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.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

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.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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.

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

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.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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.

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

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.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

Poem of the Week

May 5, 2011 #632

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Mother's Day.

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

Hinder not the happiness
Alive within the heart.
Perhaps it's only natural,
Perhaps it is an art.
Yet many rarely feel it,
Many do not know
Of the eternal music
That makes the moment flow.
How might one listen to it
Except to sing and dance,
Reveling in beauty
'Mid clarity and trance?
Singing to the mothers,
Dear vessels of the soul,
As Mary was to Jesus,
Yielding glory whole.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 31, 2011 #627

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Mothering Sunday (British Mother's Day).
.
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

Melodies, like people, have a home.
Otherwise, they'd wander aimlessly.
They modulate and mutate as they roam,
Having held their own quite painlessly,
Eventually returning to the heart
Reserved for them by nature or by art,
Savoring that long-sought tonic tone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

 
May 6, 2010 #580
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Mother's Day poem.
 
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
 
Happy Mother's Day to a dear aunt,
A refuge from conditions and demands,
Perhaps because you have a different slant,
Perhaps because your love is free of plans.
Yet for whatever reason, you are there
More simply and directly than the other,
One with whom a child can always share
The kinds of joys too carefree for a mother.
Happiness can use a bit of room,
Even in the midst of an embrace.
Relevance requires not the womb:
'Tis love and labor that replenish grace.
So do you play this secondary part,
Dealt not by birth but by the willing heart,
Aunt extraordinaire, whose love will bring
Years of memories that dance and sing.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 11, 2010 #572

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Mothering Sunday (the British Mother's Day).

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

Have no fear, for love is all around you.
All come helpless from a common womb.
Perhaps you do not know that love surrounds you.
Perhaps you do not know that you're in bloom.
Yet mothers, too, are children, ever loved,
Minded by the living and the dead,
Old enough to give, as time has proved,
The need no less, though time and tears have fled.
Have faith that love's a mystic tide that flows
Equally to and from the heart,
Returning, turning as it comes and goes,
'Mid moon and moon your sea, your song, your art.
Sing, then, of this moment of your giving,
Deep within the ebb and flow of living.
All you feel is what was felt for you,
Yearning your own yearning will renew.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 7, 2009 #531

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Mother's Day poem to a daughter.

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 also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happy Mother's Day from far away!
As love has wings, it flies across the sea,
Passing seraphim alight with glee,
Placed in nooks on clouds along its way.
Years cannot such innocence betray,
Morning's holy light perpetually
On fire within the heart, a pillar we
Then follow through the desert night and day.
Here, then, is my love, and as it lands,
Exchange it for a pigeon of your own,
Returning through the heavens what I once,
'Ere you were born, delivered to your door.
So are we eternal, though the sands
Demand of us that piece that is on loan,
As love renews, renews the ancient dance,
Yet dancing though the wide world be no more.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 19, 2009 #524

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for British Mother's Day (Mothering Sunday).

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 also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Mothering Sunday, Mothering Sunday,
Oh, what gratitude --
Till Monday!
Have a bit o' bliss
Each one day
Reserved as your
Intended fun day.
Nor should a normal
Got-to-run day
Silence love
Until some someday;
Nor word not light a
Desperate glum day
As we await
Your Mothering Sunday.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 1, 2008 #484

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical poem to a mother.

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

Maybe time is like a snowdrift. Spring
Opens up its secrets. And perhaps
There you find what you’ve been looking for.
Harsh winters wait, of course, but there are more
Ecstasies than sorrows under wraps,
Retained in drifts till their awakening.

© by Nicholas Gordon