Labor Is a Job or a Vocation

 

A poem for Labor Day about two ways of looking at one’s labor:

 

Labor is a job or a vocation:

As in all of life, it’s what one would.

Blessed are those who choose their situation,

Owning through their lives their livelihood.

Regardless of the job, despite conditions,

Do it well, with all your mind and heart.

All of us play life as though musicians,

Yielding well or ill our chosen part.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bansure Raga. By Doug Maxwell. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labor5.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

Just Remember Well How Much I Loved You

 

A name poem from a deceased German pointer to his grieving master:

 

Just remember well how much I loved you,
As I knew, oh how well, that you loved me.
Grief, like any sunset, is quite lovely,
Given that its glory comes from love.
Even as your mourning turns to morning,
Remember what your pain said of our joy.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Elegy. By Wayne Jones. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

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

Watching My Son Conduct the Nutcracker

 

A father’s beautiful memory of his son:

 

Watching my son conduct The Nutcracker,
I danced across the memories of my heart,
Feeling once again the joy and wonder
Of witnessing his first ascent to art.
He was a child then, decades ago,
Sawing away in the second violins,
Beethoven's Fifth, that rising tremolo
Leading to a blast of brass and winds.
As the music flew into the sun,
Bursting into waves of molten gold,
My tightly held composure came undone,
And life itself became too much to hold.
Now my son's the maestro, yet the grace
I felt then is touched by neither time nor place.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: White River. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/watchi.html. For more poems about children, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

May Your Marriage Be as Blessed as Ours

 

A wedding blessing from parents to children:

 

May your marriage be as blessed as ours,
As full of love, as joyful, rich, and sweet,
Lifelong soulmates, friends, erotic partners,
Each for each, the angels that watch keep.

May your home be blessed with friends and family,
With music, laughter, pleasure, passion, life,
With learning, knowing, caring what comes after,
Together, one, as husband and as wife.

May you ever be sustained by beauty
In what you see and feel, create and do,
In who you are, what you enjoy and value,
And in the dreams that we pass on to you.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Emotional Love Theme. By Biz Baz Studio. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mayyo5.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

There Are Things I Can No Longer Do

 

A poem in which an aging parent passes on some family responsibilities to the next generation:

 

There are things I can no longer do
Once essential to my sense of me.
It seems so strange to pass them on to you,

Strange and very beautiful, as you
Take on the burdens of the family,
Doing what I can no longer do,

Things I cannot, even should not do,
And understand why you can't leave to me.
I want to say how proud I am of you,

How grateful we can all rely on you
To take my place as head of family,
Taking care of what I used to do,

Switching roles, which I've found hard to do,
And to accept what's happening to me.
More and more I must depend on you

To do the things I can no longer do,
As less and less I can depend on me.
How strange! What I routinely used to do,
I must, with much regret, pass on to you.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bittersweet. By SYBS. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther52.html. For more poems to children, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html . For more villanelles, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/villanelles.html .

War May Not Be the Answer

 

A political poem about slogans:

 

War may not be the answer,
But what is the unanswered question?
Peace? Safety? Justice?
Or, perhaps, simply survival?

For what was the answer to Hitler?
Did Munich buy "Peace for our time"?
And how might peace pacify Putin?
Contrast Ho Minh with Kim Sung.

The desire for peace can be used
To serve the interests of war.
Peace demonstrations and missiles
Can equally weaken defenses.

Statements one cannot prove false
Prove to be excellent slogans,
Bearing the burden of bonding,
Stirring the passions of hope.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Allemande. By Wahneta Meixsell. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/warmay.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

Thirty-Seven Enjoys His Bright Midsummer

 

A number poem about someone devoted to persuading people to think logically:

Thirty-seven enjoys his bright midsummer,
Halfway in between his spring and fall.
In every faculty he’s at full strength,
Reasoning adroitly and at length
To challenge the beliefs of almost all.
Yet myths are hard to wake from such deep slumber.

Sing of the love that underlies such labor,
Every thought, fact, instance he can scrawl
Vested in what should be evident,
Enduring source of content and content.
Nor can he resist its siren call.

 © by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: A New Beginning. By Esther Abrami. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/37i.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

Riffs Are Invocations

 

An epitaph for a jazz scholar:

 

Riffs are invocations,
Odes direct to soul,
Brief improvisations,
Each a perfect whole.
Rhythms subtly shift
The syncopated rhymes,
Grace the complex gift
Of this, my own sweet times.
Let me be their chronicler,
Days of seers and signs.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Runnin Partner. By Aaron Lieberman. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/riffsa.html. For more epitaphs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html .

Abby Is a Queen Without a Country

 

A name poem for Abby, who has the personality, but not the power, of royalty.

 

Abby is a queen without a country,

Blessed and cursed by destiny to be

Bereft of title, subjects, power, bounty,

Yet reigning in each word like royalty.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: 7^th Floor Tango. By Silent Partner. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/abby.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

Fortune Is the Child of the Will

 

A philosophical Father’s Day poem for a divorced and distant father about the relationship between choice and chance:

 

Fortune is the child of the will,

As what one chooses spins the wayward wheel.

The choice determines where the chance will fall,

Hurtling, bouncing like that fickle ball,

Eluding what result would most appeal.

Remember to embrace both good and ill,

Since both are gifts, are one, are you, are real.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Pouring Out. By Asher Fulero. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fort14.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html . For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems .

Want Is Oft the Windrush of the Will

 

A political poem about immigration:

 

Want is oft the windrush of the will,
Impelling one ‘cross continents and seas.
No barriers can long withstand the wind,
Driving desperate souls to distant shores.
Remember that the wind is rarely still.
Unequal pressures propagate the breeze
Stirred by swirling passions from behind,
Hungry for the hope that calm restores.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Flecks of Light. By The Tower of Light. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wantis.html. For more poems about political issues, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

Maybe in the Grip of Pain

 

A Memorial Day poem about love, grief, and grace:

 

Maybe in the grip of pain
Each moment seems like years.
Maybe there is beauty that
One cannot see through tears.
Remember that it's love that is
Impossible to bear,
As loss would not be torture without
Love to lead it there.
Days of grief are days of grace,
Although quite different on their face.
Yet love is what they share.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Elegy. By Asher Fulero. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mayb12.html . For more poems for Memorial Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

Sally Sings Incessantly

 

A name poem for a woman who can’t help humming the music playing non-stop in her head:

 

Sally sings incessantly,
As though her inner voice
Liked murmuring in melody,
Liked opera sung a bit off key --
Yet which was not her choice.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Cookoo’s Nest. By Nat Keefe and Hot Buttered Rum. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/sallys.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

Proverbs on Marriage

Marriage is part business, part romance;
Part contract, part licensure, part dance.

Why marriage? Isn't love enough?
Not really, when the sea gets rough.

Those who don't control their fate
Learn quickly to manipulate.

What makes a marriage work is work;
Happiness is not a perk.

In marriage, the stone fortress of
Each sovereign must be breached by love.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Bucolic Acrylic. By Dan Bodan. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/marrip3.html. For more poems and proverbs about marriage, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

So Many Years! And Now We Take for Granted

 

A political poem, written after 9/11, about the mistake of fighting terror as you would a conventional war:

 

So many years! And now we take for granted

What would have been unthinkable before

The terror that our leader called a war,

And life became more mean, less sure, more haunted.

But was it war? Or was that notion planted

By those who wished their murders could mean more,

Puffed up to fit the oft-recited lore

Of ancient enmities long since recanted?

Oh, do not dignify them with that word,

Or make them larger than they might appear,

Or justify their murders with our own!

There is no quick solution by the sword.

Our only option is to persevere,

Rebuilding bit by bit, but not alone.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/soman1.html. For more poems about terrorism and 9/11, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

Forever Isn't Endless Time

 

A philosophical number poem about the meaning of forever:

 

Forever isn't endless time.
It isn't time at all.
For time's the measurement of change,
Though it be miniscule.

Yet ever means forever true,
Shorn of time and place,
Inserted into everydays,
Xeroxes of grace.

Years wash in and out as we
Experience forever.
A moment is eternity
Rolling on a river,
Still miraculous as ever.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Ceremonial Prelude. By Sir Cubworth. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fore10.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

The Passion of Love, the Passion of Lust

 

A 33^rd anniversary poem contrasting the sexual pleasures of love and lust:

 

The passion of love, the passion of lust:
How might they lead to the same burst of glory
If each drives the plot of a quite different story,
Resulting in mutual joy or disgust?
The answer is not in the act, but intent:
Yielding or sharing, giving or getting.
The direction of flow determines the setting,
Here, where the consequence shapes the event.
Remember that passion unlaces the heart;
Each touch is a doorway into the soul;
Each slow tongue-kiss renders a taste of the whole,
Yielding up truth as each joy plays its part.
Embrace, then, the person, and not just the flesh,
As one should feel safe in a state of undress.
Reveal not your riches, but to one whom you trust,
Saving for someone you love your chaste lust.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Emotional Love Theme. By Biz Baz Studio. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thepa3.html. For more anniversary poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

Exactly Who Are You

 

A philosophical Easter poem about one way of knowing what one owes others:

 

Exactly who are you? Why are you here?
And what is your purpose? And why should you care?
So what if there's suffering? What's it to you?
The world's not your problem. What more should you do?
Ever the question: What do I owe?
Reckon by beauty, and then you will know.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: A Kiss for Amanda. By DJ Williams. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/exact3.html. For more Easter poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html .

Signs of Happiness

 

A philosophical number poem listing some signs of happiness:

Signs of happiness: A clear vocation;
Intimacy rooted in relation;
Xeroxed memories relived as art;
Tears that flow from springs within the heart;
Yearnings that yield wine with fermentation;

Faith in oneself, in others, in some purpose
Offering the ruthless gift of service;
Unity of thought, belief, and act;
Relentless dreams that shape the coasts of fact.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Audio and Video Music: Wonder. By VYEN. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html . For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

Cheryl, Unlike Most, Has to Decide

 

A name poem for Cheryl, who has inoperable cancer:

 

Cheryl, unlike most, had to decide,
Having inoperable cancer, whether being --
Each moment she was thinking, knowing, seeing --
Remained worth the cure she must abide,
Yearning to know what the future had to hide,
Looking at God's gift horse eye to eye.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Dance of the U-boat. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

Note: My website, https://www.poemsforfree.com, is temporarily disabled due to a domain name registration change. To see more of my work, please visit my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@Poemsforfree .