Death Came to Me When I Was at a Meeting

An Epitaph for a Social Activist

 

Death came to me while I was at a meeting,
Opened up my chest and wandered in.
Nor did it leave until a few days later,
Satisfied it need not come again.
It was a death both unforeseen and fitting,
Living as I did for what I did,
Being one averse to merely being,
Engaged in service to the world I would.
Remember me, then, as I was when death
Made its sudden entrance to my heart:
Attentive in my seat, my wife beside me,
Night come, the meeting just about to start.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/death2.html. For more epitaphs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html .

There Is a Dark and Gloomy Place

April 8, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is troubled loves.

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

A name and love poem to a lover who can’t make up his mind:

There is a dark and gloomy place where choices
Have their homes and wait upon your touch.
After long and futile waits for voices,
You must, alas!, sign on to such-and-such.
A family in a circle warm and loving:
Less sweet? or more? than living lone and free?
A choice in darkness, both sides fiercely shoving:
My heart is yours, whichever it might be!

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/gloomy.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Troubled Loves.
April 5: Although We’re No Longer Together, I Still Love You
April 6: Love So Often Must Depend on Timing
April 7: There Has to Be a Way Across These Mountains
April 8: There Is a Dark and Gloomy Place

So I'm the Patron Saint of Ireland

March 16, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17.

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

A St. Patrick’s Day poem about St. Patrick as a former Englishman:

So I'm the patron saint of Ireland!
Then let me be for it a sign of peace.
Perhaps few know that I was born in England
And always thought of England as my home.
There was no England then, of course, nor Ireland.
Regardless, here's an irony that should
Inhabit those possessed by racial hatred:
Come to love even those who wrong you,
Knowing I was an English slave in Ireland.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/soimth.html. For more St. Patrick’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 15: Going Home to a Place You’ve Never Been
March 16: So I’m the Patron Saint of Ireland

Trevor Is a Dancing Cavalier

February 28, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A name poem for a bright, self-assured young man whom life has not yet humbled:

Trevor is a dancing cavalier
Rejoicing in his beauty and his youth.
Even though his days are much too full,
Vivaciously he charms whatever's dull,
Opening his blue sky bright and clear,
Rain not yet darkening his hard-edged truth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All
February 23: Alan Is an Absolute Delight
February 24: Alessandro Savors Solitude
February 25: Nessen Sings a Solitary Song
February 26: Said Is “Dr. Happy”
February 27: Stanley’s Everything I’ve Ever Wanted
February 28: Trevor Is a Dancing Cavalier

Stanley's Everything I've Ever Wanted

February 27, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A name poem for an ideal lover:

Stanley's everything I've ever wanted:
Tough and sexy, tender, sweet, and strong;
Aggressive, playful, funny, proud, undaunted;
Needy, caring, ready to be wrong.
Love loves not a calm consistency.
Each heart longs to be helpless, hopeless, haunted,
Yearning for the wind to stir its sea.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All
February 23: Alan Is an Absolute Delight
February 24: Alessandro Savors Solitude
February 25: Nessen Sings a Solitary Song
February 26: Said Is “Dr. Happy”
February 27: Stanley’s Everything I’ve Ever Wanted

Said is "Dr. Happy"

February 26, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A name poem for someone who at ninety is still dancing through life:

Said is "Dr. Happy," even now
At ninety, with death living in his heart.
If one must sorrow, he can show us how,
Dancing still with wisdom and with art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All
February 23: Alan Is an Absolute Delight
February 24: Alessandro Savors Solitude
February 25: Nessen Sings a Solitary Song
February 26: Said Is “Dr. Happy”

Nessen Sings a Solitary Song

February 25, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A philosophical name poem for someone who is able to transform the world by embracing it:

Nessen sings a solitary song,
Entering the forest of his fears.
So must we all make peace with what must be,
Singing of life's beauty lustily,
Embracing what would else be cold and sere.
Nor can the forest fail to sing along.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All
February 23: Alan Is an Absolute Delight
February 24: Alessandro Savors Solitude
February 25: Nessen Sings a Solitary Song

Alessandro Savors Solitude

February 24, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A philosophical name poem for someone who has withdrawn deep into our common soul:

Alessandro savors solitude,
Looking for connection to the whole.
Each is everyone, and so includes
Such rapture as resides in every soul,
Selfless self, with neither will nor goal.
Anticipating death, he undoes life,
Needing nothing, wanting, wishing nothing,
Delivered from what would engender strife,
Relinquishing all but simple acts of being,
Old conqueror of all that's worth the winning.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/aless2.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All
February 23: Alan Is an Absolute Delight
February 24: Alessandro Savors Solitude

Alan Is an Absolute Delight

February 23, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A name poem for a person with a sunny disposition who devotes himself to alleviating another’s sorrow:

Alan is an absolute delight --
Like a saint who's gorgeous, buff, and funny,
Always so considerate and sunny,
Nestled in the eaves of someone's night.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All
February 23: Alan Is an Absolute Delight

Adam Is a Model for Us All

February 22, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Portraits of Men.

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

A philosophical name poem about the interactive nature of revelation:

Adam is a model for us all,
Demanding interactive revelation.
All of us are fit for condemnation,
Making us the reason for his fall.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Portraits of Men.
February 22: Adam Is a Model for Us All

George Does Not Admit to Telling Lies

February 19, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A name poem for George Washington’s Birthday about the myth that he never told a lie:

George does not admit to telling lies,
Even though he tells them every day.
One lives in a perpetual disguise,
Reduced to a self-marketed display.
Great men wear life well, for they are wise
Enough to know the things that none need say.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/georg2.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power
February 18: Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith
February 19: George Does Not Admit to Telling Lies

Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith

February 18, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Presidents Day, which this year is celebrated on February 15.

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

A political name poem about someone who was blinded by a political ideology and now regrets it:

Andrew was a soldier of the faith:
No one was more loyal or more true.
Despite the hard, rich texture of illusion,
Reality insisted on confusion,
Eviscerating much that Andrew knew.
What remains stalks him like a wraith.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Politics.
February 15: President’s Day? Presidents’ Day? Or Presidents Day?
February 16: What Might Make a Person Want to Lead
February 17: Praised Be Those Who Would Distribute Power
February 18: Andrew Was a Soldier of the Faith

Carrie Is My Valentine

February 12, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14.

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

A Valentine’s Day name poem about second chances in love:

Carrie is my Valentine,
A fantasy come true,
Reminding me that fortune can
Reenter what we do.
I said what words were in my heart,
Each one to her heart new.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/carrie.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
February 8: Hunger Is an Organ Tone
February 9: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
February 10: Be with Us in the Circle of Our Love
February 11: Blessed Are Those Who Cherish Well Their Loves
February 12: Carrie Is My Valentine

Isabella Loves the Sound of Music

January 27, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

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

A philosophical name poem about the music that makes a soul rise to its sacred space:

Isabella loves the sound of music,
Standing as she does beside her self.
A song might offer words, were she to choose it,
But word are curtains to the little elf.
Each note is like a bell that's struck in heaven,
Lining all the boulevards with grace.
Let none be more or less, but all be leaven,
As her soul rises to its sacred space.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty
January 27: Isabella Loves the Sound of Music

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 It's a Little Strange that I

January 20, 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 name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about changing the name of the holiday to Freedom Day:

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

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe9.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

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