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 .

Forty-Three's a Summer Afternoon

 

A number poem about being at the age of forty-three:

 

Forty-three's a summer afternoon

On a weekday bathed in molten light.

Rivers slide through pools of gold. Bright birds

Take off from branches thick with sheltering leaves.

Yet shadows start to lengthen 'cross the lawn.

 

There you are, listening for a tune,

Hearing one from somewhere out of sight,

Remembering the song, but not the words.

Every note's a joy, a gift one grieves.

Every night's another chance for dawn.

 

© 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/43g.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

From Teachers, There Is Much That One Can Learn

 

A poem about the teaching profession:

 

From teachers, there is much that one can learn.
One ought not judge their worth by what they earn.
Rather, it's the task one should judge by:
To teach not only what, but how and why,
Yielding goods no teacher's pay could buy.

Even though teaching's a profession,
In fact, it is for many a vocation,
Given the knowledge and the expertise,
Having earned the requisite degrees
To touch the soul of each new generation.

 

© 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/fromte.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

 

Voices of the Dead Are All Around Me

 

A Veterans Day poem about the psychological difficulty of returning to civilian life:

 

Voices of the dead are all around me.
Everyone alive seems much less real.
The smoke and screams and bombs and blood surround me,
Enduring through the love I still can't feel.
Reality is rarely in the present
As truth and falsehood are defined by pain.
Nor can I stand one moment that is pleasant.
Sanity to me just seems insane.
Death is more attractive than a wife,
And loneliness a far less lonely life.
Yet I must turn and somehow live again.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: End of Time. By Ugonna Onyekwe. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/voice2.html. For more Veterans Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/veteransdaypoems.html .

November Knows the Beauty of a Line

 

A calendar poem for November:

 

November knows the beauty of a line:
One stroke across the heart of a gray sky.
Vacancy is where true vision lies,
Eternity redacted into time.
Memory now moves into the garden,
Bringing with it music never heard.
Each slender, naked branch is like a word
Recalling the lost happiness of Eden.

 

© 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/novemb.html. For more calendar poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/calendarpoems.html .

Hell Has Little Hope of Happiness

 

HELL HAS LITTLE HOPE OF HAPPINESS

A Halloween poem about why the inmates of Hell visit us on All Hallows’ Eve:

 

Hell has little hope of happiness.
A devil is eternally on fire,
Locked within unquenchable desire,
Longing with hatred for lost holiness.
On Halloween the devils and the dead
Wander through the world as though to warn
Each soul of an eternity forlorn,
Evangelists condemned to speak through dread,
Nightmares that must preach through pain till dawn.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Sharp Senses. By Ugonna Onyekwe. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hellha.html. For more Halloween poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/halloweenpoems.html .

Clearly, I Was a Person of My Times

A poem for Columbus Day in which Columbus asks us to understand the context of his actions and appreciate his role in creating our times:

 

Clearly, I was a person of my times,

One who treated races not my own

Like savages, sub-humans. Now my crimes

Understandably must stand alone,

Must, like Washington's, like Jefferson's,

Be seen as though memorialized in stone,

Unfit for celebration, the preference

Switched to those whose brutal genocide

Deserves far more than I to be remembered.

A plea for context, though: the seas I plied

Yielded up a future I engendered.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Destination Unknown. By Ugonna Onyekwe. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/clear4.html. For more Columbus Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/columbusdaypoems.html .