Poem of the Week: May 2019

5/29: The Chance of Happiness Equals the Risk of Pain

5/30: Tell Me More, My Love, How Much You Love Me

5/31: Thank You for Staying in My Life

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Tell Me More, My Love, How Much You Love Me

May 30, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number and love poem about the need for mutuality in romance:

Tell me more, my love, how much you love me;

When I am hungry, chill me with a kiss.

Endlessly proclaim your admiration,

Never try to hide your fascination,

Though at times I may do aught amiss.

You, of course, may ask the same of me.

That you put nothing in your life above me

Will aid in me a similar dedication.

Only thus do lovers spin their bliss.

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/telmor.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Romantic Love

5/29: The Chance of Happiness Equals the Risk of Pain

5/30: Tell Me More, My Love, How Much You Love Me

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

The Chance of Happiness Equals the Risk of Pain

May 29, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number and love poem about a love that both has ended and will never end:

The chance of happiness equals the risk of pain.

Whenever you love, it's too good to be true.

Even so, it's truer than you believe,

Nor will you know till it vanishes again.

Time is a sea which opens where you cleave

Yet roils over what you leave behind.

For now, my love sings in the stars,

Or hisses against rocks like the sea,

Unraveling your life when you pause to grieve,

Returning with the sunlight, with the rain.

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/riskpa.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Romantic Love

5/29: The Chance of Happiness Equals the Risk of Pain

Monday, May 27, 2019

Lose Yourself in Lust, My Love

May 28, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem about the need for lust and fantasy in love:

Lose yourself in lust, my love;

Enjoy me as a thing.

Make my flesh your fantasy;

My soul, your sycophant.

I would you would with me, my love,

Let all your voices sing,

Losing not one ecstasy

That some sweet sin might grant.

For love loves not that secret space

Where dreams turn into wounds,

Festering for lack of care,

Untended but by stealth.

Love enjoys a secret grace,

Calliope of tunes

Inexhaustible, for there,

In trust, lies love's true 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/loseyo.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Romantic Love

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Your Heart Is Just as Lovely as Your Face

May 27, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem declaring a hopeless love:

Your heart is just as lovely as your face.

I can't believe you ever could love me.

Gifted with a more than human grace,

You're meant for some more noble destiny.

I watch you from the sidelines in a dream

That never can come true. Yet nonetheless,

My heart is happier than it might seem:

I shiver in the warmth of your caress.

I may not be the mirror for your eyes,

But fortune has been decent, on the whole.

I cannot know your heart or hear your cries,

But love for you illuminates my soul.

My looks have made me shy, so please take this

As it is meant: an unrequited kiss.

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/yourhe.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Romantic Love

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Jodie

May 26, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a disabled child who is her mother’s treasure:

Jodie's not the burden that she thinks.

Of all my gifts, she's the dearest treasure.

Destiny may handicap the minx:

In love there's neither policy nor measure,

Embracing what must bring both pain and pleasure.

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/jodie.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

5/21: Jeremy2

5/22: Joanie

5/24: Look Not on My Body but My Soul

5/25: Sebastian

5/26: Jodie

Friday, May 24, 2019

Sebastian

May 25, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a blind person who sees all the beauty of life with his other senses:

Sebastian may be blind, but he can see

Everything extant to you and me.

Because his sight is safely tucked away,

All his other senses come to play,

Singing in the sunlight of their song,

Taking bits of paradise along.

In life there is no limit to our joy,

A gift whatever senses we employ.

Nor if our hearts can see, will we go wrong.

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/sebast.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

5/21: Jeremy2

5/22: Joanie

5/24: Look Not on My Body but My Soul

5/25: Sebastian

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Look Not on My Body but My Soul

May 24, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about the outer ugliness of a deformed person and his or her inner beauty:

Look not on my body but my soul,

Only on the face behind the veil,

Only with the touch of inner Braille,

Knowing through yourself my being whole.

Nor ought you touch my skin but with your heart,

Only in the tenderness of love.

Though my outer self repulsive prove,

Of me the mask is but a minor part.

Nor should you know me out of charity:

Misfortune can become a kind of grace,

Yielding special wisdom to a few.

Bring mainly for yourself your empathy,

Opening a richer, wider view,

Doorway to a person much like you

Yet fired by the fate he must embrace.

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/lookno.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

5/21: Jeremy2

5/22: Joanie

5/24: Look Not on My Body but My Soul

I Lost My Sight and Found My Son

May 23, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about how blindness brought a new kind of blessing:

I lost my sight and found my son.

I needed you; you came to me.

I thought my joy in life was done.

You showed me what I could not see.

I needed you; you came to me.

How beautiful to have made you!

You showed me what I could not see:

That life and love are ever new.

How beautiful to have made you!

I thought my joy in life was done.

But life and love are ever new.

I lost my sight and found my son.

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/ilostm.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

5/21: Jeremy2

5/22: Joanie

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Joanie

May 22, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem about a retarded person who, well taken care of, led a happy life:

Joanie was innocent all of her days,

Only thirteen in her heart and her mind.

All that she wanted was all that she had,

Nor did she ever discover how bad

Illness could be in an ill-favored wind,

Even as she graced all touched by her gaze.

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/joanie.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

5/21: Jeremy2

5/22: Joanie

Monday, May 20, 2019

Jeremy2

May 21, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem about a deaf person who is filled with the ecstasy of life:

Jeremy's a light unto the jaded.

Even though he's deaf, his heart can sing.

Reading each day's poetry unaided,

Eventually he learns that life can bring

More ecstasy than one needs to be sated,

Yielding extra to soothe suffering.

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/jerem2.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

5/21: Jeremy2

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Light of the Senses

May 20, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A cycle of five poems, each from the point of view of a blind artist: a singer, a pianist, a composer, a sculptor, and a poet:

LIGHT OF THE SENSES

SINGER

Each note is like a moonbeam in the night,
More visible in darkness than in light.
You sing with closed eyes; I must sing with none.
Yet equally we would shut out the sun.
For music, like one's passion, seems to be
Purer when there's nothing one can see.

PIANIST

The melody is no more sound than touch.
My fingers sing; I press the keys with such
Grace as I can hear within my heart.
So beautiful to be consumed by art!
Though vision might be wonderful, I know
That I am who I am only so.

COMPOSER

I do not need to see or even hear,
But with a well-trained mental eye and ear,
I have an orchestra that plays within,
Ready every moment to begin.
The music issues forth like God's first light,
Filling with its radiance my night.

SCULPTOR

My hands are my sophisticated eyes,
Knowing better where the spirit lies
Within the shape you survey in the light.
Touch is far more intimate than sight.
I feel by feel the feeling that the form
Wishes to embody once it's born.

POET

I write about a world I cannot see
In images that are part fantasy,
Drawn from other senses that I use
As both my passionate eyes and choral muse.
None sees the world unfiltered through the mind.
Mine is no less lovely, though I'm blind.

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/lighto.html. For more poems about disabilities, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/disabilitiespoems.html .

This week’s theme: Disabilities

Accidents Are Rarely Accidental

May 19, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem about the psychological effect of believing in divine providence:

Accidents are rarely accidental,

Nor can one sparrow fall but all is changed,

Giving rise to ripples rearranged,

Evidence, albeit circumstantial,

Leading to one's living less estranged

As one finds sense in something sentimental.

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/accide.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

5/17: The Lord Has Been Merciful to Me

5/18: I Want to Go Home

5/19: Accidents Are Rarely Accidental

Saturday, May 18, 2019

I Want to Go Home

May 18, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem of estrangement from the mundane world and longing for the infinite:

I want to go home

To a place I've never been,

And see once more

A place I've never seen.

I long for the arms

Of a love I've never known,

And mourn the loss

Of the things I call my own.

I live in exile

In the land where I was born,

A wanderer

Come to sing, then quickly gone.

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/iwan12.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

5/17: The Lord Has Been Merciful to Me

5/18: I Want to Go Home

Friday, May 17, 2019

A New Play on the Mueller Report

Dear Subscriber,

Sorry to bother you with a note instead of a poem, but I’ve just completed a play, The Miller Report: A Play on the Mueller Report, which you can read online or download as a .pdf file at https://www.poemsforfree.com/themillerreport.html .

If you’re interested in what the Mueller Report says, but have neither the time nor the patience to wade through it all, you might be able to experience it through the play in an interesting and enjoyable way. Although the characters in the play are fictional, the incidents and much of the dialogue are taken straight from the Mueller Report, as well as some of the analysis found in the summaries.

Please feel free to share the link (or attach the .pdf) widely, or to produce the play in whatever venue might be available, so that as many people as possible can see what the Report contains.

Thanks for your interest and help,

Nick Gordon

Thursday, May 16, 2019

The Lord Has Been Merciful to Me

May 17, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem thanking the Lord for continued mercy:

The Lord has been merciful to me.

For I have sinned all the sins of this place

That preys on weakness and traffics in sin,

And He has not turned away from me.

For I have sinned all the sins of this place,

And sinned and repented and sinned again,

And He has not turned away from me,

Nor blinded my eyes, nor hardened my heart.

And sinned and repented and sinned again,

And He has remained even here, in this place,

Nor blinded my eyes, nor hardened my heart,

Nor left me alone. Praise the Lord!

And He has remained even here, in this place,

That preys on weakness and traffics in sin,

Nor left me alone. Praise the Lord!

The Lord has been merciful to 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/thelo2.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

5/17: The Lord Has Been Merciful to Me

May We Learn to Undergo Your Love

May 16, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A prayer for faith and love:

May we learn to undergo your love

And to accept your mercy and your might.

And when we are undone by coming night,

May your grace our sinful spirits move.

May everything we do be done for love.

May we manage lust as best we might.

May the dark communion of the night

Our hearts towards charity and patience move.

May our anger be the fruit of love,

And hatred be alone of unjust might.

May we know the beauty of the night

And let not fear of death our joy remove.

May we love you well, as well we might,

And thus move through your day towards your good night.

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/maywel.html For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Grace Comes Unexpectedly

May 15, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem about the ordinariness of grace:

Grace comes unexpectedly

In barns on bitter nights,

Ultimately ordinary

Lest we claim our rights.

Invisible to those who see,

A veil to those who know,

No miracle or mystery

Descends to us below;

Just immanence immaculate

Awake within our sleep,

Salient as a centipede

Out strolling on a heap,

Not strange enough to keep.

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/gracec.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

Monday, May 13, 2019

Faith Is What One Cannot Know

May 14, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about the nature of faith:

Faith is what one cannot know,

But one decides is true,

As though one looked out on a wall

And painted on a view.

One knows the provenance of one's

Belief, but truth is more

Than stating with some certainty

What stands outside one's door.

Truth has many voices

That speak to mind and heart

In many languages derived

From science, myth, or art.

Faith is just one inner voice

That sings in harmony

With what the mind can comprehend

And what the eye can see.

And if one feels God's presence where

No proof can find its way,

Yes, that is real, as real as grass,

And true in its own way.

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/faithi.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

Audrey

May 13, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a child who died in infancy:

Audrey died within my arms,

Undone in infancy.

Despite my pain, I saw in her

Resplendent dignity.

Each soul's a naked gift of grace,

Yet loved by us and Thee.

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/audrey.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Religion

5/13: Audrey

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Mothers Make the Most of Memories

May 12, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about how mothers make lasting memories of love:

Mothers make the most of memories,

Offering a past that's rich in love.

There may be anger followed by despair;

However, the embrace is always there,

Enduring though the years indifferent prove,

Remembered underneath the melodies

Singing through some distant evening air.

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/moth16.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

5/10: You Took Us In and Loved Us as Your Own

5/11: There Is No Field as Fertile as Your Love

5/12: Mothers Make the Most of Memories

Saturday, May 11, 2019

There Is No Field as Fertile as Your Love

May 11, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day thank-you poem from a child who is about to leave home:

There is no field as fertile as your love.

How can I hold back my grateful tears?

All your gifts my heart takes notice of,

Now that my departure from you nears.

Know that I remember the caresses

You absently bestowed upon my hair,

Or in the dark a thousand, thousand kisses

Upon my cheek to tell me you were there.

Most of what you've done for me, like flowers

Of a season, sprouted, bloomed, and died.

The memories of all those faithful hours,

However, helped shape who I am inside.

Eventually, everything we do

Returns to us, as now my love to you.

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/fertile.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

5/10: You Took Us In and Loved Us as Your Own

5/11: There Is No Field as Fertile as Your Love

Thursday, May 9, 2019

You Took Us In and Loved Us as Your Own

May 10, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to a woman who raised someone else’s children:

You took us in and loved us as your own

Though you were old enough to need some rest.

Now you are eighty and alone,

Rattling on within your empty nest.

Though we no longer live within your doors,

You will always live within our hearts.

I think of you, and that sweet thought restores

My happiness, as my own Red Sea parts.

This you've done for me, more than the toil,

The prostrate nights, the scarce funds spent, the pain:

Your love and selflessness have been the soil

In which my life can always bloom again.

I cannot think what I would do or be

Without the love that you have given 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/youtoo.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

5/10: You Took Us In and Loved Us as Your Own

A Love like Yours Deserves Some Celebration

May 9, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day poem celebrating aunts:

A love like yours deserves some celebration,

Untying the occasion from the womb.

Nor need this day serve only one relation,

There being for such homage ample room.

Sing, then, of aunts, who help make children bloom.

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/alovel.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

We May Be like Leaves upon the Wind

May 8, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day poem from adult children who have moved away to various distant places:

We may be like leaves upon the wind,

Each dancing towards our fated patch of earth,

Leaving in a gust of slanting rain

Or at some sunlit touch, our place of birth.

Vivid memories of life at home,

Early love, most vivid love, of you,

Your arms the world, your touch our organ tone:

One sea of bliss beneath all that we do,

Unloosing tears as dark and wide we roam.

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/wemay.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

Monday, May 6, 2019

Here Are All Your Children in One Place

May 7, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day poem accompanying the gift of a photograph of all of a mother’s adult children:

Here are all your children in one place,

Enshrined behind some glass within a frame.

A picture's like a word, a sign, a name,

Symbolic of a much more complex grace.

Years of memories lie behind each face,

A wild sea no blessing can contain;

Years and years of love, of joy, of pain,

Of mysteries no heart can hope to trace.

Here are all the objects of your love,

A frozen section cut away from Time,

A summit between dreams and memories,

Which you need only look this way to climb;

An icon for domestic reveries

Through which a thousand answered prayers 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/here.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

Sunday, May 5, 2019

There's No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

May 6, 2019

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 12.

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

A Mother’s Day poem addressed to a mother about the beauty of her love:

There’s no love sweeter than the love you feel,

No passion that’s more passionate than yours,

No joy more beautiful, no grace more real,

No wonder more beyond both woe and weal,

No pleasure with a more abundant cause.

There’s no love sweeter than the love you feel,

No laughter that would wounds more quickly heal,

No sunshine that would give more troubles pause,

No joy more beautiful, no grace more real.

For mother’s love is like a sailboat’s keel

That reaches deep to brace a bliss that soars.

There’s no love sweeter than the love you feel,

No insight that would greater truths reveal,

No wisdom that would tender higher laws,

No joy more beautiful, no grace more real.

For your love is the love that turns the wheel,

And to each generation life restores.

There’s no love sweeter than the love you feel,

No joy more beautiful, no grace more real.

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/theresn.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/6: There’s No Love Sweeter than the Love You Feel

Saturday, May 4, 2019

Good God! I Never Dreamed You'd Graduate

May 5, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies in early May, the theme for this week is College Graduation.

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

A graduation poem from someone who didn’t graduate to someone who did.

Good God! I never dreamed you’d graduate!

Remember when we both flunked chemistry,

And got by math and bio with a D,

Drunk the night we planned to study late?

Unless I’ve got it wrong, you then dropped out,

And took off a semester -- or was it two? --

To work full time. I lost sight of you,

Intending to call, but too screwed up, no doubt.

Our competence is wholly in our care.

Now I’m still here, and you? Well, you’re up there!

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/goodgo.html For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: College Graduation

4/29: These Past Few Years Have Not Been Easy for Me

5/3: Thank You for Being Where All These Years Went

5/4: Make Your Mark upon the World

5/5: Good God! I Never Dreamed You’d Graduate

Make Your Mark upon the World

May 4, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies in early May, the theme for this week is College Graduation.

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

A graduation poem in which the institution speaks to its graduates of their intertwined fates:

Make your mark upon the world!

The marker comes from here.

March on life with flags unfurled!

Your provenance is clear.

You are our product, carrying

The sanction of our seal.

We are your foundry, marrying

Our knowledge to your zeal.

What you make of it is yours,

But it is also ours.

For what you do beyond our doors

Documents our powers.

Do it well, for both of us!

Our fates are intertwined.

Make your mark, for only thus

Might we sweet favor 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/makey3.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: College Graduation

4/29: These Past Few Years Have Not Been Easy for Me

5/3: Thank You for Being Where All These Years Went

5/4: Make Your Mark upon the World

Friday, May 3, 2019

Thank You for Being Where All These Years Went

May 3, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies in early May, the theme for this week is College Graduation.

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

A thank-you and graduation poem thanking teachers for the gift of their knowledge:

Thank you for being where all these years went.

Happiness comes from the people we are,

And so much of what we are now comes from here,

Nearby our hearts still, our minds still ajar.

Knowledge is wealth that can never be spent.

Years from this day, as we search for some star,

Over us clouds, our harried heads bent,

Unthinking, some long-ago wind will skies clear.

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/than32.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: College Graduation

4/29: These Past Few Years Have Not Been Easy for Me

5/3: Thank You for Being Where All These Years Went

Thursday, May 2, 2019

The Parents of a Graduate

May 2, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies in early May, the theme for this week is College Graduation.

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

A thank-you poem from the graduate to his or her parents for their love:

The parents of a graduate

Have much they should be proud of.

All ought to congratulate

Not our work, but their love.

Know that you have made me, me;

You shape my efforts still.

Out of your sweet certainty

Unaltered came my will.

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/thepar.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: College Graduation

4/29: These Past Few Years Have Not Been Easy for Me