Poem of the Week

May 18: Heaven Is a Place Within the Heart

May 19: Eight Years and Counting

May 20: Here Among the Dishes, Pots, and Pans

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Eight Years and Counting

May 19, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is an eighth anniversary poem about the sweetness of loving.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eight years and counting! How sweet the wonton ways!

In mutual love there’s freedom to enjoy

Gifts given for the sheer delight of giving.

How beautiful to love and to be loved!

The simple formula for happiness.

Yet love, yes, even love must have its days,

Enduring moments when one would destroy

All that lingers at the heart of living.

Remember in those times the time you moved

So shyly, joyfully, towards innocence.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/8years.html. For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.

May 16: The Years Flow Through Our Marriage like a River

May 18: Heaven Is a Place Within the Heart

May 19: Eight Years and Counting

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Heaven Is a Place Within the Heart

May 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a 12^th anniversary poem about angels singing in the heart.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Heaven is a place within the heart.

Angels live there singing songs of praise.

Perhaps you’ve heard them, as you play your part,

Piercing through the veil of humdrum days.

Your love flows from that inner paradise,

The best of you, fed by mountain springs,

Winding down towards a world of want and vice,

Eternal in a world of passing things.

Love seeks like love to cherish in another,

Finding what will last through changing years.

The angels sing of love that lasts forever,

Here, now, in those who feel their joy as tears.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heav6.html. For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.

May 16: The Years Flow Through Our Marriage like a River

May 18: Heaven Is a Place Within the Heart

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Happiness Has Much to Recommend It

May 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a 10^th anniversary poem about attaining and retaining happiness.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness has much to recommend it,

Although it might require sacrifice.

People very often will refuse it,

Perhaps because it means one must be nice.

Yet some can find love strong enough to choose it.

There is no simple, practical advice

Embracing all that one must do to gain it,

Nor set of rules, consistent and precise,

That would help happy people to retain it.

However, all things precious have a price.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happ71.html. For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.

May 16: The Years Flow Through Our Marriage like a River

Monday, May 16, 2016

The Years Flow Through Our Marriage like a River

May 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a 24^th anniversary poem about love and time.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The years flow through our marriage like a river

We watch from some steep bank along the way,

Each of us as much in love as ever,

Nor can our words this sense of grace convey.

Time runs on below us as we pause,

Yielding to the wonder of our love,

Fate that seems beyond effect and cause,

Our choices moved by ends we know not of.

Underneath our love is something more,

Refusing time and will, refusing age,

The joy in being that all life is for,

Here within us as we turn the page.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/theye3.html. For more anniversary poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/anniversarypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Anniversaries.

May 16: The Years Flow Through Our Marriage like a River

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Graduates Become the Cover Story

May 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is about how graduates affect the reputation of an institution.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduates become the cover story,

Representing all those still within;

As those who came before provide the glory

Determining how well one might begin.

Underneath the letters are the learners,

A class on whom the mantle now must fall,

Taken into custody as earners,

Each a new advertisement for all,

Serving as the institute writ small.

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

This week’s theme: Graduation.

May 13: There Is No Future Good Enough

May 14: Give Me My Degree and Let Me Go

May 15: Graduates Become the Cover Story

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Give Me My Degree and Let Me Go

May 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is from the point of view of someone who didn’t really want an education.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Give me my degree and let me go!

Release me from this prison of the mind!

All I know is all I want to know,

Depending on the wisdom of the wind.

Unburden me of words and numbers, please!

Allow me to hang out and do my thing.

To learn best, I should best be at my ease,

In touch with what in life makes my heart sing.

Open up the world so I can see

No further than I need to be just me.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/givem2.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

May 13: There Is No Future Good Enough

May 14: Give Me My Degree and Let Me Go

Friday, May 13, 2016

There Is No Future Good Enough

May 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is about college as an idealistic time before one must make compromises with life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no future good enough

For what we hope to be,

Nor world with windows wide enough

For what we hope to see.

Yet when we turn to compromise

The dreams with which we wake,

We'll glimpse behind a memory

Which we cannot forsake.

How beautiful this time of youth

That is so quickly gone!

We came to learn together, and

In moments we are done.

How long we will remember this

Brief time when life would wait

Upon the true perception that

Comes always far too late.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/there5.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

May 13: There Is No Future Good Enough

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Grateful for What We Have Learned

May 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is about the need for lifelong learning.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Grateful for what we have learned,

Ready now to start

A life in which what we will earn

Depends upon the heart.

Underneath our new degrees

Are habits, knowledge, skill,

That are essential qualities

In anyone who will

One day look back upon this day

Needing learning still.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/grate2.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

To the Graduate Who Makes Me Smile

May 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is for a graduate from a female friend.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To the graduate who makes me smile

Or melt away whenever he comes near,

The handsome one, with lovely eyes and hair,

Hearts leaning toward his sunlight all the while:

Even I, who am your friend, lean toward you,

Gripped with pride in all that you have done,

Relishing the compliments you've won,

Alight with all the ways I might reward you.

Draw your own sweet dreams. I wish you well

Upon your graduation and beyond.

And if I could, I'd wave my magic wand

That happiness for you I might compel,

Even as I think what time might tell.

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

This week’s theme: Graduation.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

I Would Be Proud of You, Could I Attend

May 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is for a graduate from a deceased parent.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I would be proud of you, could I attend,

Would I now know the things I'll never know,

Could I have watched you come to comprehend

The wonder of the world in which you grow.

Do not think I did not think of you,

Imagining the beauty of this day,

For I was at your graduation, too,

Though long ago, and in a different way.

Life can be full, no matter short or long,

As long as love can fill it with its grace.

And I have felt such pride, and love so strong,

That you will live your life in my embrace.

So of the pride today I claim my share:

Though I am not, I know that I am there.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/iwoul3.html. For more graduation poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind

May 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since many colleges and universities hold their graduation ceremonies this week, this week’s theme is graduation.

Today’s poem is about the value of a broad, general education.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Alma maters nourish more than mind:

Light within illuminates the whole,

Making one of multitudes combined,

Allowing each the passion of its soul.

Maybe we'll forget much that we've learned

As we narrow to a single road.

The powers we were given we have earned,

Ever the way blessings are bestowed,

Riches not retained until returned.

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

This week’s theme: Graduation.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Maybe There's a Hug for You This Morning

May 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about the difficulties and joys of motherhood.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there’s a hug for you this morning,

Opening your heart to happiness.

The sacrifices are far more than you

Had thought in your worst fantasies you knew,

Exacting more than language can express.

Regardless, you would do again no less

Since joy comes every day with little warning.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/mayb11.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 6: Here There Is No Antidote for Longing

May 7: Maybe There Are Mothers Without Children

May 8: Maybe There’s a Hug for You This Morning

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Maybe There Are Mothers Without Children

May 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is for mothers without children.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there are mothers without children

On whom this day will smile out of love.

The name, perhaps, is honored by the burden,

However justified, or not, by blood.

Each love of children, even not one's own,

Reverberates throughout this world of stone,

Singing of what nothing else could prove.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/mayb10.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 6: Here There Is No Antidote for Longing

May 7: Maybe There Are Mothers Without Children

Friday, May 6, 2016

Here There Is No Antidote for Longing

May 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about the need to give children space.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here there is no antidote for longing.

A love like this admits no more or less.

Perhaps that is the price of happiness.

Perhaps love is itself a kind of yearning.

Yet mothers need to temper their desiring,

Making room for those whom they would bless,

On whom they lay the burden of success,

The mirror in which they would see their dancing.

Here one cannot choose to be too choosy.

Each child is a separate universe

Regarding one’s sweet dreams with its own eyes

‘Mid the ancient battleground called love.

So must mothers do their chosen duty,

Deep in love for better or for worse,

And easy in their minds, if they are wise,

Yet with hopes no wisdom can remove.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heret6.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 6: Here There Is No Antidote for Longing

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Maybe There's a Sorrow That You Hide

May 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is for mothers of miscarried children.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there’s a sorrow that you hide,

One that never lessens, never leaves,

That sings a lonely counterpoint inside,

Hard to hear but for the one who grieves.

Each child unborn is not therefore unloved,

Redeemed by tears that through dry streambeds move

So quietly the pain can scarcely breathe.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/maybet.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Aunts Are like a Small, Secluded Garden

May 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is a Mother’s Day poem for an aunt.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Aunts are like a small, secluded garden,

Untenanted but treasured nonetheless,

Needed most in times of most distress

Though visited at any time a person

Seeks comfort, peace, or just a place to rest.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/aunt3.html. For more poems about other family members, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Hard By Happiness Is Always Pain

May 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about how to deal with mixed emotions.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hard by happiness is always pain.

A child is born in equal hope and fear,

Perhaps because one grieves what one holds dear,

Perhaps because all longing is in vain.

Yet beauty is what mothers stand to gain,

Music none but parents get to hear,

Of which the organ tone is deep and clear,

The best of being, love, that life sustains.

How might one manage well one’s mixed emotions,

Embracing while enduring parenthood,

Retaining the sweet glow of expectation

‘Mid chaos that one knows one must control?

So might one have to rearrange one’s notions,

De-coupling what one wills from what one would,

Allowing love to launder complications,

Yielding slowly to a separate soul.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hardb2.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 3: Hard By Happiness Is Always Pain

Monday, May 2, 2016

Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

May 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about a mother’s timeless role.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Mothers are what make the boo-boos better,

Overcoming crises with a kiss.

There is no greater burden or delight,

Having as one’s role to make things right,

Even when one may find much amiss.

Remember that such loving lasts forever,

Singing through the silence of each night.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/moth14.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

The Earth Needs Its Defenders

May 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is about the need to engage the souls of trees if we would save the Earth.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The Earth needs its defenders. The long healing

Has just begun, has costs, has enemies,

Is fitful, is here and there, is not assured.

Remember that the patient won’t be cured

Till more of us engage the souls of trees,

Yielding to a deep and ancient feeling.

Those who don’t yet feel it must be lured

With wilderness, with art, with games revealing

Our inner tides, the wash of outer seas.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/theea2.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 26: Ashley

April 29: Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast of Light

April 30: Eleven

May 1: The Earth Needs Its Defenders

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Eleven

April 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a number poem comparing an eleven-year-old girl to a young tree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eleven is a lovely, slender tree,

Leaves fluttering like bright green butterflies.

Each root is tuned to murmurs in the skies,

Veering deep dark down deliciously.

Even as the root winds towards its lair,

New winds caress the sapling's long green hair.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/11.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 26: Ashley

April 29: Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast of Light

April 30: Eleven

Friday, April 29, 2016

Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast of Light

April 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a poem for Arbor Day about the inner life of trees.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even trees awake to a breakfast of light.

In hungry excitement they elevate their leaves,

Great green choirs with ten thousand open mouths,

Hosanna-ing the sun from silent boughs.

Trees know glory with neither sound nor sight,

Yet spread their limbs with phototropic ease.

No one knows the inwardness of trees;

Imagination, though, rapport allows:

Nor sickness, fire, drought, nor age, nor blight

Erodes their silent worship of delight.

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

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 26: Ashley

April 29: Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast ofLight

Thursday, April 28, 2016

To My Brother, the Tree upon My Plain

April 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a poem to a beloved older brother, comparing him to a tree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To my brother, the tree upon my plain,

Open and upright, of love and sunshine made,

My landmark, my windbreak, my shelter from the rain:

You gather my longings into your dappled shade.

Before I spoke, you commandeered my tongue;

Remnants of that lordship linger still.

On your expression all my heaven hung;

The least of what you wanted was my will.

However much may change, this love remains,

Even as new faces new days fill,

Rich in yearning, as when we were young.

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

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 26: Ashley

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

After You Leave, I Will Become a Tree

April 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a love poem in which a woman waits for her distant lover like a tree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

After you leave, I will become a tree

Alone on a hillside, loving wind and sun,

Waiting for you to return home to me

Though centuries of lonely stars may run.

I'll grow tall and give lots of shade,

Sheltering birds and other bright-eyed things.

Pleased with all the progress that I've made,

I'll spread my leafy branches out like wings.

But oh! Every moment of every day

I'll miss you with the passion of the wind,

Gazing endlessly upon the way

That without you must empty, empty wind.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/after2.html. For more love poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 26: Ashley

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Ashley (Male)

April 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a name poem comparing a young man to a sheltering tree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Ashley stands slender on a hill,

Sheltering all sorts of bright-eyed things.

He spreads his youthful arms like angel's wings,

Luring the wind to rustle through his hair.

Easily, he bends through turbulent air,

Yielding when he must, yet upright still.

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

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 26: Ashley

Monday, April 25, 2016

For Ancient Trees Weeping Once a Year

April 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a poem about our spiritual need for trees.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

For ancient trees weeping once a year

Old, dried-out tears that congregate in dreams,

Roots cracking stones, branches thick as tropes,

Threatening roofs and power lines and bones;

Yet these remain our spirits' dearest homes,

Their silence irrefutable as popes,

Wild serenities, hushing all our schemes:

One's life must be more than pride and lust and fear.

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

This week’s theme: Trees.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

People Are a People by Design

April 24, 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 22.

Today’s poem is a Passover, or Pesach, poem about how a ritual meal makes a myth real.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

People are a people by design,

Embracing who they were by who they are.

So does history become a meal,

A ritual that makes a memory real,

Calcifying what, beyond the bar,

Has not the substance of a glass of wine.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/people.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 the Tale

April 22: Palpably, You Are in This Room

April 23: Pretend There Were No Memories

April 24: People Are a People by Design

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Pretend There Were No Memories

April 23, 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 22.

Today’s poem is a Passover, or Pesach, poem about the importance of historical memory.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Pretend there were no memories,

Each generation on its own.

So would miracles and crimes

Alike be lost to their own times.

Crazed witnesses would on their knees

Haunt desperately our doors of stone.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/prete2.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 the Tale

April 22: Palpably, You Are in This Room

April 23: Pretend There Were No Memories

Friday, April 22, 2016

Palpably, You Are in This Room

April 22, 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 22.

Today’s poem is a Passover poem about how God attends the Passover Seder.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Palpably, You are in this room,

A presence just as certain as our own,

Singing with us -- family friend, well-known --

Someone, not just something we assume.

One can know You only intimately.

Vast as You are, You fit into our home.

Every tick of life we're not alone,

Rejoicing in a love we feel and see.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/palpab.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 the Tale

April 22: Palpably, You Are in This Room

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Perhaps Your Only Ritual Is the Seder

April 21, 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 22.

Today’s poem is a Passover poem about a Jew who wants to keep in contact with the past but no longer shares its faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Perhaps your only ritual is the Seder,

All that’s left of what was once a Jew.

Suppose you’ve found the rest’s no longer you,

Still working on a self that surfaced later.

Oh, yes, this one last bit of times gone by,

Vividly alive in prayer and song,

Endures, although the past for which you long

Remains rooted in a faith you now deny.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/perha8.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 the Tale

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Part of Being Jewish Is a Choice

April 20, 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 22.

Today’s poem is a Passover poem about how the holiday helped preserve Jewish identity through centuries of exile.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Part of being Jewish is a choice

As one becomes an act of preservation.

Seders start the stream of admonition,

Stories meant to bind one to the past.

On words alone the exiles had to last,

Verses reified by repetition,

Each an heirloom of a generation

Reared to give those ancient words a voice.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/partof.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 the Tale