Poem of the Week

November 24, 2011 #661

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Thanksgiving.

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

Tell me, please, whom I ought to thank,
Having come here not of my own will.
All life can seem like a sadistic prank,
Nor can I count the creatures I must kill.
Kids imagine witches, werewolves, ghosts.
Scientists see horrors every day:
Guests that eat the insides of their hosts;
Insects that cut up their living prey.
Viciousness can sometimes seem the main
Ingredient in this well-seasoned stew;
Nor can I live without inflicting pain,
Grace for which I guess I should thank You.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 17, 2011 #660

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a wedding/happy holidays 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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

When you read this, we'll be wed,
A married couple wishing you
A Merry Christmas, New Year's too,
And happiness in days ahead.

May we all be joined in love,
And share the joys with which we're blessed,
Bear with charm and grace the rest,
And to all good neighbors prove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 10, 2011 #659

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Veterans 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

Vast fields of crosses, all the same,
Each embellished with a name.
This is what your love had sought!
Embrace the child become a thought,
Reduced to regimented loss,
A name screwed on a plain, white cross!
Nor can you feel what you must feel
Since what is real cannot be real.
Devour the moment, make it yours,
As life continues on all fours,
Yearning, begging at closed doors.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 3, 2011 #658

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Each sacrifices what the heart loves most,
Imitating Abraham when he
Delivered Isaac to the eternal host,
Although with heavy heart, yet faithfully.
Love does not grasp, but gives away all things,
Aware of something holy in its fire,
Destined to retain the gifts it brings,
Having first relinquished the desire,
As Allah gives one all one would require.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 27, 2011 #657

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Halloween.

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

Hell has little hope of happiness.
A devil is eternally on fire,
Locked within unquenchable desire,
Longing with hatred for lost holiness.
On Halloween the devils and the dead
Wander through the world as though to warn
Each soul of an eternity forlorn,
Evangelists condemned to speak through dread,
Nightmares that must preach through pain till dawn.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 20, 2011 #656

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a thank you 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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The party was a gift I'll long remember.
How might I tell you what it meant to me?
Acts of love, generous and tender,
No little pleasure add to memory.
Kindness makes it beautiful to be.

Yet I'd not allow you to be lender
Only, as in this poor poem I render
Unglazed a bit of grace for you to see.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 13, 2011 #655

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a congratulations 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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Congratulations on your retirement!
One makes a virtue of necessity.
Nor can one argue with reality,
Given its regard for sentiment.
Remember that one cannot judge one's fortune,
As what else might have been, one cannot know.
To choose what is remains the only option,
Unless one would be strangled by one's woe.
Let there be ironic celebration!
A moment of nostalgia and release,
The swift goodbye to long-sustained relation,
In which there is an element of peace.
Open doors await, to who knows where?
Now is ever, ever wholly there,
Singing with a grace that does not cease.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 6, 2011 #654

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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You pray to be included in the book
Of life before your yearly doom is sealed,
Making sure no sin is left concealed,
Knowing that there'll be no second look.
In words that are sincere, with guilt unfurled,
Perhaps you pray with some uncertainty,
Poised between belief and poetry,
Unwilling now to take it literally,
Remnant of a strange and ancient world.

© by Nicholas Gordon

September 29, 2011 #653

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Rosh Hashanah.

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

Revenge is often taken in the mind.
Open wounds untreated tend to bleed.
Some who else would be both good and kind
Hate others in the thought, if not the deed.
Have mercy, then, upon yourself, and clear
Away the anger twisting you inside,
Sanctifying for the coming year
Heart and spirit, cleansed of pain and pride.
As you ask forgiveness, so forgive,
Nor need you lose your honor with your fury.
All find their just reward in how they live,
Held to account by a less partial jury.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 29, 2011 #653

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Rosh Hashanah.

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

Revenge is often taken in the mind.
Open wounds untreated tend to bleed.
Some who else would be both good and kind
Hate others in the thought, if not the deed.
Have mercy, then, upon yourself, and clear
Away the anger twisting you inside,
Sanctifying for the coming year
Heart and spirit, cleansed of pain and pride.
As you ask forgiveness, so forgive,
Nor need you lose your honor with your fury.
All find their just reward in how they live,
Held to account by a less partial jury.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 22, 2011 #652

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for autumn.

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

Autumn sheds its brilliant tears,
Undone by darkness, wind, and cold,
Then turns the tears to leafmeal so
Ultimately trees can grow.
Meanwhile, in naked wood and wold,
None can hide as winter nears.

© by Nicholas Gordon