The Night My Heart Stopped

 A poem about a moment of silent communication between the poet and a racoon:

The night my heart stopped
I was sleeping with my wife
In a tent at the edge of a wood.

The Earth spun and spun.
Silent, in a cold sweat,
I felt myself going under.

I crawled out of the tent,
Careful not to wake my wife,
And onto a chaise lounge.

Under the spinning stars
My heart started and stopped,
Started and stopped, started . . .

I lay where a path emerged
From the wood, and along the path
Came a large raccoon.

He walked over to me
And raised himself up
Not four feet from my eyes.

We stared at each other
With focused understanding,
Words without words,

Eyes beyond eyes,
A giving and a taking
That stilled my raucous heart.

Satisfied, he lowered
Himself to the ground
And turned toward the wood.

"Thank you, brother," I said,
"Thank you." But he was gone,
Slipped back into darkness.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Falling Snow. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theni2.html. For more poems about animals, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/animalpoems.html .

Happy Fifteenth Anniversary

 A 15^th anniversary poem comparing marriage to two trees planted close together:

 

Happy fifteenth anniversary!

A long time to be planted side by side!

Praised be those whose love and faith abide.

Praised be those who would deep rooted be.

Years entangle closely planted trees,

From canopy to root together tied,

Interwoven tightly, so that eyed

Full flower, which is which is hard to see.

Two trunks, one greater whole, both root and branch,

Each able to withstand a stronger wind,

Each more intact together than alone.

Nor is this close proximity by chance,

This will to be so intimately combined,

Having each for each shed leaves on stone.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Kiss the Sky. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hap103.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

Labor's a Commodity, like Fish

 

A Labor Day poem about the evil of treating labor like any other commodity:

 

Labor's a commodity, like fish,

As children are fast-frozen and filleted,

Beating down the price. Fortunes are made

On selling to us all so cheap a dish.

Remember how the world is being run,

Determined by the market's iron laws

As slaves and children jingle in its jaws.

Yet is there nothing, nothing to be done?

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Chariots of War. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labors.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .