Poem of the Week: 2021

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Given the Fragility of Life

May 23, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A get-well-soon poem for someone who has recently come through surgery:

Given the fragility of life,
Each of us remains a miracle,
Though new emerged from some bright sea of pain.
When every second feels just like a knife
Entering the soft flesh of the will,
Life whispers soon we will be well again.
Linger, then, along the edge of shade;
Soon enough you will be in the sun,
Open-armed, erect, and unafraid.
Old wounds remind us of fierce battles won,
Nor will our patient faith not be repaid.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/givent.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Health.
May 17: Perhaps You Think that, Yes, You Are an Island
May 18: I Wear My Mask for You
May 19: Zzzoom
May 20: After the Virus
Mat 21: I Pray for You and Wish I Could Do More
May 22: O Lord, Help Me Be a Burden
May 23: Given the Fragility of Life

Note: Google has decided to discontinue Feedburner, the free service that sends you this daily email. At the age of 80, I have decided that this would be a good time for me to discontinue the Poem of the Day. This will be the last Poem of the Day email.

I will still be posting a new Poem of the Week each week at my Web site (https://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html), as well as regularly adding new poems, drama, and fiction to the site. And you are welcome to follow me on:
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PoemsbyNicholasGordon)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/poems_for_free)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyixnna5SPO5EIe4IAKkXQ)
and Twitter (https://twitter.com/poemsforfree).

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Saturday, May 22, 2021

O Lord, Help Me Be a Burden

May 22, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A religious poem about someone who prays for the strength to be a burden on loved ones:

O Lord, help me be a burden!
My mother and my sister do their duty,
But I can see impatience in their eyes.
Help me, please, endure until my time.

My mother and my sister do their duty,
Loving me as righteousness demands.
Help me, please, endure until my time,
And midst my pain to live with ample grace.

Loving me as righteousness demands,
They teach me how to lean upon your love,
And midst my pain to live with ample grace.
O lift me up upon your unspent shoulders!

They teach me how to lean upon your love,
But I can see impatience in their eyes.
O lift me up upon your unspent shoulders!
O Lord, help me be a burden!

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/olord.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Thursday, May 20, 2021

I Pray for You and Wish I Could Do More

May 21, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A friendship poem for someone who is suffering from a serious illness far away:

I pray for you and wish I could do more,
But more I cannot do from far away.
Like leaves before the wind we cannot stay,
Ripped dancing, dancing to the forest floor.
I wish I could your ailing health restore
And bring you to the strength of yesterday,
But all we mortal souls can do is pray
That God might alter what we have in store.
The beauty in our fragile life is love,
The only thing that makes the moment matter,
The golden thread that binds us all in light.
I wish, I wish I could your pain remove,
But like a wall the truth my will must shatter,
And so I send my prayers into the night.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/iprayf.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

After the Virus

May 20, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical health poem for children about whether they might remember the lessons the experience of COVID taught them once the pandemic is over:

After the virus, when we don't wear masks,
Not socially distant, no longer afraid,
When zooming's less frequent, and nobody asks
Were we too close to our friends while we played?

After the virus, when we have a fever,
And we are just sick, in no danger at all,
When we go to movies whenever we like
And go out to a park or a mall:

Will we remember,
O will we remember
How much we need others,
How much we all share?

Will we remember,
O will we remember
That we breed the same germs
And breathe the same air?

After the virus, when we're free to wander
Wherever we like, without so many rules,
When we no longer need to protect one another,
And it's summer vacation that closes our schools:

Will we remember,
O will we remember
The heroes who saved us,
Who kept us alive?

And will we remember,
O will we remember
To live out our lives
With their courage our guide?
With their love as our guide.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/after4.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Health.
May 17: Perhaps You Think that, Yes, You Are an Island
May 18: I Wear My Mask for You
May 19: Zzzoom
May 20: After the Virus

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

ZZZoom

May 19, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem for children about zooming for play and school during the COVID pandemic:

After we come home from school,
Here is how we play!
Until this virus goes away,
Here is how we play!

We'll play games and have some fun
While all of us are safe at home,
Zooming! Zooming! Everyone
On a laptop or a phone.

We're learning in a different way.
Zoom is our school.
Until this virus goes away,
This is our new rule:

Playing, learning, having fun
While all of us are safe at home,
Zooming! Zooming! Everyone!
This is how we learn and play:
Z-Z-Z-Zoom!

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/zzzoom.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Health.
May 17: Perhaps You Think that, Yes, You Are an Island
May 18: I Wear My Mask for You
May 19: Zzzoom

Note: Google has decided to discontinue Feedburner, the free service that sends you this daily email. At the age of 80, I have decided that would will be a good time for me to discontinue the Poem of the Day. The last Poem of the Day email will be sent out on May 23rd.

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Monday, May 17, 2021

I Wear My Mask for You

May 18, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical health poem for children about the ethics of wearing masks during the COVID pandemic:

I wear my mask for you.
You wear your mask for me.
Together we stay safe,
Together distantly.

I don't breathe on you.
You don't breathe on me.
We watch out for each other.
We act responsibly.

Masks protect the air we share.
Wearing masks means that we care
About what things we do
Might do to others.

Masks make us safer, you and me,
So I act not as I, but we,
Knowing that we're all in this
Together.

I wear my mask for you.
You wear your mask for me.
Together we stay safe,
Together distantly.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/iwearm.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Health.
May 17: Perhaps You Think that, Yes, You Are an Island
May 18: I Wear My Mask for You

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Perhaps You Think that, Yes, You Are an Island

May 17, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical poem about the ethical implications of a pandemic:

Perhaps you think that, yes, you are an island,
As are your family, tribe, religion, nation.
No doubt you've rarely thought a child in Greenland
Deserved equivalent consideration.
Everyone, of course, can host a virus,
Maybe be the site of a mutation,
Illustrating well that all are us,
Cause for casuistic contemplation.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/perh11.html. For more poems about health, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/healthpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Health.
May 17: Perhaps You Think that, Yes, You Are an Island

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Seventy-Three Refocuses on Love

May 16, 2021

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 religious number poem about a love that blesses all equally at any age:

Seventy-three refocuses on love
Even as she now must live alone.
Very little waits behind the door.
Every day is like the day before.
Nestled in her heart are sleeves of stone.
Time hangs like a fog no sun will soon remove.
Yet there is much that makes her yearn for more.

To be is to be loved and blessed with grace,
However one might live or soon might die.
Revelations come like words long known,
Each an invitation to embrace
Ecstasy that needs no reason why.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/73.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot
May 12: Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul
May 13: Eid Is Bittersweet
May 14: Little Do You Know How Much You Love Me
May15: Recently I Dreamed I Talked to You
May 16: Seventy-Three Refocuses on Love

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Recently I Dreamed I Talked to You

May 15, 2021

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 religious poem about how faith makes grief more bearable:

Recently I dreamed I talked to you.
You were in the desert, and you said
That I would never want for love, for you
Would love me now until the end of time.

I cannot think that you are wholly gone,
That one day you could simply be no more,
And it should come about that your bright soul
Would vanish like a rainbow in the darkness.

For me it is as if you were away,
Somewhere on a very long vacation.
And though I know you're dead, you do not seem
To be beyond the boundaries of my love.

Our souls do not abide in days or hours
But in a love that never, never ends.
You will be with me till life is over,
Then I with you somewhere beyond the stars.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/recent.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Friday, May 14, 2021

Little Do You Know How Much You Love Me

May 14, 2021

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 religious love poem from God to a non-believer:

Little do you know how much you love me,
For there can be no faith without desire.
Little does your pleasure feel the fire
That burns beneath your cool avoidance of me.
You know no ease or ecstasy above me,
No balm so rich in all that you require,
No breast so full on which you may expire,
Satisfied that in your joy you've moved me.
My love for you is such that I will wait
Until in pain or passion you turn towards me,
Full of need that needs my knowing art.
My yearning for your love will not abate,
Though not one single word or thought rewards me,
And I must dwell unnoticed in your heart.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/little.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Eid Is Bittersweet

May 13, 2021

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 for Eid Al-Fitr about the return to the mundane world:

Eid is bittersweet. The holy month
Is over and the mundane months begun,
Devoted to the world of work and pleasure.
A sense of satisfaction comes at length,
Like winds that through the open windows run,
Freshening the soul, at last at leisure.
In celebration, then, and with new strength,
Turning to the many from the One,
Re-embrace the lives and loves you treasure.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/eidisb.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot
May 12: Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul
May 13: Eid Is Bittersweet

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul

May 12, 2021

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 for Eid al-Fitr about the benefits of religious fasting:

Each fast is like a cleansing of the soul
In which one's thoughts are purified by prayer,
Deepened by connection to the whole
As one becomes somehow more simply there.
Leaving the sweet holiday behind,
Families feast to bid it fond farewell.
If Ramadan rewards the heart and mind,
The feast rewards the long-neglected shell
Returning to the palace of the wind.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/eachfa.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot
May 12: Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

How Might One Untie the Knot

May 11, 2021

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 religious poem about how the awareness of God’s love leaves one no alternative to the vicissitudes of faith:

How might one untie the knot
That binds one to God's love?
For love imposes innocence,
And innocence, remorse.

The tenderness that time forgot
No caustic can remove:
The laws of cause and consequence
Are cut off at the source.

Love comes simply as one is,
Condemning one to hope,
Restoring culpability,
Awakening one's pain.

So loved, one cannot be but His,
Though one be moved to grope
Towards some amoral liberty
That seeks the void in vain.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howmi6.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Monday, May 10, 2021

The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within

May 10, 2021

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 religious poem about how the devastating tsunami of 2004 might cause some to lose their faith:

The wave without becomes a wave within,
Semblance of a transcendental self
Unmoved by the cool carnage of its motion.
Nor ought we fail to calm this inner ocean
And build once more upon its nameless gulf.
May our love be at the heart of being,
In which all loved ones lost might rise again.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thewav.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

Sunday, May 9, 2021

A Mother's Love Determines How

May 9, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about the importance of a mother’s love to one’s ability to love oneself and others:

A mother's love determines how
We love ourselves and others.
There is no sky we'll ever see
Not lit by that first love.

Stripped of love, the universe
Would drive us mad with pain,
But we are born into a world
That greets our cries with joy.

How much I owe you for the kiss
That told me who I was!
The greatest gift--a love of life--
Lay laughing in your eyes.

Because of you my world still has
The soft grace of your smile,
And every wind of fortune bears
The scent of your caress.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/molove.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate
May 5: Mothers Are as Mothers Do
May 6: Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes
May 7: Godmothers Aren’t Fairies in a Tale
May 8: Although Consumed by Fury, You Still Loved Us
May 9: A Mother’s Love Determines How

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Although Consumed by Fury, You Still Loved Us

May 8, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to a deceased mother from her abused child:

Although consumed by fury, you still loved us.
At least that is the knowledge of my heart.
Screaming like a child, you would beat us
Until you snapped, and then the tears would start.
"You know I love you," you would cry, demanding
More of us through tears than with your fist.
And we, through tears, would nod our understanding,
Too bullied in our pain to dare resist.
Yet now that you've been dead for many years,
And I have wandered through my own vast hell,
I see the desperate anguish in your tears
And hope at last that I can love you well.
For only in my love can your love be
The love that once, I think, you had for me.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/altho4.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

Thursday, May 6, 2021

Godmothers Aren't Fairies in a Tale

May 7, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem for godmothers:

Godmothers aren't fairies in a tale,
Offering a world that cannot be.
Demand of them glass slippers and they fail,
More likely to do favors naturally.
On them you can depend for a relation:
They offer gifts and guidance with a kiss.
Having taken on the obligation,
Each freely out of love gives what she is.
Real godmothers have no wands or wings,
So they must work with wisdom, love, and things.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/godmot.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes

May 6, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about recognizing each child as a miracle:

Miracles wear ordinary clothes.
One rarely sees them naked on the street,
Taking outdoor showers in the rain,
Hushing crowds with sheer full-frontal grace.
Each is wont, at times, to pick her nose,
Refuse to keep her room or person neat,
'Mid daily chaos, daily wars sustain,
Swaddled in the fleece of time and place.
Deep within the moment there is beauty,
A radiance that lights with love one's duty,
Yielding one quick searing face-to-face.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mirac3.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Mothers Are as Mothers Do

May 5, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about the need to celebrate substitute mothers:

Mothers are as mothers do, and yet
Often they are neighbors, friends, or aunts.
The common thread is love that will endure -
Hardy, patient, generous, and sure,
Embrace beyond all act or circumstance.
Remember them this day with love, and let
Sweet words reverberate within their hearts and dance.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/moth19.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate
May 5: Mothers Are as Mothers Do

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

How Might One Find the Strength to Will One's Fate

May 4, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem for a woman who cannot have children:

How might one find the strength to will one's fate,
Accepting childlessness with heartfelt grace?
Perhaps no joy can take a child's place.
Perhaps no love can such loss compensate.
Yet one ought not regret one's present state,
Making oneself the self one would erase,
One's identity, with all one would embrace,
The one no other fortune could create.
How beautiful to cherish who you are,
Even your frustration and your yearning,
Reveling each moment in what is,
'Mid joy or pain, the miracle of being.
So might you sometimes sail beyond the bar,
Distant from the restless tidal turning,
And let the wild wind fill you with its bliss,
Yielding to a presence that is freeing.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howm14.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate

Monday, May 3, 2021

Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling

May 3, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about the need to cuddle:

Mothers never mind a little cuddling.
On such sweet moments happiness depends.
There is a melody in mothering
Heard by those long lost in means and ends,
Enduring music that such anguish mends.
Remember, then, to cuddle while there's time,
'Ere the great gates close on innocence,
Severing the soul-cord by design,
Delivering the child to providence,
Adult enough to live behind a fence,
Yet cuddling still where souls still intertwine.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/moth18.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling

Sunday, May 2, 2021

How Can Love Hold On So Many Years

May 2, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A 25th anniversary poem about the beauty of lasting love:

How can love hold on so many years?
A passion lasts, we're told, no more than two.
Pleasure is more rich when passion clears,
Pouring forth from love to love renew.
Years of love can gather to an ocean
That reaches an erratic constancy.
When there's no wind, it seems bereft of motion;
Elated by a breeze, the waves run free.
No love can last unless there is the will.
Tapestries are woven by design.
Years pass and love continues, stronger still
For all the years of labor in each line.
In life, if there is one, then we are blessed,
For whom we can be totally undressed;
Take off our selves and find our spirits fair;
Hunger for sweet love, and it is there.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howca6.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.
April 26: Here There Are No Platitudes to Share
April 27: Home Must Be a Daily Re-Creation
April 28: How Beautiful the Blandishments of Spring
April 29: How Beautiful the Light upon the Water
April 30: How Can I Say What Is Too Much for Words
May 1: Is One Month an Anniversary
May 2: How Can Love Hold On So Many Years

Saturday, May 1, 2021

Is One Month an Anniversary

May 1, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

An anniversary poem for a one-month anniversary:

Is one month an anniversary?
"Anno," after all, refers to "year."
But in my heart there's such a celebration
That bells must ring! And words? Well, I don't care.

In our lives there will be many years:
The world will turn and turn around our love.
Real anniversaries will come and go,
Yet none could more than this my wild heart move!

I know this cannot be what it might seem:
A perfect song that will not have an end.
It's just the newness makes it seem like spring,
Yet though it age, it will age like wine.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/is1mon.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

Friday, April 30, 2021

How Can I Say What Is Too Much for Words

April 30, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

An anniversary poem about how each might know how the other’s love feels:

How can I say what is too much for words?
A rainbow cannot fit into my heart.
Perhaps we should be musical as birds
Perched singing of our love with practiced art.
You cannot taste my happiness, or feel
A little of the chill of your caress.
No word or metaphor can make it real,
Nor song contain the truth I would express.
In my love there are mountains miles high,
Valleys rainbow carpeted, and wide
Enough for clear, still lakes to steal the sky ...
R-R-R-R!!! I cannot tell you what's inside!
So you must turn to what you feel for me,
And read therein my tender rhapsody.
Reach deep, my love, and I will be there, too:
You have me in your heart, as I have you.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howca2.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

Thursday, April 29, 2021

How Beautiful the Light upon the Water

April 29, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A 4th anniversary poem about the inexpressible beauty of every moment:

How beautiful the light upon the water!
A momentary dance across the heart:
Past all wit, all will, all words, all wonder;
Past hope, past dream, past truth too deep to chart.
Yes, there is much that cannot be forsaken,
For it is far too lovely to conceive,
Of which no single part can be partaken
Unless one would with weft alone worlds weave.
Remember, then, this joy beyond all feeling,
Touched by tears more grateful than revealing,
However shaped by ritual or art.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howbe2.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

How Beautiful the Blandishments of Spring

April 28, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A 3rd anniversary poem about the difficulty in the first few years of adjusting to marriage:

How beautiful the blandishments of spring!
Arrays of passion blooming in the aisles,
Pleasure surfeited with loving lust!
Pain then follows, Eden come undone,
Yielding to what love could not foresee.

Time, yes, time will soon its sweet balm bring.
Hurt rejects; commitment reconciles.
In love, the gilt-edged currency is trust,
Redeeming what has many years to run,
Delivering what looks like destiny.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howbe3.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.
April 26: Here There Are No Platitudes to Share
April 27: Home Must Be a Daily Re-Creation
April 28: How Beautiful the Blandishments of Spring

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Home Must Be a Daily Re-Creation

April 27, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

An anniversary poem about the interplay between physical homes and love:

Home must be a daily re-creation
As two make whole a space not wholly theirs.
Places are part passion, part sensation,
Pending love to place the charms and chairs.
Yearning can appropriate the earth,
Annexing stone to self and eye to sea;
Nor can the wind bring wandering souls to birth,
Needing love to wake their will-to-be.
In shared dominion domicile sits,
Vestal fires lighting hearth and heart,
Equal reigns derived from equal writs,
Restorations none can tell apart.
So must home be both gift and cherished choice,
An outer bulwark and an inner voice,
Requiring love to work its wonders well,
Yet well worth loving for both pith and shell.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/homemu.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.
April 26: Here There Are No Platitudes to Share
April 27: Home Must Be a Daily Re-Creation

Monday, April 26, 2021

Here There Are No Platitudes to Share

April 26, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A 35th anniversary poem about a depth of feeling well beyond words:

Here there are no platitudes to share;
After all these years, no words to measure.
Perhaps such love is more than one can bear;
Perhaps one's joy lies far beyond one's pleasure.
Yet words are merely sluices to the flood
That wells well inland from the graceful wall
Holding in its smile a truth that would
Inundate the bare brown fields of fall.
Remember, then, the beauty that will grow
Till time lets down the curtain of its longing;
Years are fast, but happiness is slow,
For there is no replacement for belonging.
In love there is an ease not easily won,
Freedom from a freedom too undone,
Tears no tears can drain or words can tell,
Held in a heart that knows its passions well.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/heret4.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.
April 26: Here There Are No Platitudes to Share

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 5

April 25, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

Part 5 of an Earth Day poem depicting the eventual destruction of the environment and the more environmentally friendly civilization that will follow, inspired by The Fifth World at https://thefifthworld.com/:

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 5

I dance the dance of the hawk.
I am the hawk, hovering over my prey,
Diving, diving to clutch it in my talons.
I am my prey, struggling to break free,
Knowing the terrible fate that awaits me,
The frightening fall when those talons let go,
The painful shock when I hit the rocks below,
The sharp beak shredding my dead body,
The delicious taste of my meat in the hawk's hungry craw.
And I will hunt and be the prey of others,
Dancing, dancing, in a dance that for this moment
Is completely all that I am.

I ride the wind over a narrow canyon.
A slender radioactive river twists painfully towards the sea.
Below me the canopy stretches from coast to coast,
From pole to pole, green islands in a swollen ocean.
The poisons still seep out of their decaying containers.
The Earth swallows them, embraces them, cooling, cooling,
Healing, healing for the next hundred million years.

At night, above us, the stars once again tell their stories,
Once again guide us on our journeys, reveal their beauty.
Once again our spirits sing in harmony with those around us.
Life itself is music, is dance, is grace, is a thing of beauty,
As it once was, as it is again, as it will remain forever.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/winds5.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Earth Day.
April 19: One Wishes Earth Were Not So Decimated
April 20: Endless Earths
April 21: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 1
April 22: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 2
April 23: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 3
April 24: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 4
April 25: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 5

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 4

April 24, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

Part 4 of an Earth Day poem depicting the eventual destruction of the environment and the more environmentally friendly civilization that will follow, inspired by The Fifth World at https://thefifthworld.com/:

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 4

Then came a long convalescence, which many did not survive.
Seas stayed put, animals and plants emerged furtively,
Humankind bowed its collective head and vowed its collective vow:

Never again.

Never again to isolate their hearts.
Never again to use other humans,
To use other animals,
To use plants,
To modify the Earth.

Never again to hunt or gather without gratitude,
To breathe without awe,
To live without sacrifice,
To love without humility.

Never again.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/winds4.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

Friday, April 23, 2021

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 3

April 23, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

Part 3 of an Earth Day poem depicting the eventual destruction of the environment and the more environmentally friendly civilization that will follow, inspired by The Fifth World at https://thefifthworld.com/:

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 3

Eventually, Earth rebelled.
Gates were breached, selves flooded.
None could claim sovereignty, none could deny
That they were droplets in an angry ocean,
Spray that lashed a drowning shore.

Ah! How quickly I became we, and then wee,
Conscious of our inconsequence,
Too late to save the billions of lives
Leveraged by civilization.

Selves, attempting desperately to return to spirits,
Pounded on locked doors, not knowing how to get in.
Too late to learn a lifetime of disciplines, mysteries, rituals,
Of ways of living, loving, speaking, thinking, perceiving;
Too late to become a child again and be nurtured in humility and awe;
Too late to learn that freedom leads to slavery,
While servitude leads to different kinds of freedom.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/winds3.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 2

April 22, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

Part 2 of an Earth Day poem depicting the eventual destruction of the environment and the more environmentally friendly civilization that will follow, inspired by The Fifth World at https://thefifthworld.com/:

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 2

The original sin was the sin of self.
Self sprang from spirit and said:
I am I. I am not you.
From this falsehood came much evil.
Humans claimed dominion over the Earth,
Plowed deep wounds into the land, enslaved animals,
Enslaved their own brothers and sisters.

I am I. I am not you.

They poisoned the Earth for millennia,
Poisons that still leak from their cisterns,
From their white-hot chambers,
From their mounded waste,
From their drowned or buried ruins,
From their long-forgotten hearts.

I am I. I am not you.

Immediately, spirit was struck blind,
Became deaf, became dumb, became silent,
Could no longer hear the words of wolves,
The whispers of wild grain,
The songs of trees,
The passions of wildflowers;
Dwelt alone behind the borders of self,
Cut off from the spirits that surrounded it, besieged it,
From the ocean of spirit that thrashed against its walls,
From the love that waited at its gates.

I am I. I am not you.

But you are us.
You poisoned us,
You poisoned all of us
When you poisoned yourselves.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/winds2.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Earth Day.
April 19: One Wishes Earth Were Not So Decimated
April 20: Endless Earths
April 21: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 1
April 22: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 2

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 1

April 21, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

Part 1 of an Earth Day poem depicting the eventual destruction of the environment and the more environmentally friendly civilization that will follow, inspired by The Fifth World at https://thefifthworld.com/:

Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 1

This song is a whisper of wind,
The groan of a tree trunk,
The patter of raindrops on leaves,
The buzz of bees buried in bluebells,
The burst of birdsong at dawn,
The breathless silence of sunset,
The canopy of stars above the canopy of forest
Seen from an outcrop high above the forest floor.

Why song?
The sounds of Earth are beautiful enough.
Why painting?
The flowers are beautiful enough.
Why dance?
The bound of a gazelle is beautiful enough.
Why stories?
Our lives are beautiful enough.

Surrender, surrender, surrender,
And you shall become a spring
Gushing up from the bowels of the earth,
Watering the wild garden of the world.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/winds1.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Earth Day.
April 19: One Wishes Earth Were Not So Decimated
April 20: Endless Earths
April 21: Windsong for a Healing Earth: Part 1

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Endless Earths

April 20, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

An Earth Day poem imagining our wandering the universe in search of a home once we have ruined the Earth:

Endless Earths! An infinite number spins
Around their suns, full of lusty life,
Revolving islands, with ravenous creatures rife,
The untouched Edens waiting for our sins.
How might we treat them better than our own
Despoiled Earth, once a garden grove,
As, banished to the stars, we restless rove,
Yearning for a place that feels like home.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/endles.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Earth Day.
April 19: One Wishes Earth Were Not So Decimated
April 20: Endless Earths

Monday, April 19, 2021

One Wishes the Earth Were Not So Decimated

April 19, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Earth Day, which is celebrated on April 22.

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

An Earth Day poem about the environmental damage of overpopulation:

One wishes Earth were not so decimated:
Viscera ripped open, entrails exposed,
Eden stripped bare, over-cultivated,
Returning cash crops as demand explodes.
Poor Earth! Raped and forced to bear the children,
Of whom but few can find milk at her breasts.
Poor children! Forced to wrestle with their brethren,
Undernourished brood of the unblessed.
Let Earth be, O humans! Let her be!
All of you, reduce your numbers now!
The Earth's goods could be shared more equally
If there were wealth enough to go around.
One wishes there were fewer to care more,
Needing less, that time might Earth restore.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/onewi.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Earth Day.
April 19: One Wishes Earth Were Not So Decimated

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Erase My Soul

April 18, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr about the peace that comes from erasing oneself through prayer:

Erase my soul and let me be
Invisible as air.
Detain me in Your emptiness
And let me be just prayer.
Let my passion disappear;
Focus well my mind.
Immerse me in infinity
Till at peace I turn to see
Ramadan behind.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/erasem.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within
April 14: Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep
April 15: Reason Is No Cause for Revelation
April 16: Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith
April 17: Rights Are Not Equivalent to Freedom
April 18: Erase My Soul

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Rights Are Not Equivalent to Freedom

April 17, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about how the individual shapes and is shaped by society:

Rights are not equivalent to freedom.
All have claims upon the lives of all.
Make yourself a servant of the kingdom,
Acting in the interests of the whole.
Deeds are sermons preached upon the plain
As each from each has much to lose or gain;
Nor is faith the free choice of one soul.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/rights.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

Friday, April 16, 2021

Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

April 16, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about the need for righteous behavior to sustain faith:

Righteousness remains the rock of faith,
As what one does sustains what one believes.
Mere hypocrites might pray, the Prophet saith;
Actions must be words the heart conceives.
Do, then, what acts and rituals are due,
As faith becomes a flame that feeds on you,
No less than as a fire consumes dry leaves.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/righte.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Reason Is No Cause for Revelation

April 15, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about the need for revelation:

Reason is no cause for revelation.
A moment comes and goes; a word endures.
More than sense must underlie sensation.
A holy mind and heart such faith secures.
Depend, then, on your fasting to awaken
A love of Allah easily forsaken.
Nor is there mooring where one's reason moors.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/reason.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep

April 14, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about appreciating not just the wisdom but also the beauty of the Koran:

Read the Holy Book as though asleep,
And in a dream awaken to its beauty,
Making it the music of your moment
And weaving it like gold throughout your day.
Do not journey through it just to reap,
Avid for the kernels of your duty,
Neglecting the thick flowers in your way.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/readth.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within
April 14: Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

April 13, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan on the need for discipline to free oneself for prayer:

Rapture comes most easily within
A discipline that divvies up the day,
Making time for timelessness, and space,
A rolled-up rectangle holy anyplace,
Dear temple of delight where one might pray,
Assigned some sweet-tongued verses to begin
Now hallowing this hollow cask of clay.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/raptur.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

Monday, April 12, 2021

Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

April 12, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about the role of the holiday in reminding us of the the evanescence of our earthly existence:

Ramadan reminds us that the world
Around us is a temporary place
Made for an equivocal embrace
As we ride this rock through vastness hurled.
Dance upon the Earth with joy and laughter
As long as you remember what comes after.
Nor will you find your home in time and space.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramad2.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

Sunday, April 11, 2021

We Went Too Far Too Fast, and Yet

April 11, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem from someone who wants to step back without breaking off:

We went too far too fast, and yet
I don't want this to end.
How do I step back from love
And keep you as a friend?

How do I feel affection and
Refrain from undue touch?
How do I tell you how I feel
And still not say too much?

I know I led you to expect
Far more than I should give
Before I have the strength to know
Just how I want to live.

The fault is mine, all mine, and so
I now must ask of you
Forgiveness, and the simple space
To do what I must do.

Please don't draw away from me
In anger or in pain,
For in our mutual respect
We both have much to gain.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wewent.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Troubled Loves.
April 5: Although We’re No Longer Together, I Still Love You
April 6: Love So Often Must Depend on Timing
April 7: There Has to Be a Way Across These Mountains
April 8: There Is a Dark and Gloomy Place
April 9: This Will Not Work if You Don’t Want to Try
April 10: We’ve Been Dating Now More than a Year
April 11: We Went Too Far Too Fast, and Yet

Saturday, April 10, 2021

We've Been Dating Now More than a Year

April 10, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem asking for more than the other is willing to give:

We've been dating now more than a year,
And I'd like to date you many more;
But there are things that I've been waiting for,
And why you still avoid them isn't clear.
What is it in our intimacy you fear?
What hurdles of the mind, what inner law
Shuts the gates of pleasure just before
Our love can gallop off in full career?
Is it some alignment of our stars
That twists your taste just as we near the line?
Some gremlin that turns ecstasy to ice?
Or is it some tough principle that bars
Affection from erasing yours and mine,
Joining us in one bright paradise?

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weveb2.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

Friday, April 9, 2021

This Will Not Work if You Don't Want to Try

April 9, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem to a spouse in the midst of marital difficulty:

This will not work if you don't want to try.
There is no way to love except to choose.
You cannot go through people as through shoes:
With each love lost a bit of you must die.
We are all yours, the three of us, and I
Still love you though I know that I may lose.
My love is there to answer or refuse;
I wait upon your definite reply.
Do not say yes for any sake but yours,
Nor sacrifice your happiness for duty,
Nor swim against the current of your will.
But you will find abundance on these shores,
And in your love a more abiding beauty
Than any that might barren hunger still.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thiswi.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Monday, May 17, 2021

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Friday, May 14, 2021

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Monday, May 10, 2021

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Thursday, May 6, 2021

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

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