Poem of the Week: May 2018

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

5/31: I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

6/1: Buddy

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

May 31, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated on May 28^th.

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

A poem of mourning for a deceased child:

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

I miss you so, the darkness will not pale.

My darling child, come to me again.

I know you cannot come, and still I strain

To put my arms around you through the veil.

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

Other lives and loves call me in vain.

I try to turn away from you and fail.

My darling child, come to me again.

You are my unendurable refrain.

Back and back I hurry to impale

My heart on you, to stop my heart with pain.

Yet nothing that I do undoes the plain

Brutal fact which always must prevail.

Ah, my darling, come to me again!

You are both my sunshine and my rain,

My dearest joy, my anguish, and my grail.

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

My darling child, come to me again.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ifeel.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

5/31: I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

Monday, May 28, 2018

Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

May 29, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated yesterday, May 28^th.

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

A Memorial Day poem about murder as a soldier’s duty:

Murder ought not ever be a duty,

Even though for soldiers it must be.

Maybe one is bound by love or beauty

Only after one is safe and free.

Remember, then, those who murdered for you,

Invading, burning, bombing in your name,

And those whose plain white tombstones are before you,

Long dead, with neither guilt nor pride nor shame.

Deep within the heart the cause of war,

Alive and well, assures us there'll be more,

Yielding hatred, fear, revenge, and pain.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/murder.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Memories Evoke a Painful Joy.2

May 28, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which is celebrated today, May 28^th.

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

A Memorial Day poem about the mingled joy and pain of memories:

Memories evoke a painful joy,

Evoke a harsh and bitter tenderness.

Maybe that's the price of happiness:

One loves what time or tempest will destroy.

Remember, then, those whom you have loved

In mingled joy and sorrow. Sing a song

As beautiful as is your love, and mourn

Like one who is by some chance blessing moved.

Days of mourning are a celebration,

A dance whose healing grace sustains relation,

Yielding grief that will redemptive prove.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memor3.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

Thank You for Your Love Throughout the Years

May 27, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation and thank-you poem from the graduate to his or her parents:

Thank you for your love throughout the years.

How else could I become what I've become?

All your plans and hopes and even fears

Now come together in what I have done.

Know that I am grateful for your love.

Your hard work is mirrored now in mine.

On you all my accomplishments must shine.

Underneath my pride, your spirits move.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thank5.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

5/26: Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

5/27: Thank You for Your Love Throughout theYears

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

May 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about what might make one’s education meaningful:

Give a little thought to what comes next.

Remember: education isn't training.

A person needs to struggle with a text,

Delving into truths beyond explaining.

Understanding means you must go under,

And make your own the ground on which you stand.

The urge to learn comes from a sense of wonder

Ill-served in those who like their knowledge canned.

Open up your mind so that your soul

Not be confined to one small, shallow bowl.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/giveal.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

5/26: Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

Thursday, May 24, 2018

The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

May 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem for two friends, both graduating, who share their pride and pleasure:

The happiness I feel at your achievements

Reflects the happiness you feel at mine.

Friends expand the pleasure of such moments,

As mine in yours, and yours in mine, combine.

The same when we look forward to our futures:

So much more unfolds when there are two!

Populating your proposed adventures

Gives me a joy that mine must give to you.

We've been through much, and will be through much more,

But traveling together is more fun.

Whatever life and love may have in store,

Two is always preferable to one.

Your graduation thus becomes for me

Far more sweet than mine alone would be.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happi3.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

May 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem comparing a student to a rat in a maze:

How many times you almost lost your way,

About to leave the maze in pure frustration,

Indignant at extrinsic motivation,

Learning not enough to want to stay …

The rat must sometimes hate the proffered cheese,

Open to the eye but not the tongue,

The prize that makes him learn which colored rung

Has the power his torturers to please.

Even so, so much that you have learned

(Granted not the whole, but some good part)

Resonates within the mind and heart,

A legacy that now you've fully earned.

Drab though some of life may yet still prove,

Unbind those restive dreams that you employ!

All roads, no matter whither, lead to joy,

Though none will take you there unless you love.

Each maze becomes a garden when you love.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howman.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

May 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about joy through good and bad weather:

Happiness does not depend on weather,

Although it sometimes helps to see the sun.

Perhaps one finds one’s best landscape within,

Precisely where one's labor is one's joy.

Yearning finds fulfillment in compassion.

Given the uncertainties of weather,

Rain and night in league against the sun,

All must find their happiness within,

Depending on their love of life for joy,

United by the bonds of their compassion.

And all should value knowledge, regardless whether

Their learning gives them more sweet days of sun.

In knowledge there’s a brighter sun within,

Opening one’s heart and mind to joy,

Necessary cradle of compassion.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happ22.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Monday, May 21, 2018

Graduates Are People with Degrees

May 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about the real value of an education:

Graduates are people with degrees,

Rewarded with some letters by their names.

An education must be more than these.

Doubtful bosses aren't playing games.

Unless you know the things you need to know,

And have a mind honed well by what you've learned,

The piece of paper might as well be snow –

It is the least of what you here have earned.

Of what value have these hard years been?

Now that depends on how much you put in.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/grad10.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Congratulations on Your Doctorate

May 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about the difficulties and rewards of earning a doctorate:

Congratulations on your doctorate!

One must not only dare, but persevere,

Not giving in to stress, fatigue, or fear,

Grinding out the hours obdurate.

Rewards, we hope, will be commensurate:

A passionate and interesting career;

The joy of making truth a bit more clear,

Unafraid to speak your mind on it.

Let your happiness for now take wing

As you rest on the mountaintop awhile,

The victor in your struggle with yourself.

In time, of course, the world will cease to sing.

One must at length that piece of paper file,

No less basking in one’s inner smile,

Still savoring one’s well-earned inner wealth.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/congr5.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Forty-Six3

May 20, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A number poem in which one is the instrument of God’s music:

Forty-six takes pleasure in the act

Of being, as each moment sings of joy.

Regardless of the certainty of death,

There's beauty in the light that spirits buoy,

Yielding truths one need not take for fact.

So does one live within the house of breath,

Instrument of what none can destroy,

Xylophone among the bric-a-brac.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/46c.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/18: Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

5/19: Little Do the Others Know

5/20: Forty-Six3

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Little Do the Others Know

May 19, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A religious poem in which the poet speaks to God about the merciless nature of truth:

Little do the others know

How much I hurt inside.

But you, who must know everything,

Care little for my pride.

You, with eyes of steel, rebut

Without a word my pain,

And with a passion pitiless

Undo me once again.

The truth is ever loving, though

It recks not how we feel.

And you, who are the truth, love me

Too much to let me heal.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/littl2.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/18: Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

5/19: Little Do the Others Know

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

May 18, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A number poem about the eternal nature of the soul:

Souls seem to stay the same; the body ages.

In time we change, though somehow souls remain

X’s anchored deep beneath the sea,

The bobbing buoys that lean and shift and sway,

Yet mark their place as life goes through its stages.

For throughout our joy, guilt, ecstasy, and pain;

In spite of all the love along the way;

Vivid though our passions, prayers, and rages;

Each soul still sojourns in eternity.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/soulss.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/18: Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

If Reason Is the Word, Faith's the Music

May 17, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A poem comparing reason to words and faith to music:

If reason is the word, faith’s the music.

One yields sanity; the other, grace,

Allowing those who have the heart to choose it

To dance through life with Being face to face.

One need not, of course, turn on the music.

Words alone are not devoid of grace.

For cool-eyed skeptics who choose not to choose it,

Faith paints on the void a dancer’s face.

Can one, ought one do without the music?

Does not silence yield a deeper grace?

Still, the song’s so beautiful some choose it,

A truth one need not doubt or fear to face.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ifreas.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Reason Doesn't Travel Well

May 16, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A Ramadan poem about the limitations of reason:

Reason doesn’t travel well

Across the desert sand.

Maybe it needs quince to quell

A hunger for command.

Do not think it will survive

A long and thirsty camel ride,

No nutrient near at hand.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/reaso7.html. For more poems for Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

Monday, May 14, 2018

Alyssa

May 15, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A name poem for a new-born child just descended from Heaven:

Alyssa's the angel I hold in my arms

Like a spirit not yet metamorphed to a self.

Yet anchored in life by my love unrestrained,

Sucking my breast that her flesh be maintained,

She crosses from Heaven that wild-flowered gulf

As her Eden gives way to fences and farms.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/alyssa.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

May 14, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A number poem about how one might commandeer one’s life:

Time passes like a stream in which one stands.

How strange and beautiful! Life goes by

In moments that run through one’s open hands,

Real in ways that none can clarify,

Though like a dream that only seems to be.

Yet every moment is eternity.

So might one commandeer what life commands,

Infinite beyond all how or why,

X upon a calm and windless sea.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/timep2.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

M Is for the Miracle of Being

May 13, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which is celebrated today, May 13^th.

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

An acrostic Mother’s Day poem with a separate quality for each letter of MOTHER:

M is for the miracle of Being.

O is for its origin in love.

T is for a tenderness that’s freeing.

H is for a heart no hardships move.

E is the embrace that lights up living.

R is for the recklessness of giving.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/misfor.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/10: To the Mothers of Children Who Never Were Children

5/11: Hope Is in the Hollow of Your Heart

5/12: Make What You Will of Martyrdom

5/13: M Is for the Miracle of Being

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Make What You Will of Martyrdom

May 12, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow, May 13^th.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about mothers and martyrdom:

Make what you will of martyrdom, a mother

Opts for saintly sacrifice of self,

Taking for her centerpiece another,

Having crossed that great, unquiet gulf.

Each must choose to give herself away,

Redeemed alone by love each hard-earned day,

Sensing grace too beautiful to utter.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/makewh.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/10: To the Mothers of Children Who Never Were Children

5/11: Hope Is in the Hollow of Your Heart

5/12: Make What You Will of Martyrdom

Friday, May 11, 2018

Hope Is in the Hollow of Your Heart

May 11, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on May 13^th.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about hope and time:

Hope is in the hollow of your heart,

A place that’s safe from everyday despair,

Part of you with which you’ll never part,

Part of you that always will be there.

Years pass, your child becomes who she will be,

More herself, less the self you dreamed,

One who is more act, less potency,

Though still no less the gift that she first seemed.

How might you hope as much as years go by,

Even as time offers you less room,

Refusing to ignore the truth or lie

‘Mid gardens still in leaf but past their bloom?

Sing of hope, that is with fortune born,

Desiring joy at night as much as morn,

Alive with dreams and wonder, just as when

You were a child, now no less than then.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hopei4.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/10: To the Mothers of Children Who Never Were Children

5/11: Hope Is in the Hollow of Your Heart

Thursday, May 10, 2018

To the Mothers of Children Who Never Were Children

May 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on May 13^th.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to the mothers of children who died in the womb:

To the mothers of children who never were children,

Who died in the womb unnamed and unknown:

You also were mothers, albeit but briefly,

And loved with the love given mothers alone.

Yours was the stirring of life within life,

The being of being all one being knew,

The love of a love that knew only your love,

The world to a world that knew no world but you.

Yours the unspeakable pleasure of giving

Your substance to nurture the creature within;

Yours the inscrutable song of creation,

Bringing to being the dust of the wind.

Death is the end, but never the meaning;

Life is a gift, no matter how long.

You, too, are mothers, the bearers of beauty,

The icons of love to whom this day belongs.https://www.poemsforfree.com/tothem.html

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/tothem.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/10: To the Mothers of Children Who Never Were Children

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Happy Mother's Day to Childless Mothers

May 9, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on May 13^th.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to childless women who stand in for mothers:

Happy Mother’s Day to childless mothers

Attending to the progeny of others,

Perhaps as aunts or stepmothers or friends,

Pursuing as their own another’s ends,

Yearning still for what will never be,

Making fortune of adversity.

Of course, even children of the blood

Take off in time, returning as they would,

Having their own friends and families,

Embracing or neglecting whom they please.

Remember that the past is never past.

‘Mid tidal tumbling are the things that last,

Submerged beneath the restless ebb and flow,

Days of love stored permanently below.

A gift of love can never be in vain,

Yielding memories that life sustain.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happ83.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

I See You Working Hard for Me

May 8, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on May 13^th.

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

A Mother’s Day poem from a daughter of appreciation and understanding:

I see you working hard for me

And wonder what it means:

Whether I will do the same

And give up my own dreams

To offer someone else my world,

A stranger from my womb,

And say: Here, take my life,

So you, not I, can bloom.

I often wonder at the depth

Of that cool sacrifice;

I know it can't be "just because,"

Or simply to be nice.

It is so awesome, I can't think

How I could make that choice,

Except I see something in you

That gives my own heart voice.

I see sometimes a happiness

Amid the stressed-out day

That no one else can hope to know

In any other way.

I feel it when you look at me

And understand sometimes

That things I do, I do for two,

And then your hard life shines.

And when I give you grief, I know

That all the bitter pain

Between a mom and growing child

Is simply like the rain

That alternates with sunny days,

Passion without end,

While underneath is more of life

Than we can comprehend.

And then I know, perhaps, why I

Like you might be so moved

To give my life to someone else,

And know that I have loved.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/iseeu.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

Sunday, May 6, 2018

How Might One Bring to Leaf a Separate Soul

May 7, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on May 13^th.

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

A Mother’s Day poem comparing a growing child to a tree:

How might one bring to leaf a separate soul,

A seedling with its tree tucked well within,

Placed where rain and sunlight might begin,

Perhaps, to thicken its still slender bole?

Yes, how might one succeed in such a role,

Making sure one’s yang leaves room for yin,

One’s love is nothing seedlings have to win,

The gift that ought not ever be a goal?

How might one allow a tree to grow

Eventually into something all its own,

Reigning over some sweet sunlit glade

‘Mid woods well scattered with its wind-borne seeds?

Sing of the gigantic soul you sow,

Dear sapling many creatures will call home,

As tiny nestlings shelter in its shade

Years from now, when it is thick with leaves.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howm11.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

Time Diminishes What We Require

May 6, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem about the the lovely sadness of unsatisfied desire:

Time diminishes what we require.

What pain teaches, we learn perfectly.

Each builds a shore around his sea of gladness,

Not losing hope, nor giving way to madness,

Tougher without, within a little shyer,

Yearning always, but settling reasonably.

Often, though, we turn to lovely sadness,

Not willing to let go what we desire,

Even though we want what cannot be.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/timdim.html. For more poems about psychology, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology

4/30: Abel Jeremiah

5/2: Forty-Nine3

5/4: Loose Change

5/5: Everywhere Are Clocks

5/6: Time Diminishes What We Require

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Everywhere Are Clocks

May 5, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological poem about the clocks that surround us:

Everywhere are clocks:

Timers turn leaves,

Tell birds to take off,

Fish to return home,

Restore desire,

Shift scenery in the night sky.

Lions and fish, crabs and virgins

Move to the music of the moon,

As we, too, dance to symphonies

Unheard. The year is a melody.

We sing our lives in harmony

With singers invisible, magical,

Fellow musicians whom we love

But do not know.

The air is alive with chimes

Which summon us to celebrations

At which we feast on tears.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/clocks.html. For more poems about psychology, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology

4/30: Abel Jeremiah

5/1: The Pleasures of Your Life Are Overwelming

5/2: Forty-Nine3

5/4: Loose Change

5/5: Everywhere Are Clocks

Friday, May 4, 2018

Loose Change

May 4, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological poem about the dangers of being too ready to please others:

Loose change (was that lose change?)

Spends easy. Like favors.

Like mornings or afternoons.

Time is easier than touch,

Being there easier than being.

How often, unthinking,

Do I spend a yes

To avoid breaking me?

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/change.html. For more poems about psychology, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology

4/30: Abel Jeremiah

5/2: Forty-Nine3

5/4: Loose Change

Thursday, May 3, 2018

I Doubt You'll Write This Poem for Me

May 3, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem from the point of view of someone who lacks self-confidence:

I doubt you'll write this poem for me

Since I so rarely get

The things I set my heart upon,

The things I might regret.

So little do I now expect,

So little hope or fear,

I draw a circle round myself

And find my pleasure there.

I do not like my friends, nor do I

Think that they like me.

Their words are hard, like jagged rocks,

Their treacherous eyes like scree.

Alone I read, I dream, I like

My music loud, I wait

For something that will never come,

I fault my faultless fate.

I throw myself upon your will,

Yet know you will not say

The words that show me to myself

And burn my heart away.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/idoubt.html. For more poems about psychology, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology

4/30: Abel Jeremiah

5/2: Forty-Nine3

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Forty-Nine3

May 2, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem about the pleasures of the imagination:

Forty-nine’s a secret stowaway

On every ship that sails with the wind,

Returning to her satisfying life

To be the person that she left behind,

Yielding to the love that rules her day.

Nor should she, when her ship sets sail, stay

In deference to some dictate of the mind.

None need give up the gift of fictive play,

Enriched by more than any life might find.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/49c.html For more poems about psychology, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology

4/30: Abel Jeremiah