Poem of the Week: February 2020

2/27: Veronica’s an Image of the Truth

2/28: Angela Retains Her Cherub Face

2/29: Jeanne Dances in the Doorway of Her Home

Angela Retains Her Cherub Face

February 28, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a woman who retains her childhood grace:

Angela retains her cherub face,

Nor does she long as yet to leave her garden.

Given that in time one's tissues harden,

Even she someday will turn her age,

Leaning on love with neither shame nor rage,

And treasuring still within, her childhood grace.

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/angela.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

2/27: Veronica’s an Image of the Truth

2/28: Angela Retains Her Cherub Face

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Veronica's an Image of the Truth

February 27, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a woman as beautiful as light:

Veronica's an image of the truth:

Eternal, good, and beautiful, as light,

Reflecting off glass panels angled right,

Offers up its golden garb as proof.

None are but are the clothing of desire,

Infinite in perfection and in yearning,

Cool as stone and blasphemous as burning,

An icon of eternity on fire.

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/veroni.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

2/27: Veronica’s an Image of the Truth

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Cindy Is a Girl You Ought to See

February 26, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a pert, devilish woman deeply rooted in love:

Cindy is a girl you ought to see:

Intelligent, intense, and full of life.

Nor will she lose her pertness as a wife,

Devilish, with the sharpness of a knife,

Yet in her love as rooted as a tree.

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/cindy.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

Stephanie Finds Her Proper Place in Pain

February 25, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for a woman who finds her happiness in giving:

Stephanie finds her proper place in pain.

To her, the greatest happiness is giving.

Each moment that her love flows like a wound

Places all Creation in her heart.

How can she crave the sun while in the rain

A silent neighbor is just barely living?

Nor can her thoughts with nature be attuned

In a world where children's brains are blown apart.

Even so, her words are sweet and sane.

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/stepha.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

Monday, February 24, 2020

Larianna's Beautiful and Blonde

February 24, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for an attractive woman who is not yet ready for love:

Larianna's beautiful and blonde:

A light-skinned goddess sporting hazel eyes,

Rich in qualities that interest guys.

Inside she's still too delicate to bond

As gingerly she tests the weight of love,

Not entering till noon the gated garden.

Now she dances till her values harden,

Affection moving her as a fawn might 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/larian.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Some Would Have the Courage of Their Dreams

February 23, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A political number poem about the need for dreams to bring about political change:

Some would have the courage of their dreams.

If one falls short, at least one's moved ahead.

Xeroxing the present only means

That one must read what one's already read.

Yet one small change a lifelong quest redeems.

Fate must reap what will has left for dead.

One need not accept a world that seems

Unchangeable, or shrug when blood is shed,

Resigned as once we were to kings and queens.

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/somew5.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

2/21: Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

2/22: Sixty-Six Is Now in Full Career

2/23: Some Would Have the Courage of Their Dreams

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Sixty-Six Is Now in Full Career

February 22, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A political number poem about an activist who uses music to combat racism and injustice:

Sixty-six is now in full career,

Invested in an activist esthetic.

Xenophobes, take heed and you will hear

The songs that undermine your greed and fear,

Your need to make relations hierarchic.

So might the world in time turn empathetic

If oft-sung songs can make delight more dear,

X-ing out the hatreds that hearts sear.

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/66b.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

2/21: Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

2/22: Sixty-Six Is Now in Full Career

Friday, February 21, 2020

Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

February 21, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A political number poem about passing on progressive politics to later generations:

Seventy-six has sown the sacred seed,

Ensuring that another generation,

Vested in the cause of liberation,

Engages in the politics of justice.

Nor after centuries is there less need.

The archetypal rulers are relentless.

Yet one can pit one's love against their greed.

Sing, then, of an inherited vocation,

Identities along a chain that's endless,

Xeroxing the dream that marks the breed.

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/76b.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

2/21: Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

Thursday, February 20, 2020

The President Was Without Precedent

February 20, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A poem for Presidents Day about the roles of Washington and Lincoln in keeping the United States united:

The President was without precedent

At the time that he took on the post.

Equally homespun and elegant,

He struck the precisely right note.

Refusing the power of kings,

He yet understood that the State

Required what reverence brings:

A loyalty one can create.

And so he became The Great Leader,

The focus of wide adulation.

Yet only a one-time repeater,

He served not the man, but the nation.

He gave to the State what the states

Could only recopy writ small:

The sense of a Center the fates

Must bless for the good of us all.

He played well the hero who held

The Union together those years,

Until the still-thin mixture jelled,

And fact was more forceful than fears;

Till the other great president we

Now jam into one day for two

Kept the Union together and free,

His own blood the ultimate glue.

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/thepre.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Greatness Is the Child of Choice and Chance

February 19, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A poem for George Washington’s Birthday in which he reflects upon the role of fate in achieving greatness:

Greatness is the child of choice and chance,

Even when one's character is right.

One must fit the urgent circumstance,

Requiring wrongs that one's gifts can requite.

Greatness needs a time that calls for greatness,

Embracing an entire generation,

When some grave danger, failure, or injustice

Awaits a leader to unite the nation.

So might the mantle fall upon a soul

Having just the qualities to be

In mien and temper suited to the role.

Nor ought one, chosen, turn down history.

Greatness waits upon one like a bride

That knows well one's humility and pride,

On which she plays to keep one by her side.

Nor, after, will one care how much she lied.

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/great2.html. For more poems for George Washington’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Greatness Is Effect Far More than Cause

February 18, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A poem for George Washington’s Birthday in which Washington reflects on the effects of leadership on his life:

Greatness is effect far more than cause.

Each hero is the servant of his fate,

On whom is laid the sacrificial weight

Reserved for those who would heed higher laws.

Given peace, I would have shunned applause,

Electing to remain a farmer, great

With long-gestating plans for my estate,

A much-loved labor lost to much-loathed wars.

So was I the father of a nation,

Having given over life and love,

Instrument of some far greater hand,

Not by choice but of necessity.

Glory was the means by which to fashion

The myth that would a king's replacement prove:

Only I would do, and that demand

Narrowed, deepened, scoured, chastened 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/greatn.html. For more poems for George Washington’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

Monday, February 17, 2020

Great Ends Require Great Sacrifice

February 17, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which is this year celebrated today, February 17.

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

A poem for George Washington’s Birthday about the need for sacrifice in both leaders and followers:

Great ends demand great sacrifice,

Else the dream becomes a debt.

Open hearts will pay the price,

Redeeming loss without regret.

Great leaders also make demands,

Else the mandate turns to dust.

Willing minds find willing hands,

As courage shared engenders trust.

So a nation moves ahead,

Having found its avatar,

In hard times hungry to be led,

Navigating by its star.

Great followers must take great care

To choose a leader who will be

Out of love and duty there,

Not shy, but still reluctantly.

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/greate.html. For more poems for George Washington’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

Sunday, February 16, 2020

How Simple to Be Happy Here in Heaven

February 16, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem about love as heaven:

How simple to be happy here in heaven!

After all, one doesn't want for much.

Passion finds its willing partner, ever

Pleased to please with a deft and tender touch.

Yearning is like walking through a valley

Veiled in the loveliness of flowers.

All the beauty of the earth can only

Lead us to the edge of what is ours.

Etched into our love there is a message,

Not of now but of all time and place,

Telling of a truth beyond the passage

In which we move from mystery to grace.

Nor are there signs that such content can be

Except my love for you, and yours for 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/howsim.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

2/14: Love Comes Through the Eyes That See

2/15: How Often Do We Linger

2/16: How Simple to Be Happy Here in Heaven

Saturday, February 15, 2020

How Often Do We Linger

February 15, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which was celebrated yesterday, February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem addressed to someone who is unready to admit how much he needs his wife’s love:

How often do we linger in

The vestibule of life,

Not ready to embrace the soul

We've taken for a wife?

Nor bear the dread oblivion

Of being who we are?

Nor render well our willing part

When we are not the star?

Ah, Valentine! This day of love

Behold what you have wrought!

And seek within the love you have

The love you long have sought.

For love loves not illusion,

Demanding what is true:

That underneath your greed and lust

You need her love for 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/howof2.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

2/14: Love Comes Through the Eyes That See

2/15: How Often Do We Linger

Friday, February 14, 2020

Love Comes Through the Eyes That See

February 14, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated today, February 14.

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

A Valentine's Day poem for children about love and the five senses:

Love comes through the eyes that see

And through the ears that hear,

For people are quite beautiful,

And words make feelings clear.

Love comes through the hands that touch

With unabashed affection,

For only skin-to-skin can love

Maintain its true direction.

Love comes through the tastes and smells

Of fresh and well-cooked food,

For in the gift of nourishment

Is much else that is good.

But though love comes through senses five,

Love comes from the heart,

For there resides the greater love

Of which ours is a part.

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/loveco.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

2/14: Love Comes Through the Eyes That See

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

How Necessary Is It to Remind

February 13, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow, February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem about the need for an annual occasion to speak of love:

How necessary is it to remind

A loving couple that they are in love?

Perhaps a well-placed word might pierce the rind,

Penetrating hearts that dormant prove.

Years accumulate like fallen snow,

Vast fields of understanding, thick and cold,

As time surrenders even those who know,

Leaving love a story long since told.

Each year, therefore, occasion must be made,

Name-day of love, that lovers all might speak,

Taking a risk that else they might evade,

In search of pleasure even angels seek.

Need comes slowly, like a warm spring rain.

Except one sing, the song must be in vain.

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/hownec.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

I Miss You Terribly This Day of Love

February 12, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A poem about the pain of separation on Valentine’s Day:

I miss you terribly this day of love,

Miss you with a wound that stabs and aches.

I see the love around me, and it takes

So much strength simply just to move.

Soon, soon, my love, this waiting will be done.

You and I will have what we desire.

On days like this we'll sit beside the fire,

Undoing all the pain of days long 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/imissy.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

How Much Can One Person Love Another

February 11, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem about a love that seems without limits:

How much can one person love another?

A universe exists in time and space,

Placed within the boundaries of one place,

Placed within a time far from forever.

Yet love comes to us from some quite other,

Visiting our sorrow with its grace,

Answering our rage with its embrace,

Leaving just a whisper of its wonder.

Even as I say this, you are there,

Nestling in where need undoes the day,

Taking up your small infinity.

Inside my heart, you wander everywhere,

Nor would I wish such innocence away

Even were life bitter as the 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/howmu2.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

Monday, February 10, 2020

How Might One Know Love Except by Loving

February 10, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day poem about the need to love in order to know what love is:

How might one know love except by loving?

A crush is sometimes right, but often wrong,

Perhaps because it's short, and life is long,

Perhaps because the proof is in the pudding.

Years go by, and one is always moving;

Very little truth can come along.

A week, a month, a year – love still seems strong;

Longer, and the trick is one of choosing.

Enduring love depends on mutual need,

Need acknowledged, open, unashamed

To say, I do not want to be alone.

If one could put aside one's pride and bleed,

No gift of gratitude would go unnamed,

Even if the landscape turned to stone.

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/howmi9.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Fate Is Oft the Filament of Passion

February 9, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem about the relationship between love and fate:

Fate is oft the filament of passion,

Illumined by the force of its fierce flow.

For love, far more than chance, may fortunes fashion,

The unwilled will that wills the world we know.

Years break, yet love maintains the tides below.

Of love, fate is the most precise expression,

Nor could one find a more complete confession,

Even as good tidings come and go.

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

This week’s theme: Love

2/7: Each Truth Is like a Scrim Across the Darkness

2/8: Love Is like a Large White Cat

2/9: Fate Is Oft the Filament of Passion

Friday, February 7, 2020

Love Is like a Large White Cat

February 8, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem comparing love to the personality of a cat:

Love is like a large white cat

Sitting on its paws.

You may pet it all you like;

It lives by its own laws.

It comes and goes as it decides

No matter what you say.

It seems the more you want it near,

The more it goes away.

And then when you are quite content

To sit out in the sun

Alone with just your thoughts and dreams,

Not needing anyone,

Out it comes, as if in fear

That somehow you'll forget,

And jumps up purring in your lap,

Demanding to be pet.

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

This week’s theme: Love

2/7: Each Truth Is like a Scrim Across the Darkness

2/8: Love Is like a Large White Cat

Each Truth Is like a Scrim Across the Darkness

February 7, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical poem about the wisdom of risking love:

Each truth is like a scrim across the darkness.

We cannot see what most we'd like to know.

We drive among sheer cliffs in pale moonlight

Unsure of where we are or where to go.

When we allow our heads to make our choices,

We lose because of what we cannot see.

When we give way and let desire take us,

We lose because we want what cannot be.

We inch along the dream-lit rocky ridges

Knowing always, always we must lose.

The end for all is darkness everlasting,

And so it matters less which road we choose.

What matters is the beauty of sheer being;

The gifts we have and those we will become;

The ecstasy of loving so completely

That we ourselves are more than minds can plumb.

Love well and know that love must end in pain.

Be a fool and pay the unmarked price.

Be generous of self, and passion gain:

One who never loses, loses twice.

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

This week’s theme: Love

2/7: Each Truth Is like a Scrim Across the Darkness

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Lovers Sometimes Rub Each Other's

February 6, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem about the usefulness of getting outside one’s own point of view:

Lovers sometimes rub each other's

Nerves a little raw.

We find ourselves beside ourselves

And don't want any more.

But then we think: What would we do

Without that sweet embrace?

How could we go from day to day

Not seeing that dear face?

And then we see our discontent

From the other side,

Looking at how we must look

Without our blinding pride:

And we feel love come flowing in

Like a warm and gentle sea,

Knowing that this special place

Is where we want to 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/lovers.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Love

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Love Is Never Vague or General

February 5, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about the specificity of love:

Love is never vague or general:

It's all about thin fingers and fat toes.

What makes someone attractive no one knows,

But all know that it isn't rational.

There is a chemistry, some catalyst:

A scent, a lilt of voice, a social grace,

Some subtle hint impossible to trace,

Fit fodder for a gentle satirist.

But passion is, of love, merely the seed:

It's love itself that most engenders love.

And here again, mysteries silent move,

Shifting darkly where there is most need.

Love is about a casual caress,

A patient silence in which souls can dance,

An obvious, clumsy gesture towards romance,

A comfort zone where long, hard days undress.

It's all about the richness of a night

In which two lovers work to keep the glow:

The feel of skin, the way a tongue moves slow,

The thousand tiny things that make things right.

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

This week’s theme: Love

Sometimes I Wish I Were a Wall

February 4, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem in which a lover wishes he could bear his lover's pain:

Sometimes I wish I were a wall

Upon which you could hang your pain--

To see it so, to know its beauty,

Bond of yearning, bearing love.

Pain is color, in between

Desire and death, white and black;

Light's most lovely at the dawn,

And then, again, approaching night.

Sometimes I wish that I could kiss

The world and take away all pain,

Feel it all, for everyone,

And then go mad to prove I'm real.

But love continues, as does pain,

And death engenders both, for aye,

And the river murmurs ceaselessly

Around the bend on which we live.

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

This week’s theme: Love

Monday, February 3, 2020

A Girlfriend's Neither Gotten nor Forgotten

February 3, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem about what a girlfriend is and isn’t:

A girlfriend's neither gotten nor forgotten.

She's never just a friend who is a girl.

She doesn't wear a nameplate or a flower.

You never can be certain she’s the one.

You're going to have to jump right off a building

And probably break your ego and your neck.

Nine times out of ten you'll wish you'd vanished,

But one time out of ten--why, there she'll be!

A girlfriend isn't something you acquire.

A girlfriend is a person, not a thing.

And if you leap and land next to the right one,

She'll burn her image right into your heart.

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

This week’s theme: Love