Eight Days the Light Continued on Its Own

December 13, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is darkness and light, in honor of Chanukah (or Hanukkah), the festival of lights, the first night of which is December 10.

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

A poem for Hanukkah about each of us as oil lamps burning with infinite light:

Eight days the light continued on its own:
A miracle, they say, but not more so
Than ordinary lives of flesh and bone,
Consuming wicks burned ashen long ago.
Within there is a mystic lake of fire,
Fuel-less energy, power uncelled,
Unmeasured fount of obstinate desire,
Hope burning, where no hope was ever held.
Invisible source of all that's seen or seeing,
Unseen light that animates the void;
Unlit spark of indivisible Being,
Shard of One that cannot be destroyed:
To be so vast a miracle till death
Is why we struggle fiercely for each breath.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/8days.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Darkness and Light
December 7: And Thou Shalt Love
December 8: Cheerful Lights Dance Within Your Window
December 9: Before Earth, Water, and Air Is Fire
December 10: What Is There in the Darkness to Receive
December 11: Blessed Are Those Who Doubt the Word of God
December 12: Careful When You Light the Chanukah Candles
December 13: Eight Days the Light Continued on Its Own

Poem of the Week

March 15, 2012 #676

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for St. Patrick'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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Some would satisfy their utmost longings,
Always reaching for what lies beyond.
I know well the soul has no belongings,
Neither short-term lease nor long-term bond.
Though I long for You, I know You're with me.
Peace comes through delivery from desire.
All Your love for all burns right through me.
There is nothing left that I require.
Rich in faith, I can be poor in fashion,
Intending but to be Your instrument.
Called to this green land, I preach Your passion.
Kings come to me through You, their crowned heads bent.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 27, 2011 #618

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name 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

Aisha is a model Muslim woman:
Intelligent, loving, faithful, modest, kind;
Serving selflessly the words of Islam,
Having held them long in heart and mind;
A soul that seeks, yet knows what it will find.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 16, 2010 #599
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Yom Kippur 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
 
You pray not for yourself alone but all.
One never chooses sin in isolation.
Most evil is not merely personal.
Kindness looks for common inspiration.
In every act there is community.
Perhaps one would prefer it were not so.
Placing each's guilt on all may be
Unfair, but then each righteous soul must see
Reflections of itself in every woe.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 12, 2010 #594
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Ramadan 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
 
Return to the sweet discipline of faith!
A ritual is rich in grace and feeling.
Make yourself a servant that you might
Attend with less of will and more of sight,
Doing what is asked, not what's appealing,
Alive with light, free of want and hate.
Nor does one moment pass that is not healing.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 24, 2009 #548

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Yom Kippur.

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

You are not, will not, do not what you dream.
One accepts that one cannot be pure.
Moreover, there are sins you would redeem,
Knowing that your world remains secure.
In you there is a longing to be known,
Peered right through, as sun lights up a room,
Perhaps just as you promise to atone,
Understood and loved by One whose doom
Remains wet, not yet hardened into stone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 17, 2009 #547

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Fitr.

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

Erase my soul and let me be
Invisible as air.
Detain me in Your emptiness
And let me be just prayer.
Let my passion disappear;
Focus well my mind.
Immerse me in infinity
Till at peace I turn to see
Ramadan behind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 9, 2009 #527

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an Easter 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 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

Each of us must know You personally --
As friend or father, counselor, mentor, guide --
Someone we invite to come inside
That we might be Your witness literally,
Even of ourselves, though we may die,
Resurrected only eye-to-eye.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 2, 2009 #526

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Passover 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 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

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

Poem of the Week

December 25, 2008 #513

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas 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 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

Merry Christmas to my love!
Enjoy the holiday.
Revel where the angels move,
Rejoice in what they say.
Years burn life down to a stub;
Christmas comes and goes.
Happiness lies at the nub,
Refuse of one’s woes.
Inside the husk there is the seed,
Shivering with glory.
The midnight cold, the dire need,
Mere setting for the story.
All the labor, loss, and pain
Sings of beauty born again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 9, 2008 #503

YOU'D LIKE A SHOT AT SERIOUS REDEMPTION

You'd like a shot at serious redemption,
Only, like us all, you have no clue.
Mostly satisfied, you leave your pew
Knowing that you've satisfied convention
Instead of being some more painful you.
Perhaps there is no other truth than this;
Perhaps the yearning must be unfulfilled.
Unredeemed, you pay your debts as billed,
Returning to a bliss that dreams of bliss.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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