Though I Chose Death Instead of Pointless Pain

May 31, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem to loved ones from someone who has committed suicide to avoid a painful death:

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

Please forgive the manner of my leaving.

My love and need for all of you remain.

I could not long such suffering sustain,

Nor would it long have held you from your grieving.

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

I hope that choice will not my memory stain,

Nor lead you to be wroth at my deceiving.

My love and need for all of you remain.

For only in you do I live again,

Woven like a wind into your weaving.

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

I put to you the plea of the self-slain:

To comprehend an anguish past conceiving.

My love and need for all of you remain

That all that I have been not be in vain,

But blend into the earth of your believing.

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

My love and need for all of you remain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/thoug4.html. For more poems about suicide, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/suicidepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 29: Frosty Died Last December

May 30: Thank You for Leaving Us Your Son

May 31: Though I Chose Death Instead of Pointless Pain

Thank You for Leaving Us Your Son

May 30, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A thank-you poem to deceased parents from the couple to whom they have left their son:

Thank you for leaving us your son.

He gives us the gift you gave to him.

Although we cannot hope to salve his grief,

Nor fill his cup of joy back to the brim,

Know your flame of love has been passed on.

Your love for him will help our love along,

Out of pain his happiness to win

Upon the sweet green fields of our belief.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/than15.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 29: Frosty Died Last December

May 30: Thank You for Leaving Us Your Son

Frosty Died Last December

May 29, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem about grief at the death of a much-loved pet:

Frosty died last December,

My closest friend for fifteen years.

We were born the same November;

Now I can't put down my tears.

It's not fair that dogs should live

Just a short piece of our lives;

They give us the love we give

To parents, children, husbands, wives.

More loyal than a human love,

More passionate and all-consuming:

No spat would Frosty's love remove,

So fixed on me, so unassuming.

My grief is real, my pain is strong,

Though not all would be so moved;

But I can't think how I'll go on

Without this creature I so loved.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/frosty.html. For more poems about animals, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/animalpetpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 29: Frosty Died Last December

When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 28, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem about the special kind of grief when a loved one dies at Christmastime:

When death must come at Christmastime,

There is a special grief,

A mourning that must mix with joy,

A pain that must be brief.

There is an anguish underneath

The labyrinth of light

That longs for simple emptiness

To contemplate the night.

But life must bubble on its way

And pleasure be put on,

For neither sorrow nor delight

Is ever left alone.

And, like the Virgin, we must smile

With enigmatic grace

As we receive the fragile gift

That nothing can replace.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/whende.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

You Were for Us Not only Love, but Bread

May 27, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem about what happens to grief when the deceased loved one was the only breadwinner of the family:

You were for us not only love, but bread,

Our source of sustenance as well as joy.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

We must content ourselves with what we beg,

The bitter gifts no kindness can alloy.

You were for us not only love, but bread.

We miss you, but our hearts have turned to lead.

We cannot one sweet pang of pain enjoy.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

Nor have we any tears that we might shed

For you, nor thoughts that might grief buoy.

You were for us not only love, but bread,

And so there are no dreams of you in bed,

Nor memories with which my mind might toy.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

No room, no room, but emptiness instead,

A need that does all other need destroy.

You were for us not only love, but bread.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/youwe2.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 26, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A name poem about the relationship between the beauty of love and grief:

Matthew is gone and will never be back.

Although we all loved him, we'll see him no more.

The beauty of love leads to anguish at death,

The fear and the hunger the price of each breath,

Held like a gift that has loss at its core.

Each day without Matthew is filled with our lack,

Winds from the sea that make grief sing and soar.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/matth2.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

Early On, There's a Point to Regret

May 25, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A number poem about grief and regret:

Early on, there's a point to regret:

In creative pain, one can make changes.

Grief is a wild, foolish, helpless rebellion,

Heart against stone, desire smashing against

The locked fact, the impenetrable event,

Yielding nothing but the wash back into life.

For one who grieves, there's no point to regret:

One lives through pain, it's not a time for changes,

Undoing in one's heart what one must accept in life,

Repositioning the precise stones one smashes and smashes against.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/early.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

Margarita Is an Angel

May 24, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem imagining what might happen to a recently deceased person who becomes an angel:

Margarita is an angel,

Awakening as life recedes,

Riding high the Lenten light.

Grace abounds both day and night,

Alive in those who know their needs,

Restoring joy to those who tremble.

In death she dons the angel's mantle,

Touching love that weeps and bleeds,

As in life she found delight.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/marga2.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 19: Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

May 20: Harpies Are But Angels Who Are Harried

May 21: Angels Have No ID Bracelets on Them

May 22: Given Angel’s Wings, Where Might You Fly

May 23: To Be an Angel, One Need Not Have Wings

May 24: Margarita Is an Angel

To Be an Angel, One Need Not Have Wings

May 23, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem about what one needs to be an angel:

To be an angel, one need not have wings.

In giving love there is an equal grace.

Nor need one seek the aura in the face,

As love unveils the beauty of all things.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/tobean.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 19: Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

May 20: Harpies Are But Angels Who Are Harried

May 21: Angels Have No ID Bracelets on Them

May 22: Given Angel’s Wings, Where Might You Fly

May 23: To Be an Angel, One Need Not Have Wings

Given Angel's Wings, Where Might You Fly

May 22, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem imagining what it might be like to be like an angel:

Given angel's wings, where might you fly?

In what sweet heaven might you find your love?

Unwilling to be bound, where might you move,

Lost between the wonder and the why?

If you were but a flame of pure desire,

A light so lovely you could not be seen,

Near mad with yearning, yet somehow serene,

And that were all, what more might you require?

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/givena.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 19: Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

May 20: Harpies Are But Angels Who Are Harried

May 21: Angels Have No ID Bracelets on Them

May 22: Given Angel’s Wings, Where Might You Fly

Angels Have No ID Bracelets on Them

May 21, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about the difficulty of recognizing angels when you see them:

Angels have no ID bracelets on them.

No features glow with heavenly delight.

Given that their wings are made of feeling,

Each flying angel's given to concealing

Love's plumage like a rainbow in the night.

Shyness cloaks the halos that surround them.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/angel2.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 19: Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

May 20: Harpies Are But Angels Who Are Harried

May 21: Angels Have No ID Bracelets on Them

Harpies Are But Angels Who Are Harried

May 20, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A humorous anniversary poem describing harried angels who have become harpies:

Harpies are but angels who are harried,

Angry, disappointed in their lot,

Prone to practice bickering when married,

Perhaps because they don't get what they've got.

Yet angels nonetheless, as pure inside

As deep and drifted, soot-encrusted snow,

Near the heart of God but for their pride,

No less loved, for all their squawk below.

If you find yourself pursued by harpies,

Vengeful just because . . . well, just because,

Elevate the angle of your worries,

Remembering that there are higher laws.

So may you love all beings, bright or small,

And be what you would have them be to all,

Regardless of what they might be to you.

You are the harpist, no matter what you do.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/harpie.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 19: Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

May 20: Harpies Are But Angels Who Are Harried

Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

May 19, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

An acrostic number and birthday poem for siXty-four (requiring an X), urging the person whose birthday it is to sing along with the angels:

Sing as though a choir of angels near

Immersed you in the beauty of their song!

Xylophones accompany the throng,

Though trumpets might be easier to hear.

Yet we must use the letters of the year.

Fear not that your voice will be too strong!

Offer them your music, loud and clear!

Understand that angels hold you dear,

Rejoicing as in joy you sing along.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/singas.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 19: Sing as Though a Choir of Angels Near

To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

May 18, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem about how angels view our lives:

To angels, time is like a movie

Into which they fly,

Neither real nor unengrossing

As we live and die.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/toang2.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Angels

May 18: To Angels, Time Is like a Movie

To Our Big Sister: Happy Graduation

May 17, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem from younger sisters to the oldest one:

To our big sister: Happy Graduation!

Our guide and model, mentor, hero, friend;

Older, wiser, yet of our generation,

Understanding well the wayward wind!

Rejoice, then, in this moment of transition:

Becoming us no longer, moving on

Into adulthood, a sensitive condition,

Given that your childhood is gone.

Still may you be for us the pioneer!

In you we see ourselves as we will be,

Singing down the hallways year by year,

Taking care there'll always be a "we."

Even as you lead, clear-eyed or blind,

Remember that we're following behind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 12: Congratulations on Your Graduation

May 13: Graduates Become the Cover Story

May 14: Happy Graduation

May 15: Grateful for What We Have Learned

May 16: To My “Sis” from “Little Sis” (2)

May 17: To Our Big Sister: Happy Graduation

To My "Sis," from "Lil Sis" (2)

May 16, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem from a younger sister to an older one:

To my "Sis," from "Lil Sis,"

On her graduation day:

Maybe life will separate us,

Yet we'll always be best friends.

So may love, until life ends,

In joy or sorrow not forsake us,

Sunshine on the darkest day.

Though there's a frequency I'll miss,

Each breath of peace that fortune sends

Recalls a bond time can't betray.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/tomys3.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 12: Congratulations on Your Graduation

May 13: Graduates Become the Cover Story

May 14: Happy Graduation

May 15: Grateful for What We Have Learned

May 16: To My “Sis” from “Little Sis” (2)

Grateful for What We Have Learned

May 15, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem about the need for lifelong learning:

Grateful for what we have learned,

Ready now to start

A life in which what we will earn

Depends upon the heart.

Underneath our new degrees

Are habits, knowledge, skill,

That are essential qualities

In anyone who will

One day look back upon this day

Needing learning still.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/grate2.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 12: Congratulations on Your Graduation

May 13: Graduates Become the Cover Story

May 14: Happy Graduation

May 15: Grateful for What We Have Learned

Happy Graduation

May 14, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem about the transient nature of knowledge:

Happy graduation! For at last

A goal long sought has finally been achieved!

Praised be those who persevere, for they

Prepare the ground for gardens that will come,

Yielding fruit for many yet unborn!

Give back the gifts that else would bind you fast,

Returning to the wind what you've received.

A scholar's not a storehouse but a way,

Doing what will ever be undone,

Undoing what was once a brave new dawn.

All that you have labored for is past.

There is no longer knowledge long believed.

In truth, the truth is subject to decay,

Opening a world of wonders, one

Not cubbyholed or clipped, of mystery shorn.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/happ61.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 12: Congratulations on Your Graduation

May 13: Graduates Become the Cover Story

May 14: Happy Graduation

Graduates Become the Cover Story

May 13, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem about how graduates affect the reputation of an institution:

Graduates become the cover story,

Representing all those still within;

As those who came before provide the glory

Determining how well one might begin.

Underneath the letters are the learners,

A class on whom the mantle now must fall,

Taken into custody as earners,

Each a new advertisement for all,

Serving as the institute writ small.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 12: Congratulations on Your Graduation

May 13: Graduates Become the Cover Story

Congratulations on Your Graduation

May 12, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem about facing an uncertain future with the advantage of the knowledge gained in school:

Congratulations on your graduation,

Opening a door not easily reached!

Now go through it: on the other side

Great mountains become hills, and then just fields

Rolling eastward towards a rising sun.

All now is success and celebration,

The music of deeds done and barriers breached.

Underneath, uncertainties still glide

Lean and hungry as the sweet day yields,

And golden moments through your fingers run.

The rock on which you stand is your creation,

Illustrating what your teachers preached

Of learning and the provenance of pride.

Nor need you fear the wind, as knowledge shields

Such as earn it from what storms may come.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/congr4.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 12: Congratulations on Your Graduation

Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 11, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is graduation since many colleges and universities have their graduations in May.

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

A graduation poem about the continuing value of a liberal education:

Alma maters nourish more than mind:

Light within illuminates the whole,

Making one of multitudes combined,

Allowing each the passion of its soul.

Maybe we'll forget much that we've learned

As we narrow to a single road.

The powers we were given we have earned,

Ever the way blessings are bestowed,

Riches not retained until returned.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 11: Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

Happiness, like Most Things, Comes from Mothers

May 10, 2020

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 10.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about how a mother’s love is the basis for all other love:

Happiness, like most things, comes from mothers.

An amniotic universe is rare.

Paradises aren't found with others,

Perhaps because we must breathe our own air.

Yet even after paradise, we find

Mothers are a bath of warm affection.

Only mothers' love is truly blind

To guarantee all errant souls protection.

However we find love, it can be only

Evanescences of memories

Retained from when we never could be lonely,

'Ere we left our mother's outsized knees.

So good it is to have that happiness

Designed to grace each subsequent caress,

All future love and joy to underlie,

Yearning backwards towards a mother's sigh.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/happi2.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

5/5: I Know I’m No Replacement for a Child

5/6: Although a Daughter, I Write This as a Mother

5/7: Daughters-in-Law Are Our Grandchildren’s Mothers

5/8: From the Distance of Our Separation

5/9: Happy First Mother’s Day

5/10: Happiness, like Most Things, Comes from Mothers

Happy First Mother's Day

May 9, 2020

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 10.

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

A Happy 1^st Mother’s Day poem:

Happy first Mother's Day!

A joint venture of

Puberty, pregnancy,

Poop, pee, and love!

Yet speaking of mothers,

Maybe you've heard

Of how much sheer wonder

There is in a word:

Home to each pilgrim,

Enduring embrace,

Roost for each rambler

'Twixt grievance and grace;

Salve for each wound,

Dappling despair,

A love one must leave

Yet always is there.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/happ59.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

5/5: I Know I’m No Replacement for a Child

5/6: Although a Daughter, I Write This as a Mother

5/7: Daughters-in-Law Are Our Grandchildren’s Mothers

5/8: From the Distance of Our Separation

5/9: Happy First Mother’s Day

From the Distance of Our Separation

May 8, 2020

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 10.

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

A Mother’s Day poem from a grownup child looking back with love at a difficult adolescence:

From the distance of our separation

I see the whole of which I was a part;

I see the way my temper tore your heart,

And then the love beneath the laceration.

I see the landscape shaping our relation:

Your fear that I might choose with little art,

My anger at the dreams you would impart,

The ancient paths that lead to confrontation.

But knowledge needn't linger in regret,

Nor wait upon some wind to clear its sky.

We are none the worse for what is gone.

The moments that I never will forget

Are those whose careless grace must make me cry,

Safe within a heart forever won.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

5/5: I Know I’m No Replacement for a Child

5/6: Although a Daughter, I Write This as a Mother

5/7: Daughters-in-Law Are Our Grandchildren’s Mothers

5/8: From the Distance of Our Separation

Daughters-in-Law Are Our Grandchildren's Mothers

May 7, 2020

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 10.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to a daughter-in-law:

Daughters-in-law are our grandchildren's mothers.

As such, they carry our fortunes downstream.

Under their guidance, our hopes become others',

Giving their force to a much larger dream.

How lucky we are to have you for the carer

That nurtures the hearts of our hearts, that they may

Each be a lover, a giver and sharer,

Remaking the world in their image each day.

So do we all, like streams from the mountains,

In time become joined in the souls we have made,

Now mingled forever, eternal companions,

Linked by our love in a bond that won't fade.

As you in your noontime your work of love do,

We watch from the hillside, grateful for you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

5/5: I Know I’m No Replacement for a Child

5/6: Although a Daughter, I Write This as a Mother

5/7: Daughters-in-Law Are Our Grandchildren’s Mothers

Although a Daughter, I Write This as a Mother

May 6, 2020

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 10.

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

A Mother’s Day poem from a single mother to her mother, who, through the death of another daughter, is raising a granddaughter:

Although a daughter, I write this as a mother.

We're both mothers now, of child-daughters:

You, a grandmother forced to be a mother,

And I, a widow, alone with my fatherless daughter.

Death has thus shaped both our lives in ways

We would not have chosen. Yet life is still the bright,

Painfully lovely thing it was always:

Our children like dancers on a dark, splendid night,

Needing our loves as I needed yours; your love

The same song as ever, a lullaby I remember

So well from my time in your arms. We move

In slow spirals towards the stars. September

Has weeks like June, yet is closer to the fall.

Love has no answers, yet its beauty answers all.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

5/5: I Know I’m No Replacement for a Child

5/6: Although a Daughter, I Write This as a Mother

I Know I'm No Replacement for a Child

May 5, 2020

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 10.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to a wife who has had several miscarriages and no children:

I know I’m no replacement for a child.

That’s a loss I know I can’t make whole.

But I would be the sun that on you smiled,

A bit of brightness that your heart beguiled

And burned away the sadness in your soul.

I know I’m no replacement for a child,

Nor could you by my love be reconciled

To what both time and chance from your womb stole.

But I would be the sun that on you smiled,

Or gentle wind that made your winter mild,

Warm enough to meliorate the cold.

I know I’m no replacement for a child.

There is no way that one could fill the wild

Emptiness your phantom arms enfold.

But I would be the sun that on you smiled,

That lighted up the world that death defiled

And gleamed across the bell that in you tolled.
I know I’m no replacement for a child.
But I would be the sun that on you smiled.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/iknow9.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

5/5: I Know I’m No Replacement for a Child

Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

May 4, 2020

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 10.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about how a mother’s love is passed on through generations:

Mothers are the archetypes of love.

One loves as one has learned to love, and dances

To childhood tunes that one has learned by heart.

How daunting to assume that ancient part!

Enduring icon to untold romances

Replayed through generations of love’s art,

Still loving children whom one knows not of.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/moth17.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day

5/4: Mothers Are the Archetypes of Love

Future Selves Must Wait, Apart

May 3, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is psychology at 41.

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

A psychological number poem about someone who is going through the pain of a divorce:

Future selves must wait, apart.

Old whispers I do not restrain

Roam in me wild. Only

Thus I come to live again.

Yet for now I cannot start.

One gets used to being lonely;

No one presses on the heart.

Emptiness makes room for pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/futsel.html. For more psychological poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology at 41

4/27: Forty-One Is Filled with Precious Longing

4/28: Forty-One Lingers in the Moment

4/29: Forty-One Still Sometimes Spreads Her Wings

4/30: Find Your Wilderness Within Your Heart

5/1: Forests Can Be Rooted in a Soul

5/2: For the Lucky Ones, Life Is Full of Love

5/3: Future Selves Must Wait, Apart

For the Lucky Ones, Life Is Full of Love

May 2, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is psychology at 41.

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

A psychological number poem about living a life full of love both at work and at play:

For the lucky ones, life is full of love.

One hears its music through both night and day,

Returning in the darkness to its beauty.

The work is just as joyful as the play,

Yielding pleasure that resilient proves.

One dances through the doldrums of one's duty,

Not only for the ends but for the moves,

Each a kind of worship, prayer, praise.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/forthe.html. For more psychological poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Psychology at 41

4/27: Forty-One Is Filled with Precious Longing

4/28: Forty-One Lingers in the Moment

4/29: Forty-One Still Sometimes Spreads Her Wings

4/30: Find Your Wilderness Within Your Heart

5/1: Forests Can Be Rooted in a Soul

5/2: For the Lucky Ones, Life Is Full of Love