Praised Be Those Who Don't Believe the Tale

April 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith and Jewish identity, in honor of Passover, which begins on the evening of April 23.

Passover commemorates the exodus from Egypt, especially when the angel of God passed over the houses of the Jews when inflicting the final plague upon the Egyptians, the slaying of the first born. It is celebrated through a ritual dinner, the Seder, which includes a retelling of the story of the exodus, prayers, songs, and the consumption of symbolic foods.

Today’s poem is a Passover poem about the beauty of the ritual even for those who don’t believe in it.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Praised be those who don’t believe the tale,

Although they will recite it every year

So as to pass on rather than pass over

Symbols that retain their ancient power.

Old myths survive because they don’t go stale,

Vivid founding fables long held dear,

Epics binding epochs time would sever,

Restoring richness to each passing hour.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/prais3.html. For more Passover poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/passoverpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith and Jewish identity.

April 18: Praised Be Those Who Don’t Believe theTale

One Hundred

April 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is a number poem for a 100 year old.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

One hundred is a milestone indeed!

Now one knows at least one has lived long.

Even so, life finds much good to read,

Having loved good reading all along.

Underneath the years one still has wonder,

Naked as it was when it was born,

Delighted to be blessed a little longer,

Reluctant to request much of the dawn.

Each year of life's a gift of grace untold.

Do, then, find pleasure rich in growing old.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/100.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

April 12: Adages of Age

April 13: Sixty-Five

April 14: Melissa

April 15: Seventy-Two

April 16: How Will I Know Which Way to Go

April 17: One Hundred

How Will I Know Which Way to Go

April 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is about how aging can help answer some ultimate questions.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How will I know which way to go,

Which way to go, which way to go?

When I go which way I will

And, lost, bow to the wind.

How will I know the reason why,

The reason why, the reason why?

When death unrolls the tapestry

And I see well its grace.

How will I know my time has come,

My time has come, my time has come?

When the melody is gone

And my good friends are home.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

April 12: Adages of Age

April 13: Sixty-Five

April 14: Melissa

April 15: Seventy-Two

April 16: How Will I Know Which Way to Go

Seventy-Two3

April 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is a number poem for a 72-year-old poet.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seventy-two is lucky to be alive.

Each day's a gift, although he knows no giver.

Very grateful to whatever might

Elect to keep him at the edge of night,

Now, this day, again he would endeavor

To get the beauty of the moment right,

Yearning with the joy of those who strive.

Take from him what grace he might deliver,

Whatever words might seem a source of light,

Of which a few he dares hope might survive.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/72c.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

April 12: Adages of Age

April 13: Sixty-Five

April 14: Melissa

April 15: Seventy-Two

Melissa

April 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is a name poem for a woman entering the early evening of her life gracefully.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Melissa seems made for summer afternoons:

Evening waits as she walks in the long light,

Leaving us open to the honey sun.

Intent on ecstasy, she murmurs tunes

Supple and wild as she flits left and right,

Singing unknowing as she dances towards night,

Adrift in our need, her long white hair undone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

April 12: Adages of Age

April 13: Sixty-Five

April 14: Melissa

Sixty-Five3

April 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is a number poem for a singer/songwriter who has reached the age of 65.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sixty-five suspends her animation,

Immersed within a wistful melody.

Xylophones accompany her song,

The wave of wonder rising from her sea,

Yearning overwhelming all sensation.

For her the past is neither right nor wrong.

Instead it is the soil for her creation,

Vast fields of darkness sown by memory,

Ever yielding tunes she must pass on.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/65c.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

April 12: Adages of Age

April 13: Sixty-Five

Adages of Age

April 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is a set of proverbs from the perspective of old age.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

ADAGES OF AGE

--In the morning there is hope; in the afternoon, fulfillment; in the evening, memory; at night, peace.

--Free choice is destiny without a crystal ball.

--Like water, quality seeks its own level.

--Boredom is the result of insufficient attention to detail.

--Every moment of life is a moment of unperceived ecstasy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

April 12: Adages of Age

Seventy-Four

April 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is aging: the changes in perspective, health, wisdom, and satisfaction.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the change in perspective that comes with reaching 74.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seventy-four savors his sweet time.

Each day is more a gift than was the last.

Vested less in things he has to do,

Even though he still has quite a few,

Now he sometimes lingers in the past,

Taking in the music of a vast

Yearning that no memory can define.

Fortune is now more a windward view

On which he looks nostalgically, a sign

Unquestionable that he has crossed a line,

Reaching back for what he once reached to.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/74.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Aging.

April 11: Seventy-Four

Thirty-Three4

April 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a number poem for a woman who is good friends with herself.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thirty-three is OK on her own,

Having found a bit of peace alone.

In love and friendship she prefers some space,

Returning happily to her own place,

The sanctum that her clarity confirms.

Yet she mingles well on her own terms.

To be alone does not mean to be lonely.

Happiness does not come coupled only.

Reveling in the simple fact she's free,

Each day she's with a friend whom she calls “me,”

Even as time tugs at her heart, though gently.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/33d.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 5: Sixty-Five

April 6: For Most of Us Life Passes like a Dream

April 7: Courtney

April 8: I Don’t Understand What Happened to Us

April 9: May Our Friendship Last Forever

April 10: Thirty-Three

May Our Friendship Last Forever

April 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem wishes a friendship could last forever.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

May our friendship last forever;

May I sail upon your sea.

May we go through life together;

May there always be a "we."

May I be your endless sky;

May you breathe my gentle air.

May you never wonder why

Each time you look for me, I'm there.

May we be for each a smile

Like the warm, life-giving sun;

Yet when we're in pain awhile,

May our suffering be one.

May we share our special days,

The happiness of one for two;

And if we must go separate ways,

Let my love remain with you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 5: Sixty-Five

April 6: For Most of Us Life Passes like a Dream

April 7: Courtney

April 8: I Don’t Understand What Happened to Us

April 9: May Our Friendship Last Forever

I Don't Understand What Happened to Us

April 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem asks why a friendship has ended.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I don't understand what happened to us

Or why you have turned away.

Of course you are free to do as you like,

But first I have something to say.

To me it had seemed we could go on forever,

So close were our hearts, and at ease,

So much did we share, yet the words never faltered,

So I thought as time did as it pleased.

Whatever I did that has made you unhappy,

Or am that is not to your taste,

Or would be were I to return to your graces,

Or won't be if I am replaced:

I want you to know that your friendship is something

I treasure, and would not now end.

If you would be willing to turn to embrace me,

You'd find in me still a good friend.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 5: Sixty-Five

April 6: For Most of Us Life Passes like a Dream

April 7: Courtney

April 8: I Don’t Understand What Happened to Us

Courtney

April 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a name poem for a woman who knows how to be a friend.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Courtney is an all-embracing friend,

Open to the winds of whim or need.

Underneath her smile is a smile

Radiating outward like a sun.

To her the joys of friend and self are one,

Nor is her cheerful deference a style:

Each moment is a perfect book to read,

Yet not with any passion for the end.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 5: Sixty-Five

April 6: For Most of Us Life Passes like a Dream

April 7: Courtney

For Most of Us Life Passes like a Dream

April 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a poem about how one needs friends to break out of the prison of the self.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

For most of us life passes like a dream,

Revealing only what is on our minds.

Inside the prison of the self we see

Each object as a shadow on our wall.

Nothingness awaits, as sure as night.

Did I not have you, dear friend, I might,

Shadow on a shade, not be at all.

How much we need a word beyond our sea:

In love and laughter, thoughts of different kinds,

Perhaps, with luck, unraveling a seam.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 5: Sixty-Five

April 6: For Most of Us Life Passes like a Dream

Sixty-Five

April 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a number poem for a woman who cultivates both plants and friendships.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sixty-five surrounds herself with beauty –

In her home, her garden, and her duty.

Xerophytes might flourish without rain;

This woman likes more temperate terrain

Yielding fruits and friendships, grace and grain.

For her there is a unity of toil

In caring for community and soil,

Vineyards of the heart and of the hand,

Ecologies of love and of the land.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/65b.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 5: Sixty-Five

I Don;t Want You to Think that You Must Do

April 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about friendship as a joy rather than an obligation.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I don’t want you to think that you must do

Anything for me you don’t want to.

Friendship should not ever be a burden,

But should instead through sharing one’s load lighten.

Please don’t think you know my expectations

And then interpret them as obligations,

But do whatever brings you joy and grace,

And I will join you in that sunny space.

And when I share my sadness and my pain,

Feel blessed to know that you can do the same.

For friendship is a gift that in the giving

Gives beauty to one’s daily acts of living;

Gives music to the moment, and gives dance

To all who would through love find choice in chance,

And in a friend the good that friendship grants.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/idont4.html . For more poems about friendship, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship.

April 4: I Don’t Want You to Think that You MustDo

For Us There Is No Death

April 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph on a cemetery headstone for a couple buried together.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

For us there is no death.
Rest here merely bones.
Around you love's in flower,
Zero though our breath,
Etched into these stones.
Read and feel its 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/forus.html. For more epitaphs, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html.

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me
March 29: Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace
March 30: All I Wanted Was to Find the Truth
March 31: Death Came to Me While I Was at a Meeting”
April 1: My God Was the Future
April 2: So Few Realize What Life Is About
April 3: For Us There Is No Death

So Few Realize What Life Is About

April 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph for a man who treasured ordinary life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So few realize what life is about.
If I knew nothing else, I knew warmth, pleasure,
Despite everything, I knew love.

People look for what they can measure:
A degree, money, children they can brag about,
Reasons others might wish them mazel tov.
On days like other days were moments I treasured,
Life like other lives, humdrum, passing without
Yammering, with you, with the children, full, enough ...

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me
March 29: Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace
March 30: All I Wanted Was to Find the Truth
March 31: Death Came to Me While I Was at a Meeting”
April 1: My God Was the Future
April 2: So Few Realize What Life Is About

My God Was the Future

April 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph for a former Communist.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

My God was the future. I’m with Him now,
As inchoate as we must always be,
Xeroxing my position on eternity.

Go find me in the future of your dreams,
Or in the box wherein you hide your zeal;
Remember me when fear says what is real,
Dictating truths to which your hopes must bow.
Only fierce passion a misplaced heart redeems:
Nothing less shall be my legacy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me
March 29: Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace
March 30: All I Wanted Was to Find the Truth
March 31: Death Came to Me While I Was at a Meeting
April 1: My God Was the Future

Death Came to Me While I Was at a Meeting

March 31, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph for a former union president.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

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

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/death2.html. For more epitaphs, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html.

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me
March 29: Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace
> March 30: All I Wanted Was to Find the Truth
March 31: Death Came to Me While I Was at a Meeting

All I Wanted Was to Find the Truth

March 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph for a social scientist with a sense of humor.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

All I wanted was to find the truth,
Subtle and elusive though it be,
However insusceptible to proof,
Ever stranger than the world we see,
Revealed to us as probability.

And so I found in humor a fit foil,
Rendering the world a tad askew.
I would with relish expectations roil,
And with a wry pun pertly turn the soil,
Not distant from a different kind of true.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me
March 29: Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace
> March 30: All I Wanted Was to Find the Truth

Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace

March 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph for a proper Englishwoman who died of lung cancer.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Endure your pain with patience, grit, and grace.
Do your work with pleasure and with care.
Nor should you let your troubles cloud your face
And veil the sunshine that you else might share.
Cheerfulness disarms adversity.
One muddles through on pluck and with a smile,
On courage and a proper cup of tea.
Nor should such sense be just a passing style.
Even though I suffered monstrous pain,
Yet with whole heart would I live again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me
March 29: Endure Your Pain with Patience, Grit, and Grace

Shadows Haunted Me

March 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epitaphs, imagined final words in the form of name poems from real people who have died.

Today’s poem is an epitaph for someone who visited with dead loved ones before she died.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Shadows haunted me. I welcomed them,
Yearning for the dead who went before me,
Loved ones long lost, now delivered to me
Vividly, as though alive again.
I often did not know what I was seeing,
As past and present equally seemed real.
Reason can't compete with what we feel.
Ultimately, love transfigures being.
Beauty is a wanderer that goes
In and out of consciousness. One knows
Not what foregone confusions might be freeing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/shado3.html. For more epitaphs, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html.

This week’s theme: Epitaphs.
March 28: Shadows Haunted Me

Happiness Has Much to Recommend It

March 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about choosing happiness through a life of faith and love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness has much to recommend it,
A choice, though hard, that often satisfies.
Passing joys, pursued, bid fair to end it,
Perhaps because their truths turn into lies.
Yet one may choose a life of faith and love,
Even dogged by doubt and ripe with lust,
Ample as a river on the move
Singing down the balustrades of dust.
To love is to step forward into light,
Embracing what would else return to night,
Redeemed, redeeming by this act of trust.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happ13.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection
March 25: Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding
March 26: Heaven Has No Exit to Despair
March 27: Happiness Has Much to Recommend It

Heaven Has No Exit to Despair

March 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about the twin errors of too absolute a faith and no faith at all.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Heaven has no exit to despair.
A faith too pure’s a prison in disguise.
Passion is the impetus for prayer,
Pleading for more hope than meets the eyes.
Yet lack of faith can, too, be too complete,
Emancipating one from all that matters,
A separate, though quite equal, self-deceit,
Sustained by reason, that one’s flailing flatters.
Truth demands fidelity to pain,
Ecstasy that comes and goes again,
Revealing nothing but a faith in tatters.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heave2.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection
March 25: Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding
March 26: Heaven Has No Exit to Despair

Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding

March 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem questions God about the purpose of Creation.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Grant us all the peace of understanding
Why it is that anything is here.
Happiness or horror notwithstanding,
The point of the whole thing is far from clear.
If You are perfect, why this botched creation,
Replete with hunger, torture, lust, and greed?
Why suffer on the cross for our salvation?
I understand the end, but not the need.
A perfect being needs no son, no heaven,
No purposes, no places, priests, or prayers,
No stars or sepulchers, no souls, not even
One dead fool, about whom someone cares.
Could it be perfection could not be
Without my love for You, and Yours for me?

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection
March 25: Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding

Each Year We Celebrate Christ's Resurrection

March 24, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about how faith can be beautiful even for those who don’t share it.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each year we celebrate Christ's resurrection,
Although some of us do not believe it.
So does faith become our common myth,
The beauty of which we must grapple with,
Even if the truth, as we conceive it,
Remains the moonlight of our own reflection.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eachy2.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection

Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain

March 23, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about the difference between telling the tale of Christ and attempting to model one’s life on His.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even though passions are common as rain,
And we must pass by as God’s children are slain,
Smiling while crossing their rivers of pain,
Telling the tale of Christ risen again:
Even as we do our best to stay sane,
Redemption comes only to those who remain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain

Each of Us Eventually Will Be

March 22, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem expresses faith in personal resurrection and redemption.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each of us eventually will be
A soul in waiting, neither here nor there.
So shall we wait until Messiah comes
To take us with Him to His Heavenly home,
Embracing us with love. This is our prayer,
Redemptive faith, life-giving prophecy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eacho6.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be

Even in the Depths of Longing

March 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about how the beauty of being turns every moment into joy.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even in the depths of longing,
All one is and sees is light.
So the moment, barren, burning,
Touches bliss beyond one's sight,
Embers of a flame so bright,
Reason turns to joy, to dancing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eveni3.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing

St. Patrick's Day Commemorates the Turning

March 20, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is about why St. Patrick’s Day is meaningful to everyone.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the turning
To Christianity of Irish clans.
Perhaps, if you’re not Irish, there’s no burning
Ache to march, so you’ve got other plans.
The day, however, marks a special moment
Regarding the persuasion of us all.
Islands are not islands of the spirit;
Callings come to more than hear the call.
Know that we are one, and Irish monks
’Ere we were born redeemed us with their prayers,
Sang our chants and gave our gracious thanks,
Died our deaths and climbed our golden stairs.
All changed for all after Patrick’s day;
Years turn, and yet their winds within us play.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpat2.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy
March 16: Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness
March 17: Saints Are Rarely Saints, if You Know What I Mean
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children
March 19: St. Patrick Rid the Emerald Isle of Snakes
March 20: St. Patrick’s Day Commemorates the Turning

St. Patrick Rid the Emerald Isle of Snakes

March 19, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is about casting out inner snakes.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

St. Patrick rid the emerald isle of snakes,
Though only those that crawl upon the ground.
Perhaps not even he had what it takes,
Although a puissant saint, and well renowned,
To cast out those whose children still abound.
Remaining in our hearts, as when of old
In Eden green they tempted us to sin,
Cold and lean they grow more passing bold,
Knowing we’ve cast out the saint 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/stpatr.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy
March 16: Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness
March 17: Saints Are Rarely Saints, if You Know What I Mean
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children
> March 19: St. Patrick Rid the Emerald Isle of Snakes

So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children

March 18, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is from the point of view of St. Patrick, asking God to save His rage for those who enabled the rape of children.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So let them be, who have had sex with children!
And turn Your rage on those who turned their eyes,
Intending to defend Your church with lies!
Nor were they ever fit for Your dominion!
These hypocrites are far worse than the poor
Polluted souls they moved from place to place,
Avid to avoid undue disgrace,
Trafficking in silence to be sure.
Remember them when You return! For they,
Instead of proper penance, yet remain
Cardinals, bishops, princes in Your name,
Knowing well what price they ought to pay!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/solett.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy
March 16: Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness
March 17: Saints Are Rarely Saints, if You Know What I Mean
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children

Saints Are Rarely Saints, if You Know What I Mean

March 17, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is one for St. Patrick’s Day about saints and sin.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Saints are rarely saints, if you know what I mean.
They're human, with desires, hungers, sins.
Perhaps you thought sin stops where grace begins,
Arrested in such souls as faith redeems.
Then think again. Though angels might be seen
Resting on the wind with rainbowed wings,
In blissful choirs as the sunlight sings,
Can one, ought one be of all sins clean?
Knowing Christ Himself was human, and
'Mid flesh and sin lived out His few short years,
Still human as He suffered and cried out,
Demands that we obey the same command
And follow Him through suffering and tears,
Yet struggling in the heart with faith and doubt.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/saints.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy
March 16: Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness
March 17: Saints Are Rarely Saints, if You Know What I Mean

Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness

March 16, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is one in which St. Patrick asks God for forgiveness and grace.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sinners all, we ask for Your forgiveness
As we await the hour of Your return.
If only grace were something one could earn!
Nor can we hope to imitate Your goodness.
The saints know well the hopelessness of being
Put upon the pedestal of faith
As though we had already gained Your grace.
The heart is naked to Your restless seeking.
Regard us all, then, equally with love:
In saints and vicious pederasts find lovers,
Cherishing not one above the others,
Knowing none has anything to 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/sinner.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy
March 16: Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness

Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy

March 15, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is a love poem for St. Patrick’s Day.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing me a love song for my Irish boy;
Take from me my heart, my head, my home;
Pass to him my body, life, and joy;
Add to his my fields of fertile loam.
To him I am and will be earth and heaven,
Resting in the sanctum of his fire;
In me he’ll find all his gods have given,
Creating dynasties of his desire.
Know, my love, that I will come to you
’Ere this sun has set on Patrick’s Day;
So you must find the courage to be true,
Daring to give other dreams away.
After this leap, all loneliness is past:
Years may come and go, but love will last.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/singme.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy

Sing in Celebration of Your Race

March 14, 2016

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 falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is about the need to be aware of one’s national history and culture.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing in celebration of your race,
The anonymous composer of your song,
Passionate provider of your grace,
A host to which you cannot help belong.
Take a day to sing of who you are,
Rejoicing in the choice of what must be,
In gratitude for what, beyond the bar,
Chooses in dark joy one’s history.
Know the lineaments of ancient lore
’Ere you feel and act, and know not why.
Stories long forgotten lie in store,
Destined for revision by and by.
All you are and do is not by chance,
Yet you may face your partners as you dance.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/singi2.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race

Please Don't Mind if I Make Love to You

March 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

Today’s poem is about the need for lust in marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Please don’t mind if I make love to you
Imagining another in my arms.
No one special - anyone will do
Whose claims have not yet sanitized her charms.
Lust loves not love, but finds its joy in power:
To stir someone to sunlit ecstasy;
To purchase someone’s person by the hour;
To force the flesh to yield the fantasy.
Love loves not lust, but finds its joy in giving:
Pleasure, yes, but passion slowly fades.
Affection, yes, but one needs more from living:
The knife-sharp edge of lust that love betrays.
Give then, my love, the flesh that spurs the dream,
As I for you, that lust might love redeem.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/pleas2.html. For more poems about love, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust
March 8: Passion’s a Preliminary Pleasure
March 9: I Would Not Sink My Teeth into Your Heart
March 10: Supine but Unyielding
March 11: Let the Love Be Free of Lust
March 12: Fools Desire Flesh; the Wise Love Souls
March 13: Please Don’t Mind if I Make Love to You

Fools Desire Flesh; the Wise Love Souls

March 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

Today’s poem is about choosing between a life of love and a life of lust.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fools desire flesh; the wise love souls.
Friendship, kindness, generosity,
Humor, wit, a harbor free of shoals --
These bring far more joy than ecstasy.
Yet there are those who, bored by harmony,
Prefer an edgy dissonance that holds
The prospect of a life near duty free,
Adventure unconstrained as time unfolds.
There is, of course, no choice without its cost.
One must be this or that or in between.
And what one isn’t stays within the heart.
Wisdom lies in knowing what is lost.
The self’s less self less selfless, and more mean,
While loving is a rich yet ruthless art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust
March 8: Passion’s a Preliminary Pleasure
March 9: I Would Not Sink My Teeth into Your Heart
March 10: Supine but Unyielding
March 11: Let the Love Be Free of Lust
March 12: Fools Desire Flesh; the Wise Love Souls

Let the Love Be Free of Lust

March 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

Today’s poem is about how lust and the imagination help a marriage survive.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Let the love be free of lust
And watch the marriage die.
Devils dance on days of dust
As desperate lovers lie.

Yet how might lust survive the years
Of naked intimacy,
The thousand nights of talk and tears,
The flesh too tame to free?

The answer lies in lovers' dreams
Made flesh in lovers' play,
Where each becomes the other's means -
White canvas, willing clay;

A mutual acceptance of
A mutual desire
For lust, a generous act of love
That fuels the inner fire;

Still themselves, still faithful to
A marriage of the heart,
Making old love ever new
With chaste and playful art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/letth4.html. For more poems about love, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust
March 8: Passion’s a Preliminary Pleasure
March 9: I Would Not Sink My Teeth into Your Heart
March 10: Supine but Unyielding
March 11: Let the Love Be Free of Lust

Supine but Unyielding

March 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

Today’s poem is about a woman who needs lust but is afraid to love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Supine but unyielding
She undisposed lay,
Ready for pleasure,
Unready for play.

The point was relentless,
The orgasm long,
The aftermath ugly,
The aftertaste strong.

Driven by need
She opened her pelt,
Too angry and bitter
To open herself.

And so the rage rotates,
And so the world turns:
The love that one risks
Is the love that one earns.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust
March 8: Passion’s a Preliminary Pleasure
March 9: I Would Not Sink My Teeth into Your Heart
March 10: Supine but Unyielding

I Would Not Sink My Teeth into Your Heart

March 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

In today's poem a misogynist serial lover warns his next victim to beware.

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

Yours,
Nick Gordon

I would not sink my teeth into your heart
Nor leave you in your naked need alone.
But I give you fair warning 'ere we start

That I'll pursue your love with all my art,
Then thrust my hatred in you, bone to bone.
I would not sink my teeth into your heart

And drag you off to ravish like some tart
Whose body will disgust me when I'm done.
But I give you fair warning 'ere we start

That I will rip your rhapsodies apart
And turn your sweet illusions into stone.
I would not sink my teeth into your heart.

Instead, I'll share with you the funeral cart
That slowly takes our love to its last home.
But I give you fair warning 'ere we start

As you attempt our harmonies to chart:
I will not for one agony atone.
I would not sink my teeth into your heart,
But I give you fair warning 'ere we start.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/iwoul4.html. For more poems about love, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust
March 8: Passion’s a Preliminary Pleasure
March 9: I Would Not Sink My Teeth into Your Heart

Passion's a Preliminary Pleasure

March 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

Today’s poem is about passion’s place in love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Passion's a preliminary pleasure,
An introduction to the themes of love.
Some mistake it for the greater treasure,
Sustaining it by keeping on the move.
In beginning time and time again,
One makes oneself the centerpiece, and then
None can of one's heart the object 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/passi3.html. For more poems about love, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust
March 8: Passion’s a Preliminary Pleasure

The Difference Between Love and Lust

March 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is lust, both the good and the bad.

Today’s poem is about the difference between love and lust.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The difference between love and lust is:

Lust is about me.

Love is about us.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Lust.
March 7: The Difference Between Love and Lust