Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 24, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A political epitaph for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday comparing political movements to ceaseless waves:

Movements are like waves upon the shore
As they break across the yielding sand,
Rushing ravenously up, and then withdraw,
Though not before remodeling the land.
If change awaits high tide, so let it be.
Nor will waves cease to break when tides are low.
Let us fight for justice ceaselessly,
Uplifted by the seaward undertow.
There is no disappointment in my song,
However much injustice still remains.
Each generation needs to come on strong,
Reckoning the incremental gains.
Know that I am proud of what we've won
In spite of all the lives and labor lost.
No cause well worth one's love is ever done.
Good is good regardless of the cost.
Justice is a wave that breaks, and then
Returns, returns, again, again, again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/moveme.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2
January 22: Meaning Is a Morning Song
January 23: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land
January 24: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

January 23, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

An epitaph for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about the usefulness of an unrealizable dream:

Moses never reached the promised land,
And I, too, died upon that distant mountain,
Resting on the laurels of my dream.
There is no end to struggle, no safe refuge
In which one can say, yes, I have arrived,
No longer feel the guilt of privilege,
Let go the fierce anxiety for justice,
Untie the knots of conscience in one's soul.
The promised land's a vision, not a place,
Held within the unrelenting heart.
Each generation must behold its beauty,
Reach for its uncompromising goodness,
Know that its long looked-for realization
Is in a time zone one will never see.
No matter. There's a joy in going forward
Greater than the joy of going home.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mosesn.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2
January 22: Meaning Is a Morning Song
January 23: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

Meaning Is a Morning Song

January 22, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A philosophical name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about the need for hope and love to bring about change:

Meaning is a morning song,
A dawn, a dance of light.
Reason merely sings along
To get the lyrics right.
In what you know is what you are,
Not what you'll become.
Let not sight your vision bar,
Undone by what is done.
To love must be to hope, for love
Has far too much to lose.
Embrace the good you're wary of,
Refusing to refuse.
Knowledge is as knowledge does.
It so quickly turns to was.
Now is ever when
Grace will come again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/meani3.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2
January 22: Meaning Is a Morning Song

Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2

January 21, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A philosophical name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about living for more than oneself:

Maybe there is more to life than living.
A person is a ripple in a stream,
Roiling the waters with a dream,
The revelation that makes life worth giving.
In love one finds a reason for believing,
Needing love to make life more than seem,
Love that makes the mundane moment gleam,
Undoing fate with faith, and death with grieving.
There is no love but at the risk of death,
Having valued something more than self,
Embracing what gives life to life, and grace,
Replacing fear of death or loss with joy.
Know then that the dreaded end of breath
Is not the end one ought to aim for, else
None would speak to fortune face to face,
Granted life no bullet can destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe6.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2

Maybe More than Love Was Needed

January 19, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A philosophical name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about the difficulty of making one’s dream a reality:

Maybe more than love was needed.
All my love was not enough.
Reason is but rarely heeded.
Talk means little at the trough.
Icons look good on the wall.
Nothing changes but the names.
Love is merely protocol.
Undiluted fear remains.
The life is fast, the changes slow.
Hope must be its own reward.
Eventually, the undertow
Returns, returns towards times untoward.
Kings build castles in the sand.
Infinity awaits the tide.
None can settle on the strand.
Grace must live with fratricide.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybem.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed

Make of Me a Hero

January 18, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A political name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday comparing his days as an icon to his days as an activist:

Make of me a hero, but I was
A failure in what mattered most to me.
Remember well the ill that sainthood does,
Taking holiness for victory.
I think we are as far away as ever,
Not from equal laws but equal lives.
Little has been done to make life better,
Unless you like the shift to guns from knives.
The icon of my face is now a mask
Hiding the destruction of the poor.
Each day is worse for millions than the last.
Raging unregarded is a war.
Know, then, though our president might be black,
I would march again, could I come back,
No icon, but a loving, peaceful scourge,
Gathering strength where race and class converge.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/makeo2.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero

Poem of the Week

January 12, 2012 #667

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe it's a little strange that I
Am now the only one whose day of birth
Remains a holiday. I don't know why
That honor should be mine alone. My worth
Is certainly no more than Washington's,
Nor do I more than Lincoln days deserve.
Let me then suggest a change: Once
Unmoored from my name, let the holiday serve
To honor not the person but the cause,
Healing racial wounds, pursuing justice,
Examining the morals of our mores,
Revisiting the pain of prejudice.
Kings require homage; this king would
Instead be an occasion for remembrance:
Not of me, but of all who fought for good,
Giving “Freedom Day” its proper sense.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 13, 2011 #616

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hatred has no color, creed, or race.
All hate, more or less, and thus destroy
The fragile ecosystem of the heart,
Restoring which requires faith and grace.
Each must love for any hope of joy,
Disciplining hate with well-honed art.

© by Nicholas Gordon