Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways

January 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is racism and race in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

Today’s poem is a name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr. about the dangers of racial hatred.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Might not racism cut both ways?
All are crippled equally by hatred.
Racist rage consumes the darkest days,
Taking with it all one sees as sacred.
In all of us that ancient fire still smolders,
Needing but a bit of breeze to flare.
Let Atlas bear the world upon his shoulders:
Under all that love, the hate's still there.
Then what is one to do but know one's heart,
Hating hatred in a wash of tears,
Even as one's world is torn apart,
Rage raging all around one, stoked by fears?
Know that, white or black, your rage is wrong,
Incinerating all that you desire.
Nor will that rage light up your days for long,
Given the proclivities of fire.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/mightn.html . For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Racism and Race.
Jan. 18: Might Not Racism Cut Both Ways

Names Are Little Labels

January 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a philosophical poem about names and souls.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Names are little labels that
We paste upon a sea.
Are Jack and Jill and Pat and Bill
Really you and me?

You may be Ruth or Jennifer
Or Ghali or Ahmed,
But you are more, much more than any
Word that might be said.

You are the moon and stars, the Earth,
The Universe, and more.
You dance across eternities
And sail beyond all shores.

You have within you all that is
And that shall ever be.
And yet you also are, of course,
Reiko, Ralph, and Bree.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/namesa.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia
Jan. 15: Gemma
Jan. 16: Raven Marie and Ivey Briana
Jan. 17: Names Are Little Labels

Raven Marie and Ivey Briana

January 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a name poem for two sisters who are about to choose husbands.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Raven Marie and Ivey Briana
Are sisters with dynamite names,
Vanquishing all with their elegant manners,
Even while choosing their chains.
No life without love in the heart of its longing,
As long as sweet passion has life;
No soul but is whole with the grace of belonging,
Due honor as husband or wife.
Ivey Briana and Raven Marie
Very soon will come down to a kiss;
Each eventually, with a large family,
Yearning still yet quite happy with this.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ravenm.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia
Jan. 15: Gemma>
Jan. 16: Raven Marie and Ivey Briana

Gemma

January 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a name poem and love poem for Gemma, who is, of course, a gem.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Gemma is a--should I say it?--gem.
Even apart, she sparkles in my mind,
More brilliant than all other jewels combined,
Making all the rest of life go dim.
After her, no smile will seem the same.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/gemma.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia
Jan. 15: Gemma

Patricia

January 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a name poem for a feminist whose name, ironically, is taken from the Latin patrician, or noble, which comes from pater, the Latin word for father.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Patricia is a gentlewoman’s name:
A name that’s rooted in the world of men.
The modern version’s not what you’d call tame,
Rough on shoes and words. But she knows when
It pays to shift her voice to feminine charm,
Choosing to take weakness off the shelf,
Intimate in order to disarm
A passing lover--and, perhaps, herself?

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/patric.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html . For more poems about feminism, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/feminismpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota
Jan. 14: Patricia

Dakota

January 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a place-name poem for a person whose personality fits the place.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Dakota is a vast and fertile plain,
Absolute and open to the wind.
Knowledge in this air is crystal clear;
Only those few things one needs are near;
Though merciless, the sun is also kind.
All is sharp and spare, yet rich in grain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/dakota.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree
Jan. 13: Dakota

Audree

January 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name.

Today’s poem is a poem about how the spelling of a name might affect the person who bears it.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Audree loves the spelling of her name --
Unusual, yes, but somehow lyrical,
Dancing to a tune more musical,
Regardless that the sound is just the same.
Each bounce of beauty is a miracle,
Enchanting what would else be drab and plain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/audree.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene
Jan. 12: Audree

It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene

January 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is names – what they mean, what they are not capable of meaning, and how well the meaning of the name fits the personality of the person who bears the name. .

Today’s poem is a poem about the match between the person and the name.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

It was pure chance you got the name Irene,
For no one at your birth foresaw the flower
The sprite contained, nor could some lover glean
Such grace as would become you at this hour.
Nor can you now, even in late spring,
Imagine what your name will mean tomorrow,
What evanescence those sweet sounds will sing,
Or from what naked cry their sense will borrow.
No heart can summon up, nor courage dare
Encompass all the life a name has known;
Too much of what we love lies buried there,
Once again mere sound upon a stone.
How lovely the attempt, and yet absurd,
To brave both death and time with just a word.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/toiren.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Names.
Jan. 11: It Was Pure Chance You Got the Name Irene

There Is No Being at the Heart of Being

January 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is an epiphany that reveals that there can be no epiphanies,

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no being at the heart of being,
No soul beneath the shifting shards of self,
No way of seeing past the act of seeing,
No faith enough to walk across that gulf.
There is no love more loving than our loving,
No meaning that means more than we can mean,
No proof that we are capable of proving,
No grace that pain and sorrow might redeem.
Nothing is the object of our passion,
The void within the vastness of the void,
The rule no rule can rule nor reason ration,
In which all is created and destroyed.
The sea lies lucid in the morning light;
Yet when we dive, we dive towards perfect night.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther20.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino
Jan. 8: There Is No Greater Paradise
Jan. 9: Zecharia
Jan. 10: There Is No Being at the Heart of Being

Zecharia

January 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a name poem about the difficulty of being a modern prophet, whose epiphanies must be of the natural world.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Zechariah wanders in his longing
Even as he cherishes his state.
Choosing reason rather than belonging,
He feels the pathos of his complex fate.
A modern prophet must be only human,
Relinquishing the myths of god and tribe.
In visions passionate, he must illumine
A glory that needs neither faith nor bribe,
Having a domain he can describe.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/zechar.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino
Jan. 8: There Is No Greater Paradise
Jan. 9: Zecharia

January 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem proclaiming that every moment is an epiphany.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no greater paradise
Than simply being here.
The proof is in the agony
That willingly we bear.

A moment is beatitude;
A year, eternal grace;
A life, a window wide upon
The transcendental face.

Our gratitude's ubiquitous,
The stuff of every day,
The ground bass of an ecstasy
That never goes away.

And yet . . . and yet this wonder lies
Like grass beneath the snow:
Above we fear the brutal wind,
Eternal spring below.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther11.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino
Jan. 8: There Is No Greater Paradise

Agostino

January 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a name poem for a man who has had a revelation and been touched by grace.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Agostino has been touched by grace,
Giving him the gifts of faith and love.
Of him it can be said he lives in joy,
Singing thanks and praise beneath each breath.
To see him is to be in his embrace.
In him there is a love no loss can move,
Nor passion still, nor evidence destroy,
Only peace along the edge of death.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/agosti.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino

Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star

January 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem for Epiphany about the dangers of attempting to impose a personal epiphany on society.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each of us might follow a bright star,
Perhaps to a redemptive revelation,
Intending, then, to change the way things are,
Passionate to socialize salvation.
However, please beware of what you do:
Ambition, even selfless, can turn sour.
No truth fits all, though burning inside you,
Yearning less for paradise than power.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eacho4.html . For more Epiphany poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epiphanypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star

Rare Is the Thing That Makes a Point

January 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem about the sudden epiphany that occurs in those rare and precious moments when we encounter things directly, free from the words in which they are clothed.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com . The most efficient way to receive the poem of the day is to follow my blog by email by entering your email in the FOLLOW BY EMAIL box at the top right.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rare is the thing that makes a point
Of its integrity.
Most lie swaddled in our words,
Indifferent to ideas.

But every once in a while one
Insists on our surprise,
Penetrates our cinema,
Reveals to us its silence.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/rareis.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point

Every Moment Is a Revelation

January 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epiphanies, in honor of the Christian holiday of Epiphany, which falls on January 6.

In Christianity, Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, celebrates the coming of the Magi to see the infant Christ in Bethlehem. But the word epiphany refers to any sudden insight or realization. This week’s poems will relate to epiphany in both of its meanings.

Today’s poem is a poem for Epiphany about the yearning for revelation yet the difficulty of bearing too great a truth.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

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

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/every6.html . For more Epiphany poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epiphanypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation

How Sad, the Year Just Passed

January 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a New Year poem for 2001, which was the year of 9/11.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How sad, the year just passed! A year the past
Arose like smoke from deep beneath the rubble,
Pouring up through fissures in the heart,
Perhaps our own as much as those of others.
Year of hatred writhing in raw pain,
Near mad with certainty arrayed in faith,
Each aggrieved alight with righteous anger,
Whirlwinds swirling through their swathes of rage.
Yet let us in the new year look for justice,
Ever the rock on which to live in peace,
Administered with love for every soul,
Regarding every evil as our own.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/howsad.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This three-day week’s theme: New Year Poems.
Jan. 1: Here Again We Have a New Beginning
Jan 2: New Year’s Falls at Just the Darkest Hours
Jan 3: How Sad, the Year Just Passed

New Year's Falls Just at the Darkest Hour

January 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem about beginning the new year together.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

New Year's falls just at the darkest hour,
Even as the sun lies sick and dying.
When the darkness turns hope starts anew,
Year by year a lesson ever true,
Each of us the bitter cold defying.
All my life I want to be with you,
Restoring year by year our love-vined bower.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyea.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This three-day week’s theme: New Year Poems.
Jan. 1: Here Again We Have a New Beginning
Jan 2: New Year’s Falls at Just the Darkest Hours

Here Again We Have a New Beginning

January 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

This year begins a new direction as the poem of the week turns into the poem of the day. Each week will have a theme that the daily poems will explore and expand on.

Those of you who don’t want to receive so many poems can unsubscribe by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. But I hope that most of you will enjoy reading poems that explore a variety of topics from a number of perspectives.

The poems for today and the following two days will be New Year poems: one about the new year as a new beginning, one a romantic poem about beginning the new year together, and one written for the new year of 2002 looking back at the catastrophic year of 9/11.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

A New Year poem about beginning once again:

Here again we have a new beginning,
An old refrain to start a brand-new verse.
Perhaps the belly droops, the hair is thinning;
Perhaps each year the memory gets worse.
Yet new beginnings always start with hope,
Needing hope to nurture innocence,
Endeavoring to find a way to cope
When nothing deeply thought about makes sense.
Years come and go; Eden doesn't change.
Each new year we toddle forth again,
Afoot into a world that's ever strange,
Restored by some great turning tide within.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hereag.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This three-day week’s theme: New Year Poems.
Jan. 1: Here Again We Have a New Beginning

December 31, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for New Year’s Eve about loneliness and freedom.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

New Year’s Eve is hard to spend alone
Even when one wants no company,
Willing to be lonely to be free,
Yearning for a life pared to the bone.
Even so, one feels an inner tug
As hope curls over memory’s undertow,
Roiling the restless tidal flow,
‘Mid well-worn thoughts, a longing for a hug.
So does the heart respond to holidays,
Embracing what the mind would else ignore,
Vividly in search of something more
Enduring than the self, which time betrays.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/newye3.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

Merry Christmas to My Darling Wife

December 24, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas love poem to a wife.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Merry Christmas to my darling wife!
Enduring love makes much of holidays,
Rituals that mark the grace of life,
Refrains of old, familiar roundelays.
Years fall into rhythms that repeat,
Creating opportunities to dance.
Hard as life might be, the hour is sweet,
Returning us to choreographed romance.
In this moment of expected cheer,
Still in love, I tell you once again
That I am ever blessed to have you here,
My partner in our journey to the wind.
Again, again, the season has its way,
Singing what I else too rarely say.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/christmaspoems.html .

Happy Holidays to You

December 17, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Happy Holidays poem to a child about wishing animals a happy holiday.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happy Holidays to you!
All the ducks are here,
Quacking quite contentedly,
Full of holiday cheer.

“Quack! Quack!” they say, which means, “Quack! Quack!”
And “Quack!” which just means, “Quack!”
Quivering from head to toe
And shaking front to back.

Wish them Happy Holidays!
The geese and seagulls, too!
And all the creatures, big and small,
Who share the Earth with you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Happy Holidays poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Saviors Seldom Surface Nowadays

December 10, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Season’s Greetings poem about ancient and modern miracles.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Saviors seldom surface nowadays,
Even though they're needed just as much.
Although a suffering population prays,
Salvation rarely is revealed as such.
Only long ago did miracles
Numb the vocal chords of disbelief.
Signs and wonders turned to canticles,
Giving souls some spiritual relief.
Rest assured, saviors still surround us,
Each a bit of light, though little known,
Each a sign of miracles around us,
The wonders we must seek out on our own.
In our time, yes, the fuel-less flames still burn,
Not least within our temporary urn.
Grace still comes to us on every morn,
Still a miracle, of our love born.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Hanukkah Menorahs Are like Love

December 3, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Hanukkah about the menorah as a symbol of love.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hanukkah menorahs are like love:
Alive with light, dancing, yet serene.
Now you light the candles one by one,
Undoing all the anger in your soul.
Kindle, then, like candles thoughts that prove
Kind and generous, and words that seem
As sweet as silver songs, and when you're done,
How beautifully your burning heart will glow!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

There Is No Substitute for Gratitude

November 26, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no substitute for gratitude.
Here or there, the gift is just the same.
A joyful life depends on attitude,
Nor does one need a giver or a name.
Knowledge is not needed, nor is faith,
So long as one is struck by being’s beauty,
Going humbly, as the preacher saith,
Immersed in the minutiae of one’s duty.
Vast the suffering and fierce the pain.
In life is death; in every moment fear.
Nonetheless, one would one’s life sustain,
Grateful for the gift of being here.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Thanksgiving poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

I Lost My Sight and Found My Son

November 19, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about how a calamity can be a gift.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I lost my sight and found my son.
I needed you; you came to me.
I thought my joy in life was done.
You showed me what I could not see.

I needed you; you came to me.
How beautiful to have made you!
You showed me what I could not see:
That life and love are ever new.

How beautiful to have made you!
I thought my joy in life was done.
But life and love are ever new.
I lost my sight and found my son.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

Take Me to Your Leader

November 12, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a political science-fiction poem about the arrival of aliens.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Take me to your leader
And tell her I am here
For mutual enrichment.
You have no cause for fear.

Your planet contains minerals
Of which we are in need,
For which we will pay handsomely.
We come not out of greed.

We come for trade and friendship
From the Emperor
Who rules the peaceful universe,
The Pax Galactica.

And since we have an army
Far more advanced than yours,
We offer our assistance
To end your endless wars

And make for our investments
A canopy of peace.
It is in both our interests
That all these conflicts cease.

We offer you the culture
Of worlds beyond your sight
To bring you out of darkness
And lift you into light;

To civilize your values,
Enlighten your beliefs,
Disable your diseases,
Ameliorate your griefs ...

Oh, yes, those are my warships
Circling your sky.
Mere precaution – I don't know
What some of you might try.

Rest assured, we come in peace --
The planet of our birth?
Oh, long ago, so long ago,
It was the planet Earth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more political poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

Veer Off into the Sunset When You're Done

November 5, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Veterans Day poem about keeping sane after discharge.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Veer off into the sunset when you’re done,
Embracing ordinary life again.
There is no better antidote for pain.
Each normal day’s another battle won.
Remembering is good, reliving bad,
As what one buries tends to haunt the night,
Nor will it rest until it’s bathed in light,
Soaked in tears, and then in clear words clad.
Do not relive the past, but honor it.
As you move on, let go, but don’t forget.
You lay your wreathes to music, sweet but sad.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Veterans Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/veteransdaypoems.html .

Hollow, Hollow Halloween

October 29, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Halloween poem about the plight of lost souls.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hollow, hollow Halloween,
All hollow at the bone
Like a loud but silent scream
Long entombed in stone.
O hollow, hard, unhallowed souls
Wandering the night:
Ever weep on daylight’s shoals
Even as the matin tolls,
Never reaching light.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Halloween poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/halloweenpoems.html .

Harmony Comes Wholly from Within

October 15, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary poem about the music of love.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Harmony comes wholly from within,
Adding voices to life's melodies.
Perhaps at times life sings in minor keys.
Praised be those who find the grace therein.
Yet love's a counter melody to sin,
An inner voice creating harmonies
Now spilling round the roots of ravaged trees.
Now borne like bliss upon a gentle wind.
In us there is a harmony well honed,
Voices that for years have sung in tune,
Each supporting each through passages
Rich with the complexities of life.
Sing, then, of the concert hall, a domed
Atrium on a golden afternoon,
Resonant with musical messages
Yielded by the love of man and wife.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

Consider All Your Just Considerations

October 8, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Columbus Day poem about the allure of discovery.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Consider all your just considerations:
One lives for the sweet salience of surprise,
Looking at the world with naked eyes
Unencumbered by routine relations.
Make room for wonders rising from the sea!
Beauty is more beautiful unframed,
Unclassified, unvetted, and unnamed,
Solely what it seems or it might be.
Discovery requires ignorance
As one sets sail beyond one’s common sense,
Yearning to unveil a mystery.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more Columbus Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/columbusdaypoems.html .

Factor In Each Falsehood, Failure, Phantom

October 1, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about the need for friends.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Factor in each falsehood, failure, phantom;
Reckon with each righteous, rash rebellion;
Implicate each ill-conceived intention;
Evoke each eloquent equivocation;
Number well each nugatory notion;
Deplore each driven, desperate deviation;
So you will see the need for having friends.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more friendship poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

Each of Us Must Sacrifice Ourselves

September 24, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Adha about self-sacrifice and eternal love.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each of us must sacrifice our selves
If we would hope to know eternal love.
Deep within the spirit that rebels
Abides a moment time cannot remove.
Leave your self behind in prayer and be
A willing servant in your master’s hands,
Devoted to good deeds and faithfully
Holding to the life Allah commands,
And love will fill your silence like a sea.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more poems for Eid al Adha, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/eidaladhapoems . For more Islamic poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/muslimpoems.html . For more religious poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

You Wish to Live a Long and Healthy Life

September 17, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Yom Kippur about the relationship of the individual to the community.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You wish to live a long and healthy life
On friendly terms with everyone around you,
Married to a lovely, loving wife,
Knee deep in the good causes that surround you.
In truth, however, you’re not in control,
Planted where you are by wind, not will,
Placed where sun and shade might shape your soul,
Ultimately child of the whole,
Repenting for us all, for good or ill.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

Revelation Strikes You as Absurd

September 10, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week a poem for Rosh Hashanah about worshipping a God you don’t really believe in.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Revelation strikes you as absurd,
Out of whack with what you think you know.
Still, you love the beauty of the words,
However much you mind the undertow.
How might you participate in prayer
Absent faith in God? It makes no sense.
Still, the urge to cleanse the soul is there,
However unappealing the pretense.
A world of unsolved mysteries surrounds you,
Nor can you shake the spirit that confounds you,
Aware of truths that cannot be expressed,
Here so beautifully in scripture dressed.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html . For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

Let Every Worker Earn a Living Wage

September 3, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is poem for Labor Day about the importance of a living wage.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Let every worker earn a living wage,
And every family have enough to eat.
Better bellies full of bread than rage.
One finds no better peacemaker than wheat.
Really? Can we get around inflation?
Demand increases; what about supply?
Affluence reduces population.
Yet some prefer to see poor people die.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html . For more poems about politics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

Here You Are, Already Eight

August 27, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is birthday poem for an eight year old.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here you are, already eight!
It must be something that you ate!
Or is it just the proper date
For someone your age to be eight?

Just yesterday you weren’t eight.
You were still seven. Isn’t it great
In just one day, on just one date,
To suddenly jump from seven to eight?

So Happy Birthday! Happy Eight!
From early dawn to very late!
And till again you see this date,
Have a good time being eight!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more birthday poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/birthdaypoems.html . For more poems to children, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

Never Do What You Resent

August 20, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a psychological poem about making good choices.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Never do what you resent,
But give your choices your consent.
And what you would no longer choose,
Have the courage to refuse.

Giving is a gift that one
Gives oneself when all is done.
For to be whole, one must be part,
Well connected through the heart.

A gift should be for love or beauty,
Never solely out of duty,
Never out of guilt or fear
Of seeming something less than dear.

So choose your chains, if such there be,
And keep your sense of sovereignty,
Doing freely out of love
What else might fortune’s bondage prove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more psychological poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

The Only Hope for Happiness

August 13, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical number poem about the nature of happiness.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The only hope for happiness
Has neither eyes nor ears.
Instead it sings a melody
Reason rarely hears,
The descant of its gratitude:
Yearning, love, and tears.

For it, all things are equable
In Being's golden light,
Vast as everything that is,
Embracing bloom and blight.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

Adeline

August 6, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name poem for Adeline, who likes old-fashioned things.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Adeline likes old-fashioned things:
Dirt roads twisting through hand-tended fields;
Eggs from hens that strut across the yard;
Long wooden tables, faded, pocked, and scarred;
In steel containers, milk that butter yields;
Night unlit, that far-flung glory brings;
Ebullient day, that buzzes, chirps, and sings.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

I'm Sorry that I Doubted You

July 30, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an I’m sorry love poem.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I'm sorry that I doubted you,
For love depends on trust.
The angry tide of jealousy
Retreats because it must.

How stupid it would be to lose
What I most want for fear
Of losing it! That irony
Is now to me quite clear.

So please don't worry that I might
Again be so untrue
To love as to betray the trust
My love has placed in you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

Happiness Comes Wholly from Within

July 23, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about happiness written to a couple on their fourth anniversary.

Yours,

Nick Gordon
Happiness comes wholly from within,
A gift of wisdom, temperament, and love.
Praised be those who know what is worthwhile,
Pleased to find their pleasures in the heart,
Yearning for a beauty that is theirs.

For them, good feelings aren’t hard to spin.
One can care for life despite one’s cares.
Underneath the feeling is the art,
Returning grace for grace and smile for smile.
They bear their riches on an inner wind,
Holding course for lands that blessed will prove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

Elegance and Grace and Lustful Pleasure

July 16, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Fitr, the feast at the end of Ramadan, about the beauty of both sensuous and spiritual experience.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Elegance and grace and lustful pleasure;
Intimacy, love, scent, color, longing;
Dreams, jewels, dawns, the sheer delight of dancing;
All the goods of daily life we treasure:
Love them well, but leave them all behind
For just one holy month of ardent prayer,
Intent on being nothing more than there,
The faithful servant in both heart and mind,
Returning then in peace to humankind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

Blessed Are Those Who Compromise Their Visions

July 9, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Bastille Day about the virtue of compromise.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Blessed are those who compromise their visions
And share their power with the other side,
Substituting faith for fratricide,
Trading principles for joint decisions.
Instead of blood, their battles will yield laws,
Less just, perhaps, than those they would have wanted,
Less brutal than the crimes that would have haunted
Each of them and undermined their cause.
Democracy requires compromise
And sometimes letting fools outvote the wise.
Yet some prefer the righteousness of wars.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/-kxMVUYKU2Q. For more Independence Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/july4thpoems.html .

In Politics Corruption Is the Norm

July 2, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about corruption for Independence Day (USA).

Yours,

Nick Gordon

In politics corruption is the norm,
Nor can one wield much power without its aid.
Democracy demands that minds be swayed,
Eviscerating efforts at reform.
Perhaps in tyrannies corruption’s worse,
Existing without recourse or restraint.
Not even when the ruler is a saint,
Devout and good, can one stamp out this curse.
Each country has some white knights still unstained,
Nor can idealists long remain in power.
Corruption simply waits until their hour
Erodes once their energy has waned.
Depending on its character and press,
A nation might be more corrupt or less,
Yet underneath the law the blight remains.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/TVoNe-fLyhE. For more Independence Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/july4thpoems.html .

Live with Me and Be My Love

June 25, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a wedding poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

BRIDE OR GROOM
Live with me and be my love,
My lifelong friend and lover, too,
My confidante, my counselor,
And I will be the same to you.

GROOM OR BRIDE
Live with me and be my love,
My partner in this venture new,
My paramour, my pleasure toy,
And I will be the same to you.

BRIDE OR GROOM
Live with me and be my love,
My mentor and my witness true,
My second self, my family,
And I will be the same to you.

GROOM OR BRIDE
Live with me and be my love,
And live not just for one but two;
Be for me my home, and I
Will gladly be your home for you.

TOGETHER
Love’s a song that we will sing,
A dance that we will dance together,
And though in time our time must end,
A love for life will last forever.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/POJlgEJt_LQ.

Fantasies Find Flower in What's Real

June 18, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fantasies find flower in what's real –
A wife and children waiting at the door.
Though there is much, perhaps, one would repeal,
How sweet it is to know what one is for.
Enduring love is like an organ tone
Resounding 'neath the restless notes of home,
So beautiful one could not ask for more.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Uw9JbqdxU74.

Graduation Grabs You from Behind

June 11, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a graduation poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation grabs you from behind.
Reality seems suddenly unreal,
A timeless moment somehow trapped in time,
Drowning in a feeling you can’t feel.
Ultimately, when the day is over
And you are left alone with who you are,
The moment will be something to remember,
In which you feel your feelings from afar.
Only now too much is happening.
Nor can you keep your heart from wandering.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/4lbYBRyp828.

We Put Our Greatest Treasures in Your Hands

June 4, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a thank you poem to school bus drivers and attendants.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

We put our greatest treasures in your hands,
And watch the yellow buses pull away,
And turn back to the purposes and plans
That tend to take up much of every day.
How strange! Our scattered lives depend on trust.
We give our children up into the care
Of people we don’t know because we must,
Because to do our jobs we can’t be there.
How strange! For life to work we all must be
Dependable and good at what we do.
But children must be handled lovingly,
And therefore we are grateful to have you.
The work you do requires skill and art,
But most of all it needs a loving heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/nFcIaxR8Bvw.