Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Each Year a Marriage Gets a Little Better

November 30, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is an 11th anniversary poem about the continued need for romance in marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each year a marriage gets a little better,
Like a house slowly settling in.
Edges age, smooth out, then lean together;
Voices whisper faintly in the wind.
Even so, fresh flowers can do wonders,
Needed at the windows, at the door.
Years of wear could use a little color,
Embellishing what else needs little more.
All marriages can profit from romance,
Required to turn duty into dance,
Still beautiful, with much more love in store.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/eachy3.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Wedding Anniversaries
November 30: Each Year a Marriage Gets a Little Better

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

How Beautiful Life Is, and How Rewarding

November 29, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a 10th anniversary poem about love as background music.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How beautiful life is, and how rewarding!
All one needs to do is be in love.
People fall in love with little warning;
Praised be those whose loves resilient prove!
Yet love can sometimes be like background music,
The unheard song that gives the moment grace,
Enduring melody for those who choose it,
Needing, wanting love’s sustained embrace.
Time and change need not desire chill:
Happiness remains the child of will.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/howbe4.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Wedding Anniversaries
November 29: How Beautiful Life Is, and How Rewarding

Monday, November 27, 2017

Holding Hands, We've Walked Through Many Years

November 28, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a 25th anniversary poem about commitment, choice, fate, and fortune.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Holding hands, we’ve walked through many years,
A gift of daily choice called happiness.
Perhaps such love’s not easy to express.
Perhaps the only fit remarks are tears.
Yet under light, love’s beauty stabs and sears,
Too real to be reduced to more or less,
Wistful paradise, pure tenderness,
Embrace beyond fulfillment, longing, fears.
No commitment could be more complete,
There being little in one’s life untouched.
Years pass; the roots and branches intertwine;
Fortune seems like fate; two souls seem one.
In fact, one’s choice is one one must repeat.
Free will demands one’s separateness, as such.
To love is to create a place in time –
Here, now, a labor that is never done.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Wedding Anniversaries
November 28: Holding Hands, We’ve Walked Through Many Years

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Freedom Is the Power to Commit

November 27, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a 49th anniversary poem about love and choice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Freedom is the power to commit
Oneself to limiting one’s freedom. Real choice
Rules out choices. One finds the proper fit,
Then through years of loving finds one’s voice.
Yet some are loath to choose because they fear
Not being free to choose, at every moment
In flight from choice because they cannot bear
Not living only, solely, in the present.
Each lover lives within a larger space,
Yielding to the future and the past,
Engaged in well-timed acts of timeless grace
As each, each day renews a love that lasts.
Rejoice, then, in that choice made long ago,
Still choosing love, for love is what you know.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/freed4.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Wedding Anniversaries
November 27: Freedom Is the Power to Commit

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Thank You for the Harvest and the Healing

November 26, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which was celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about the need to say thank you.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thank you for the harvest and the healing,
Health, wealth, hunger, all the goods of Earth,
All that we inherited at birth,
Need, joy, love, pain, grief, desire, feeling.
Know that we are grateful for our being,
Singing silent praises in our hearts,
Giving in the temples of our arts
Invocations to the act of seeing.
Vain though it may be to think you're hearing,
In us there is an ancient urge to speak,
Not for any answers that we seek,
Glad just to converse -- like love, like breathing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/than43.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 26: Thank You for the Harvest and the Healing

Friday, November 24, 2017

There Is No Hope Without the Help of Grief

November 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which was celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about how hope is kindled by desperation.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no hope without the help of grief.
Hope is kindled from a bed of ashes,
A history of holocausts and lashes,
Needing anguish to persuade belief;
Kindled only by a desperation
Strong enough to dry a pelting rain,
Grace that is the apogee of pain,
Intending more than personal salvation.
Vested in each sorrow is a dream,
Innocence surrounded by despair;
Nor are we grateful just for what is there,
Giving thanks for what we would redeem.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther26.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 25: There Is No Hope Without the Help of Grief

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Thank You for the Gift of Being Thankful

November 24, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which was celebrated yesterday, November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem thanking God for the gift of gratitude.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thank You for the gift of being thankful.
Here is one gift we can both enjoy!
A gift that can at will my spirits buoy,
Needing only will to yield a heartful.
Knowledge won't engender gratitude;
Some may know a lot and yet feel little.
Grace comes hot and hearty off the griddle;
In some, though, there's no hunger for such food.
Voices sing of paradise at will.
I hear them when I start to sing alone.
Nor do I cease to hear them when they're gone,
Glad to be alive and thankful still.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/than46.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 24: Thank You for the Gift of Being Thankful

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Trees About to Bloom, in Bloom, Full-Leaved

November 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated today, November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem with a list of things to be thankful for.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Trees about to bloom, in bloom, full-leaved;
Harrowing escapes, fresh plums and pears;
A cold, gray afternoon, a son long grieved;
Nearing home, the last long flight of stairs;
Kindnesses returned, a glimpse of breast;
Scent of lilac, hunger, tell-tale pain;
Gifts one cannot use, a playful pest;
Illnesses one would not wish again;
Victories, defeats, the urge to dance;
Imitation whipped cream, the real thing;
New thoughts, a lingering death, a brief romance;
Grace to love whatever life may bring.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 23: Trees About to Bloom, in Bloom, Full-Leaved

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

To Thank You Is a Gift One Gives Oneself

November 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about how gratitude is a gift one gives oneself.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To thank You is a gift one gives oneself,
Having felt the fullness of one's being.
As You might--or not--be listening,
None knows more than his own gratitude.
Knowledge is beside the point, the gulf
So wide between us there's no hope of seeing.
Gifts require givers, so one sings
In thanks that in oneself some grace might move.
Vast quantities of thanks lie on the shelf
In wait for some fresh faith that might be freeing.
Nor ought one wait for one's own Angelus bell,
Giving one an object for one's love.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 22: To Thank You Is a Gift One Gives Oneself

Tides Return the Favors They Have Taken

November 21, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about getting more we give.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Tides return the favors they have taken,
Having had sufficient time to turn.
All enjoy more riches than they earn,
Nor need surrender what they have forsaken.
Kindness, like a candle caught in mirrors,
Sees itself in infinite regress,
Giving that keeps giving its largesse,
Imitating what it has been given.
Vast and bountiful, creation shimmers,
Intimate in ways we cannot know.
Nor do we fail to glean more than we sow,
Granted light that glows down to its embers.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 21: Tides Return the Favors They Have Taken

Sunday, November 19, 2017

The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

November 20, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 23.

Today’s poem is a Thanksgiving poem about the implausible experience of free will.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The gift of being cannot be a given:
How many trillion accidents made me?
And yet it seems no accident to be,
Nor seem I less the driver than the driven.
Knowledge cannot penetrate my freedom,
So absolute it seems I am that am.
God may or not exist; I must command
In practice, day-to-day, my tiny me-dom.
Very rarely what to us might seem,
Is what it is: a glimpse of greater glory.
Nor can I be the author of my story,
Graced to witness truths beyond my dreams.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/thegi2.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving
November 20: The Gift of Being Cannot Be a Given

First Love Is like Playing with Fire

November 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is for a first love long gone.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

First love is like playing with fire:
Aglow with pain and glory.
Tell me, my dear first love,
Whether I'm burned into your heart.

The fire in your body,
The glory of your touch:
Ah! my dear first love,
Never, never leave my heart!

Although the fire is distant,
The pain is always near.
My dear first love, please listen:
I hold you in my heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love
November 19: First Love Is like Playing with Fire

Friday, November 17, 2017

Even Though We Fight a Lot, I Love You

November 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is an I’m-sorry love poem about fighting and controlling.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even though we fight a lot, I love you.
We fight, I think, because the stakes are high.
I sometimes get so mad I cannot stand you,
But underneath my anger I could cry.
I have an uncontrolled need to control you,
To be your only destiny and guide.
I know it isn't fair to try to mold you,
But my poor love's entangled in my pride.
Ah, love! Please love me even in my fury,
Which rises like a tide beneath the moon.
I plead before my only judge and jury:
I want to change, but know change won't come soon.
Love finds it hard to let the loved one be
The person who is loved so passionately.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/event3.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Love
November 18: Even Though We Fight a Lot, I Love You

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Do You Want Me? What's the Matter?

November 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is from girl to boy about the hypocrisy of wanting both freedom and possession.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Do you want me? What's the matter?
You're afraid some door will close?
You want the scent without the rose?
The moans of love without the chatter?

You think our love might be a tomb,
The only exit through my pain?
You'd rather put things off again
To give your fantasies some room?

You think: she's great, but in a while
I might get bored? Or something better,
Filling out a tighter sweater,
Might flash me a quick come-on smile?

You don't want to be tied just yet
To just one future, just one kiss?
You think about all that you might miss
And hold out for a better bet?

Well, fine! But then why do you haunt
Me like a jackal night and day?
Why, when my interest seems to stray,
Are you so sure of what you want?

Why, when I dare so much as laugh
At some guy's jokes, you go ballistic,
Nasty, borderline sadistic,
As if somebody touched your stuff?

And yet when I hook on to you,
You will not let yourself be mine,
Take out your fears and draw a line
Between what you and I can do?

But freedom must be mutual,
And it takes two for one embrace.
You can't both love and freedom chase,
Unless you would adore a fool.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love
November 17: Do You Want Me? What’s the Matter?

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Do Not Doubt I Love You

November 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is an I’m-sorry love poem from an unfaithful lover.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Do not doubt I love you, even though
My actions may have undermined my words.
We could be as connubial as birds
Had I not let my wild longings show.

I cannot help wanting to devour
All the world that comes before my eyes;
But more than all the world is that which lies
Within the precious circle of our bower.

I'll do anything to keep you with me;
Our love will last as long as you have will.
Despite my untamed need, my love is still
A rock against the surges of the sea.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love
November 16: Do Not Doubt I Love You

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Chris and I Went Out Awhile Back



November 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about a second try at love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Chris and I went out awhile back.
It didn't work--I really don't know why.
Some unacknowledged dream was out of whack,
Went spinning off, and so we let it die.
Sometimes we attribute things to fate
When it's us, though we won't notice it.
Chris and I are back again--it's great!
We've both changed, and now we seem to fit.
I can't explain the happiness I find:
Chris smiles at me and something makes me glow.
Mysteries on mysteries unwind;
The deeper in we see, the less we know.
For now I think I'll just enjoy the ride;
Love Chris to bits, but still keep watch inside.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love
November 15: Chris and I Went Out Awhile Back

Monday, November 13, 2017

Before You, I Was Just Hanging Out

November 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about how love can transform a life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Before you, I was just hanging out.
My days were all hubbub, no beauty.
Boredom seemed what life was all about.
Excitement meant going to a movie.
Then I fell in love with you; my mall
Opened to a sudden rush of sky;
Trees turned into happiness; and all
The things I had forgotten made me cry.
The loves that fasten one to life grew strong:
You, the thought of seeing you, your touch,
My love for those I'd loved my whole life long,
Knowing, but not feeling it too much.
You brought my life to life, my love to flower;
Now love me well, and through me taste your power.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love
November 14: Before You, I Was Just Hanging Out

Sunday, November 12, 2017

All I Ever Wanted Is in You

November 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a name poem that lists what a lover desires.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

All I ever wanted is in you:
Love, laughter, trust that stills my fears.
I want to give and to be given to
So we might be one throughout the years
And share the painful and the joyful tears.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Love
November 13: All I Ever Wanted Is in You

Victories Retain the Stench of Death

November 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is war, in honor of Veterans Day, which was celebrated yesterday, November 11.

Today’s poem is a Veterans Day poem about honoring the dead on all sides.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Victories retain the stench of death.
Each is cause for gratitude, not joy.
Those who win are fated to destroy
Every grace whose beauty gives them breath.
Remember those who fell on every side,
And grieve not just for those you call your own.
No torturer or tyrant dies alone;
So may you weep for every fratricide.
Death is no fit dwelling place for pride,
And hatred's not a passion to enjoy,
Yet all who feel have reason to atone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/vetda2.html. For more Veterans Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/veteransdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Veterans Day
November 12: Victories Retain the Stench of Death

Friday, November 10, 2017

Veterans Are Fugitives from Hell

November 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is war, in honor of Veterans Day, which is celebrated today, November 11.

Today’s poem is a Veterans Day poem about how one’s hardened heart is not so easily softened.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Veterans are fugitives from hell,
Escapees from death pursued by pain.
The truth they left behind makes truth insane;
Each nightmare is a truth they know too well.
Reason is unreasonable when words
Are whips that drive believers to the kill,
Necessary to sustain a will
Stirred by the sweet morning songs of birds.
Decencies are frills to put aside
As hearts are hardened for the jolting ride,
Yet on return are clamped and hardened still.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/veter2.html. For more Veterans Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/veteransdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Veterans Day
November 11: Veterans Are Fugitives from Hell