Each Moment Is like Sunlight on the Heart

 

A poem for Eid al-Fitr about returning to the holiness of ordinary life at the end of the greater holiness of Ramadan:

 

Each moment is like sunlight on the heart,
Infinity within infinity.
Descend now from the whole back to the part,
As fast gives way to feast, and One to me.
Love is worship, as is pure, chaste pleasure;
Food is worship, music, dance, delight.
Immersed in talk, we savor what we treasure,
The days of fasting fading fast from sight,
Returning, turning, burning through the night.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Parzival. By William Rosati. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/eachm2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

Adela Removes the Writing on the Wall

 

A name poem for Adela, who despite the odds is determined to shape her own future:

 

Adela removes the writing on the wall,

Determined to replace it with her own.

Even though no fate may heed her scrawl,

Like a god she wills what will befall,

A prophet staking claim to the unknown.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: One Step Closer. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

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

Sublimation Is a Transformation

 

A poem for St. Patrick’s Day about the virtue of priestly celibacy:

 

Sublimation is a transformation,
Turning objects of one's lust to souls,
Perhaps not wholly holy -- priests are human,
And even Christ knew hunger and desire.
The vow of celibacy, like that of marriage,
Restricts as it enormously enriches,
Inhibits as it frees, resolves, renews,
Celebrates love, all love, every love,
Knots the nots that open wide the heart.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

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

Purified of Arabs or of Jews

 

A poem for the Jewish holiday of Purim about the need to share the Holy Land:

 

Purified of Arabs or of Jews,
Until the phantoms fade, the land will scream,
Remembering the slaughter of the dream,
In which dark deeds that only madmen choose
Made room for those no blessing could redeem.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Don’t Look Inside. By Biz Baz Studio. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/purifi.html. For more poems for Purim, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/purimpoems.html .

Reason Doesn't Travel Well

 

A poem for Ramadan about the weaknesses of reason as compared to faith in a harsh environment:

 

Reason doesn't travel well
Across the desert sand.
Maybe it needs quince to quell
A hunger for command.
Do not think it will survive
A long and thirsty camel ride,
No nutrient near at hand.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Turning Slowly. By Ugonna Onyekwe. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/reaso7.html. For more poems for Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

Political Proverbs

 

Some political proverbs for Presidents Day about the dangers for democracy of perfection:

 

POLITICAL PROVERBS

 

Those who'd see democracy's demise
Have little use for compromise.

Those who like their politics strong
Increase their risk of being wrong.

Those who are at the controls
Ought not be trusted with the goals.

Power wedded to perfection
Wins the final free election.

When not one criminal goes free,
We'll know we've lost our liberty.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Falling Snow. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/polit2.html. For more poems about politics, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

Holocausts Are Sui Generis

 

A poem for Holocaust Remembrance Day:

 

Holocausts are sui generis.
One sees in all the same totality.
Lest one think they're not so numerous,
One finds some in Deuteronomy.
Can the annihilation of Sihon,
An utterly explicit genocide,
Under God's command to overrun
Some lands where only Jews might now reside,
Thus stated be aught else? How can a Jew
So soon, so soon, such nightmares still pursue?

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Parzival. By William Rosati. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/holoca.html. For more poems about Jewish history and culture, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/jewishpoems.html .

Hatred Has No Color, Creed, or Race

 

A poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday about the ubiquity of hatred:

 

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

 

Audio and Video Music: Don’t Look Inside. By Biz Baz Studio. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hatred.html. For more poems for MLK’s birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

Every Moment Is a Revelation

 

A poem for Epiphany about the revelation that waits behind the scrim of every moment:

 

Every moment is a revelation
Placed behind the scrim of what one sees.
In every unremarkable sensation,
Poised to dance, some truth awaits a breeze.
How might one then step behind the veil,
Alive in ways one was not meant to live?
None can bear such beauty long, nor fail,
Yet yearning, to revere what grace might give.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Falling Snow. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/every6.html. For more poems for Epiphany, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epiphanypoems.html .

Seasons of Sunshine, Seasons of Rain

 A Season’s Greetings poem about the turning of the seasons:

 

Seasons of sunshine, seasons of rain,

Each with its joy, each with its pain,

All come to revel, then vanish again,

Singing with voices one mirrors in vain.

 

Oak trees in leaf, oak trees stripped bare,

Now giving shade, now simply there,

Swaying as wind whistles through their green hair,

Gaunt, frozen dancers in still, frigid air.

 

Rejoice in the winter, rejoice in the spring,

Embrace the hot summer when sweet songbirds sing,

Embrace the cool autumn when warblers take wing,

Then again winter, which closes the ring.

 

Infinite pleasure, infinite woe,

Nothing above, nothing below,

Grace come a’stumbling through deep drifted snow,

Still the best gift that life can bestow.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day

 A number poem for 61 with some lines borrowed from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18:

 

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
In truth, thou shoulds't be catalogued in fall.
X-rays do show the darling Buds of May
Traveling still along th'arterial wall.
Yet thou has't late become more temperate,

Older as thou art than thy flesh seems.
Nor do thine eyes betray thy body's date,
Even as within thy spirit gleams.

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

Audio and Video Music: A Kiss for Amanda. By D. J. Williams. Music free to use at YouTube. 

Seventy-Three Is Always at the Ready

 A number poem for a political activist in honor of Election Day:

 

Seventy-three is always at the ready,

Eager to march, to sign, to speak, to sing.

Victory’s the goal, but not the point,

Even though the time is out of joint,

Nor is guilt or self-regard the thing,

Though motivation’s never one, but many.

Yet for her, the love of life is plenty:

 

The love of people, animals, the Earth,

Human rights, freedom, justice, beauty,

Reveling in struggle, in doing right,

Embracing the quixotic gift of duty,

Engaged ever in the painful bliss of birth.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Kiss the Sky. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/73i.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

The Right to Live as Distinct Peoples

 Adapted from The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

 

Indigenous peoples have the collective right

To live as distinct peoples

And shall not be subjected to

Any act of genocide

Or other act of violence,

Including the forcible

Removal their children.

 

Indigenous peoples have the right

Not to be subjected to forced assimilation

Or the destruction of their culture.

 

States shall prevent

Any action that has the aim or effect

Of depriving them of their integrity

As distinct peoples,

Or of their cultural values

Or ethnic identities;

Or dispossessing them

Of their lands, territories, or resources;

Or any form of forced population transfer;

Or any form of forced assimilation or integration;

Or any form of propaganda

Designed to promote or incite

Racial or ethnic discrimination

Directed against them.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Borderless. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theri4.html. For more poems for Indigenous Peoples Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

Remorse Is Not a Synonym for Shame

 A poem for Rosh Hashanah comparing remorse to shame:

Remorse is not a synonym for shame.

One is mainly outer; the other, inner.

So might fear of shame deter a sinner

Hidden 'neath the gilt of a good name.

 

However, remorse comes from within, a feeling

Arisen from the grave of innocence,

Still haunted by a mystic moral sense

Hemorrhaging a sorrow that is healing.

 

A fear of shame requires imagination,

Needing an imaginative eye,

As remorse needs an imaginative I

Harrowed by empathic transformation.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/remors.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

The Night My Heart Stopped

 A poem about a moment of silent communication between the poet and a racoon:

The night my heart stopped
I was sleeping with my wife
In a tent at the edge of a wood.

The Earth spun and spun.
Silent, in a cold sweat,
I felt myself going under.

I crawled out of the tent,
Careful not to wake my wife,
And onto a chaise lounge.

Under the spinning stars
My heart started and stopped,
Started and stopped, started . . .

I lay where a path emerged
From the wood, and along the path
Came a large raccoon.

He walked over to me
And raised himself up
Not four feet from my eyes.

We stared at each other
With focused understanding,
Words without words,

Eyes beyond eyes,
A giving and a taking
That stilled my raucous heart.

Satisfied, he lowered
Himself to the ground
And turned toward the wood.

"Thank you, brother," I said,
"Thank you." But he was gone,
Slipped back into darkness.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Falling Snow. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/theni2.html. For more poems about animals, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/animalpoems.html .

Eighty-Two Lives by a Waterfall

 A philosophical number poem about the simultaneous experience of time and eternity:

 

Eighty-two lives by a waterfall,

In tune with time and the music of its flow.

Grace holds its tongue as one goes through its song,

Here for aye, though no one’s here for long,

Time falling, falling to the rocks below,

Yet fluttering in place like a wind-blown shawl.

 

To be for just one breath is to be all.

Words are ripples of what one might know.

One flows beneath what one gets right or wrong.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/82a.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

For What Does One Live, but for Goodness and Beauty

 

A number poem about the beauty of a life devoted to art:

 

For what does one live, but for goodness and beauty?

One’s goodness is beauty; one’s beauty is good.

Remember that when what one loves is one’s duty,

To labor brings one all the joy that one would.

Yet this does not always work out as it should.

 

Fear not the days of frustration and sorrow;

Old wounds reopened, new ones unhealed.

Undaunted by pain, you’ll turn back to tomorrow,

Renewed by the love that sustains your ideal.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

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

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/forwh2.html. For more poems about a variety of professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

I Cannot Tell You How Much I Have Loved You

 

A poem from a parent to an adult child about the beauty of parental love:

I cannot tell you how much I have loved you,
Nor give you an accounting of my joy,
Nor share with you the hopes with which I've held you,
Nor shadow forth the dreams I would employ.
You cannot know the pleasure that you gave me,
Nor grasp the grace in which I've spent my days,
Nor understand the standing that would save me
Whenever darkness met my morning gaze.
You've been to me a moment everlasting,
Though lasting but the moment of us all,
And given me a glimpse of what, in passing,
Must pass for what awaits beyond the wall.
Such love I wish for you as I have known,
But that must come from children of your own.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Audio and Video Music: Forever Yours. By Wayne Jones. Music free to use at YouTube.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/icann3.html. For more poems to children, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

Palpably, You Are in This Room

 A Passover poem about the presence of God at the Seder:

 Palpably, You are in this room,
A presence just as certain as our own,
Singing with us -- family friend, well-known --
Someone, not just something we assume.
One can know You only intimately.
Vast as You are, You fit into our home.
Every tick of life we're not alone,
Rejoicing in a love we feel and see.

© by Nicholas Gordon

 Audio and Video Music: Dream of the Ancestor. By Asher Fulero. Music free to use at YouTube.

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/palpab.html. For more Passover poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/passoverpoems.html . 

As You Hike Through Public Land

 A poem for Arbor Day about the value of uncut trees:

As you hike through public land
Reserved for public good,
Be aware that public air
Outbids the price of wood.
Remember life is brief, is fragile,
Dangling in a breeze,
As you breathe in oxygen
You owe to uncut trees.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/asyouh.html. For more Arbor Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/arbordaypoems.html .