will not, do not what you dream.

One accepts that one cannot be pure.

Moreover, there are sins you should redeem.

Kindness, however, makes you feel secure.

In you there is a longing to be known,

Peered right through, as sun lights up a room,

Perhaps just as you promise to atone,

Understood and loved while your doom

Remains clay, not yet hardened into stone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youar9.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 28: You Are Not, Will Not, Do Not What You Dream

You'd Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

September 27, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for Yom Kippur about the difficulty of true repentance and redemption.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You'd like a shot at serious redemption,

Only, like us all, you have no clue.

Mostly satisfied, you leave your pew

Knowing that you've satisfied convention

Instead of being some more painful you.

Perhaps there is no other truth than this;

Perhaps the yearning must be unfulfilled.

Unredeemed, you pay your debts as billed,

Returning to a life that dreams of bliss.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youdli.html. For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 27: You’d Like a Shot at Serious Redemption

How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

September 26, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29.  The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for the High Holy Days about the desire to repent free of religious convention.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How might I, in faith, do as You ask?

Innocent, I hung upon Your Word,

Great with the intention to be good.

However, here we go a different way.

How might I remove the righteous mask,

Opening my heart to the absurd,

Letting go what shibboleths I would,

Yet holding on to what I have to say.

Deliver me, then, naked to this task,

And turn away, Whom I so long have served.

Yearning to repent, as well I should,

So let me see myself in my own gaze.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/howmi5.html. For more poems for the High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 26: How Might I, in Faith, Do as You Ask

Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

September 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which begins on the evening of September 29. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a poem for the High Holy Days about how religious behavior can often precede and ignite religious faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Holiness and faith are the rewards:

In doing lies the promise of becoming.

Given what a life of faith affords,

How could one not still be in the running?

Holy days are opportunities,

Open doors to being who one would.

Longing to be touched by grace, one sees

Yet one more chance to choose the wished-for good.

Do not think that faith is ever certain:

All one's life, like love, it comes and goes.

Yet one can always stand before the curtain,

Singing for one's soul the prayers one knows.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/holin2.html. For more poems for the High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

September 25: Holiness and Faith Are the Rewards

Revelation Leads to Revolution

September 24, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began on the evening of September 20 and ended on the evening of September 22. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about the need for God and religion if we are to repent for sin.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Revelation leads to revolution,

Or isn't much of anything at all.

So must faith evolve into religion,

Having need of help to break its fall.

Here we have a chance to reconsider,

As we go through rites as brisk as breath,

Salvaging a soul that else were bitter,

Here alone, for nothing else but death.

All our love and wonder needs a Name,

Not least to be the witness of our shame

As we recite our sins again, again,

Hallowed by our passion and our pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/revela.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

September 19: Remember the Utility of Shame

September 20: Return Each Year to Test the Ancient Waters

September 21: Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

September 22: Rosh Hashanah Opens Up the Book

September 23: Reason Ought Not Be the Enemy

September 24: Revelation Leads to Revolution

Reason Ought Not Be the Enemy

September 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began on the evening of September 20 and ended on the evening of September 22. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about the relationship between reason and myth.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://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 on to 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

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/reaso5.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

September 19: Remember the Utility of Shame

September 20: Return Each Year to Test the Ancient Waters

September 21: Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

September 22: Rosh Hashanah Opens Up the Book

September 23: Reason Ought Not Be the Enemy

Rosh Hashanah Opens Up the Book

September 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began on the evening of September 20 and ends this evening, September 22. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about the power of repentance.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rosh Hashanah opens up the book

Of life, that we might be inscribed therein.

So does the will work wonders with the wind,

Harrowing the leaves that tempests shook.

How might we make our peace with death and pain?

As terror stalks our steps, how might we dance,

Singing through the vales of circumstance,

Happy to be alive through loss or gain?

All we have are justice, hope, and love,

Nor will these weak or insufficient prove

As we repent our evil once again,

Having faith it will not be in vain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/roshha.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

September 19: Remember the Utility of Shame

September 20: Return Each Year to Test the Ancient Waters

September 21: Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

September 22: Rosh Hashanah Opens Up the Book

Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

September 21, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began last evening and ends on the evening of September 22. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about the need to pray for, and atone for, everyone.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rosh Hashanah opens to the page

On which is writ, for good or ill, our fate.

Still wrestling with angels, we engage,

Harrowing our hearts, our future state.

However, "we" encompasses us all,

As though we were but droplets in a wave

Suspended on its journey to the shore,

Hard put to any single droplet save.

And so we pray not only for ourselves,

Nor only for our family, friends, or tribe:

All must be our congregation, else

How might we turn to God to turn the tide?

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/roshh2.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

September 19: Remember the Utility of Shame

September 20: Return Each Year to Test the Ancient Waters

September 21: Rosh Hashanah Opens to the Page

Return Each Year to Test the Ancient Waters

September 20, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins this evening, September 20. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about those who come to synagogue only for the High Holy Days.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Return each year to test the ancient waters,

Opening the unaccustomed heart.

So may you retain a Jewish soul,

Having given it its yearly outing.

Here your parents meet your sons and daughters,

A junction wrought by well-established art,

Severing the person from the role,

Having scripted thoroughly the routing.

All you're left with is what really matters,

Needing, to be whole, to be a part,

At least this once a year a Jew of old,

Holy in this place despite your doubting.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/return.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

September 19: Remember the Utility of Shame

September 20: Return Each Year to Test the Ancient Waters

Remember the Utility of Shame

September 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins on the evening of September 20. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about the usefulness of shame.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Remember the utility of shame,

On which in part our decency depends.

Such sentiments evolved to serve our ends,

Having given ballast to one’s name.

How apt that to ourselves we be revealed

As time pauses in between the years,

Season of incantatory tears,

Harrowed for the sins we have concealed.

Allow your shame full access to your heart,

Nor flinch from bearing witness to your part,

As only what is treated can be healed,

Here, now, while your fate is still unsealed.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/remem2.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

September 19: Remember the Utility of Shame

Righteousness Ought Not Be for One's Self

September 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins on the evening of September 20. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are a time when one’s repentance may affect whether one is written into the book of life or the book of death for the coming year.

Today’s poem is a Rosh Hashanah poem about righteousness and self-righteousness.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Righteousness ought not be for one’s self.

One’s righteousness must serve to save one’s soul.

Self-righteousness makes righteousness the goal,

Having failed to cross that inner gulf,

Heart self-satisfied to heart of shame,

And found faith waiting on the distant shore.

So must one be less to compass more,

Having held one’s goodness to the flame

And watched it turn to ashes instantly.

Nor can one be righteous on one’s own,

As one finds one’s unassuming home

Hard by the heart of one’s community.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/right3.html. For more poems for Rosh Hashanah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

September 18: Righteousness Ought Not Be for One’s Self

Thank You for Being Our Heroes and Friends

September 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is a thank-you poem from a child to the soldiers and first responders who protect us from terrorism.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thank you for being our heroes and friends,

Having the courage to make us secure.

A child needs someone attentive and strong

Nearby to be certain that nothing is wrong.

Kids can get frightened and like to be sure.

You are the saviors, unselfish and pure,

On whom our bright vision of fortune depends,

Unstained as the innocent hope of our song.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/than21.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

September 14: To Our Loved One Far Away

September 15: Morphed to Somalia

September 16: Torture Is the Rash of the Disease

September 17: Thank You for Being Our Heroes and Friends

Torture Is the Rash of the Disease

September 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is about the illegitimacy of torture as a tool in the fight against terrorism.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Torture is the rash of the disease,

On which a diagnosis can be based.

Regarding information one might gain:

The free press must inflict the healing pain,

Uncovering the mange beneath the sleaze.

Restoring health requires each chain be traced

Even to the hearts such horrors graced.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/tortur.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

September 14: To Our Loved One Far Away

September 15: Morphed to Somalia

September 16: Torture Is the Rash of the Disease

Morphed to Somalia

September 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is about our fears of terrorism engulfing our country as it has Somalia, Syria, or Libya.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Morphed to Somalia

Quick as a dream,

We are unsettled

More than we seem.

Moses lies wrapped

In fast-melting ice

While mourners avenge

Mohammed and Christ.

Here in the desert

We fear for our flesh.

We wait for our pain,

Meat, more or less.

The earth is afoot

With zealots in chains,

But of what we hunger for

Little remains.

The murderers mangle,

The wounded bulls gore.

We sleep in the shadows

And wake by the shore.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/morphe.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

September 14: To Our Loved One Far Away

September 15: Morphed to Somalia

To Our Loved One Far Away

September 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is a love poem to a soldier fighting terrorism far away.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To our loved one far away,

Whose strength and years this war devours,

Whose sacrifice is also ours,

For whose return we daily pray:

Rest assured your home awaits,

Your cheering squad, your loyal fans,

The mouseketeers who share your plans,

Your dreams, your tears, your gifts, your fate.

We are the circle of your love,

The wagons 'round your willing heart

That keep despair and faith apart

And move in spirit where you move.

There is no limit to our pride

In who you are and what you do.

All our fortunes rest with you

Across a desert bleak and wide.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/toourl.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

September 14: To Our Loved One Far Away

There Is No Armor We Can Wear

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is about the impossibility of stopping every terrorist bent on destruction.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no armor we can wear,

No wall or fortress we can build,

No force of arms, no shield of fear

To equal what the heart has willed.

No wall or fortress we can build

Can stop a soul on vengeance bent,

Can equal what the heart has willed,

A purpose pure, of dark intent.

Can stop a soul on vengeance bent,

Death for death and pain for pain,

A purpose pure, of dark intent

To kill for grace and not for gain.

Death for death and pain for pain:

The lust to purge oneself of grief,

To kill for grace and not for gain

That anguish might find some relief.

The lust to purge oneself of grief

Must yield in turn an answering lust.

That anguish might find some relief,

We'd turn an Eden into dust.

Must yield in turn an answering lust,

Hate to hate set groove on groove.

We'd turn an Eden into dust

To defeat the love that terror moves.

Hate to hate set groove on groove,

No force of arms, no shield of fear:

To defeat the love that terror moves

There is no armor we can wear.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther19.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is for the soldiers who must fight terrorism.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Soldiers kill, for that is their profession,

Or die, for those are soldiers that they face.

Let us honor, then, the unmarked grace

Death bestows on those in its possession.

If the cause is just, soldiers will

Embody what the nation holds most dear,

Rendering our peril in their fear,

Serving our survival when they kill.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/soldie.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

So Did You Die of History

September 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is a poem for the victims of terrorism on 9/11.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So did you die of history,

Each innocent of dogma dead,

Purloined to play in some fool's head

The drama of his destiny.

Even in your hapless herds,

Miracles to men unmoved,

Being loved as you were loved,

Even thus, you were but words.

Reason seeks what reason knows.

Each alone must bridge the gulf,

Loving all as if oneself,

Else blood with reason endless flows.

Vanquished, you must still live on,

Each murdered soul a monument,

Nor what you mean be what you meant,

The private to the public gone,

Held long as letters carved in stone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/sodidy.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

Librarians Are Those We Trust with Treasures

September 10, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 4.

Today’s poem is about the profession of librarian.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Librarians are those we trust with treasures

Incalculable, for they are of the mind,

Bringing to our leisure greater pleasures,

Read for read, than any other kind.

All our legacy is in their keeping,

Ready to enrich each avid self,

In which one finds some past soul’s subtle meaning

Alive as well-wrought words upon a shelf.

No wealth survives without its guardians.

So must we be thankful for librarians.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/librar.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Professions

September 4: Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

September 5: Therapists Find Fortune in Misfortune

September 6: Nurses Must Be Angels by Profession

September 7: Pastors Are Supposed to Be the Shepherds

September 8: You Put Yourself in Harm’s Way

September 9: There Is No Greater Passion than for Beauty

September 10: Librarians Are Those We Trust with Treasures

There Is No Greater Passion than for Beauty

January 14, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the performing arts.

Today’s poem is for a singer/songwriter.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://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

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther27.html. For more poems about professions, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Performing Arts

January 8: Feelings Are Not Easily Counterfeited

January 9: Actors Wear a Special Mask

January 10: So You Want to Make Your Living in the Theater

January 11: Hrithik

January 12: Charles

January 13: For You, Life Has Its Own Internal Music

January 14: There Is No Greater Passion than for Beauty

You Put Yourself in Harm's Way

September 8, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 4.

Today’s poem is about the profession of first responder (police or firefighters).

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You put yourself in harm's way,

Though you might die, that we might live,

The Good Samaritan for pay,

Asked often for what few would give.

Though you might die that we might live,

You make a conscious choice to be

Asked often for what few would give,

And to remain while others flee.

You make a conscious choice to be

The calm, well-trained professional,

And to remain while others flee

To face some danger for us all.

The calm, well-trained professional,

The Good Samaritan for pay:

To face some danger for us all,

You put yourself in harm's way.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youput.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Professions

September 4: Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

September 5: Therapists Find Fortune in Misfortune

September 6: Nurses Must Be Angels by Profession

September 7: Pastors Are Supposed to Be the Shepherds

September 8: You Put Yourself in Harm’s Way

Pastors Are Supposed to Be the Shepherds

September 7, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 4.

Today’s poem is about the profession of pastor.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Pastors are supposed to be the shepherds

A willing flock has bid to guide their souls.

So must you be yourself a lamb of courage,

The one most lost amid the moral wreckage

Of Adam's sin, whose grief must be the fold's.

Remember we are all but broken potsherds,

Sustained alone by faith in some great whole.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/pastor.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Professions

September 4: Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

September 5: Therapists Find Fortune in Misfortune

September 6: Nurses Must Be Angels by Profession

September 7: Pastors Are Supposed to Be the Shepherds

Nurses Must Be Angels by Profession

September 6, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 4.

Today’s poem is about the profession of nursing.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Nurses must be angels by profession,

Under the direction of their gods.

Restoring peace to those immersed in pain,

Sustaining life in those life can't sustain,

Each nurse each day must elevate the odds,

Skilled in love's most practical expression.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/nurses.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Professions

September 4: Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

September 5: Therapists Find Fortune in Misfortune

September 6: Nurses Must Be Angels by Profession

Therapists Find Fortune in Misfortune

September 5, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 4.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the profession of therapist.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Therapists find fortune in misfortune,

Here to help us navigate our pain.

If our existence must precede our essence,

Requiring an extended adolescence,

There is need for those who keep us sane.

Yet some fear nothing more than resurrection.

Sing, then, of therapists, who would find ways,

Even in these times, to ease distress,

Vested in the cause of happiness,

Embracing life through long and brutal days,

Not least because their love demands no less.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/therap.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Professions

September 4: Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

September 5: Therapists Find Fortune in Misfortune

Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

September 4, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which is celebrated today, September 4.

Today’s poem is a philosophical number poem about the need for statisticians.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Facts are never simply what is true.

One looks at them as one would look at notes

Resounding in the context of a key

That makes sense of it all. No note evokes

Yearning but from an aural point of view.

Each fact, as well, requires an inner key

If one would make some sense of it. It, too,

Gives way to meaning as it numbly votes,

Having shrunken to a number, to construe

The truth of a surmise statistically.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/factsa.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Professions

September 4: Facts Are Never Simply What Is True

Volunteers Are Willing to Take Risks

September 3, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is sacrifice, in honor of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, which falls on September 2 and commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son.

Today’s poem is about the motivations, rewards, and need for volunteers.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Volunteers are willing to take risks,

Out-of-pocket for some leisure time,

Letting love and joy dictate the tasks

Undertaken for some modest dream.

No one volunteers but for a vision

That never fits but may oblige a truth.

Each finds some ideal with which to fashion

Ends that are of hard-earned wisdom wrought.

Relentless need and hunger rule the world.

Still, volunteers do all the good they can.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/volunt.html. For more poems about charity, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/charitypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

August 28: Thirty-One5

August 29: Forty-Three4

August 30: Thirty-Eight8

August 31: Allen

September 1: Forty-Three5

September 2: Giving Gives Far More than We Intend

September 3: Volunteers Are Willing to Take Risks