Poem of the Week

August 10: The Universe Is One of Many

August 11: The Los Angeles of 1958

August 12: The Past Is Never Over

August 13: Eventually, Memories Settle Down

August 14: Forever Is like Getting Off a Train

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Eventually, Memories Settle Down

August 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is time.

Today’s poem is about the ubiquity yet elusiveness of the moment.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eventually, memories settle down;

Later still, perhaps, go back to sleep.

Life cannot hold so much of life for long,

Yet now I hold it dancing in my hands.

Though everything is now, now is not;

Each moment dances in a sea of light.

People were and will be, never are;

Present is a glass through which we wonder.

Everywhere are ghosts that dance in dreams

Rounded by the curvature of time.

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

This week’s theme: Time.

August 8: Forty-Eight

August 10: The Universe Is One of Many

August 11: The Los Angeles of 1958

August 12: The Past Is Never Over

August 13: Eventually, Memories Settle Down

Friday, August 12, 2016

The Past Is Never Over

August 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is time.

Today’s poem is about the continuity of time over generations, over millennia, and the importance of the study of history and pre-history.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The past is never over, nor

The future ever here.

Shards beneath the sand contain

Old verses of our hymns.

In Time there are no endings, nor

Can lines be very clear.

The bones of ancient hominids

Linger in our limbs.

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

This week’s theme: Time.

August 8: Forty-Eight

August 10: The Universe Is One of Many

August 11: The Los Angeles of 1958

August 12: The Past Is Never Over

Thursday, August 11, 2016

The Los Angeles of 1958

August 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is time.

Today’s poem is about how time devours the holy presence of each moment.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The Los Angeles of 1958

Was obliterated in 1959.

Every house, movie star, palm tree, and freeway

No more. Gone. Nada. Nihil. We say

There are photos, memories--I have mine.

Yet holy presence we cannot recreate.

From desire and dream we make our memories,

Images of images, the stage

Vacant, the quartet long gone, our rage,

Ever, for lies, distortions, uncertainties.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/la1958.html. For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Time.

August 8: Forty-Eight

August 10: The Universe Is One of Many

August 11: The Los Angeles of 1958

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

The Universe Is One of Many

August 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is time.

Today’s poem is about time, eternity, and the power of the imagination in the multiverse.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The universe is one of many

In the multiverse,

As unremarkable as any,

No better and no worse.

The Big Bang was just one big bang

Lighting up the Void.

One by one the rockets sang,

Burst, and were destroyed.

Existence ends, begins, and ends

In moments that can last

Beyond a time one comprehends,

Though over just as fast.

Fantastic fireworks! And who

Might see such spawn and death,

Such multiversal ballyhoo

Encompassed in one breath?

Eternity’s a gift of grace

Awarded every soul

Who, living in one time and place,

Can summon up the whole.

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

This week’s theme: Time.

August 8: Forty-Eight

August 10: The Universe Is One of Many

Monday, August 8, 2016

Bless These Family Gatherings

August 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is time.

Today’s poem is about how regular family gatherings are a way to conquer time.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Bless these family gatherings!

In keeping up relations,

Given love, they conquer time,

Enduring generations.

Long may we gather so, that we

Outlive ourselves, for memory's

Well served by celebrations.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/bless7.html. For more psychological poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Time.

August 8: Forty-Eight

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Forty-Eight3

August 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is time.

Today’s poem is a birthday number poem for a 48 year old born on Leap Year Day.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Forty-eight is twelve, having been born

On Leap Year Day, twelve genuine birthdays ago,

Reminding us of what we think we know:

That time and space are by the numbers drawn.

Yet time’s a moment when it's ever dawn.

Each moment is infinity writ small.

In time, of course, nothing stays the same.

Given such mysteries, grace waits for all,

Having never come yet ever came,

There, just simply there, for all to claim.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/48c.html. For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Time.

August 8: Forty-Eight

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Everything I've Done, I've Done

August 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is about undying unrequited love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Everything I've done, I've done

Only for your love.

Everything I am, I am

In hopes your heart will move.

I know that you love someone else,

But while you're away,

I'll love you just as though our love

Would last till you are grey.

Till you and I are grey, my love,

And all our days are done,

I'll love you just as I do now;

Your heart's my only home.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/every3.html. For more love poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

August 5: Lina

August 6: Adrianna

August 7: Everything I’ve Done, I’ve Done

Adrianna

August 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is a name poem for a woman who does not return the poet’s love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Adrianna rules my sovereign heart,

Delighting in my daily desperation.

Rack and ruin are the inspiration

In which she finds a purpose for her art.

Alas! I cannot give her up, for she

Need only smile to make my poor heart dance,

Need only touch my arm to make me prance

About inside, a fool no truth can free.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/adria2.html. For more love poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

August 5: Lina

August 6: Adrianna

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Lina

August 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is a name poem for a woman who loves until her love is returned.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Lina likes to love unlikely loners,

In ecstasy until they want to stay.

Need, once satisfied, makes trolls of donors,

Angry at each kiss they gave away.

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

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

August 5: Lina

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

I Love You Even Though I Know

August 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is about the pain and ecstasy of unrequited love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I love you even though I know

You show no love for me.

Your eyes are icy springs that feed

My hidden ecstasy.

All night I hold you in my arms

And sleep in your embrace.

All day I turn away from life

To gaze upon your face.

Alone I find within my heart

A black and raging sea,

For only you, beloved one,

Can calm my Galilee.

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

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

I Find My Happiness in Loving You

August 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is about unequal love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I find my happiness in loving you.

Though my love is not returned, I don't mind waiting.

The woods are a cathedral where I pray

For the beauty and grace that lie within my heart.

You hold me and we kiss, and yet not yet

Is there the unity that love must crave.

You want me, but not as I want you:

This truth is like a wreckage on my sea.

There's no one else I hunger for, nor touch

That makes me feel I must take off my skin;

And so I'll wait as years pile up like leaves,

And long with the lonely patience of the moon.

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

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

August 2: I Love You, but I'm Not in Love with You

I Love You, but I'm Not in Love with You

August 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is a poem letting a friend know that it’s just friendship, not love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I love you, but I'm not in love with you.

I want your friendship minus your desire.

I would not lead you falsely or betray you.

I feel the tenderness, but not the fire.

I have no reason for my lack of yearning,

No explanation for what I don't feel,

No other love to whom I might be turning,

No anguish to suggest this isn't real.

Passion is a horse that knows no master,

And I cannot with fences make it stay.

It must run free towards daylight or disaster,

Awake to glory in no other way.

So I must say what you don't want to hear,

Though I still hold you and our friendship dear.

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

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

August 2: I Love You, but I’m Not in Love withYou

Monday, August 1, 2016

I Love You as a Valley Loves

August 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is unrequited love.

Today’s poem is a poem wondering whether love is returned.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I love you as a valley loves

The river through its fields,

Or as a note upon a page

The music that it yields.

I need you as the moon requires

The sun to make it shine,

Or as a soul in search of faith

Is rescued by some sign.

You are as much a part of me

As meadows are of Earth,

Or as a song is of a heart,

Replenishing its worth.

I love you as a hawk loves air,

Or a sailor loves the sea,

Or as a strong wave seeks the sand,

But ah! do you love me?

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

This week’s theme: Unrequited Love.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Welcome to the Prime of Life

July 31, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is about midlife comparing the middle of life to summer.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

WELCOME TO THE PRIME OF LIFE

Welcome to the prime of life!

The sun-drenched peak! The mountaintop!

You are the best you’ll ever be.

It’s all downhill from here.

Welcome to the prime of life!

In the maelstrom, on the clock!

Heavily invested

In family and career.

You wonder, whether man or wife,

If there could be more. The lock

Yields to your uncertain key.

What you feel is fear.

I’ve had affairs. Oh, yes, I’ve had affairs!

And I’ll have many more. My wife, I’m sure,

Has had some of her own. Who cares?

We are no longer starry-eyed and pure.

Midlife is a time to change,

A time to test and rearrange.

The prisoner rebels:

New partners for new selves!

For every stage of life,

A different man or wife.

I’ve had affairs. Oh, yes, I’ve had affairs!

I know my husband’s had some of his own.

We loved each other once, but now who cares?

Midlife is a time to be reborn.

Midlife crisis,

Youth entices.

While still active,

Still attractive,

One last chance

For romance.

We let our marriage drift until one day

One dalliance too many turned to love.

The wreckage of our lives around us lay.

We wept and raged, at long last deeply moved.

Midlife’s time to recognize

The inner damage done by lies.

It’s time to face the ugly truth

Long hidden by the dreams of youth,

And to change, for only so

Can one transplant oneself and grow.

How beautiful to make it through these years,

Shooting through the rapids of our rage,

The doubts, desires, disappointments, tears,

The turmoil that defines this restless age.

How beautiful to look back on our love

And know that it is stronger for these trials!

For passion long imagined puerile proved,

And light-filled lust no longer love beguiles.

Thank God we’re through it, sailing into fall,

The long, hot summer of our lives now over!

The wind is steady at our backs, and all

The widening waters calm, though growing colder.

The long, hot, fruitful days of life’s brief summer,

The prime of life passing all too quickly,

With thunderstorms that gather in the heat

And burst across the thirsty, dried-out plains,

Uprooting ancient trees, with swollen rivers

Raging, swirling, flooding, fast receding,

With fierce fires that open up the canopy,

Giving light to seedlings and to change,

With rippling, ripening fields, the winter’s store,

Exploding into heavy-headed grain,

With gardens lush and bountiful, with woods

Alive with life unleashed by lust and love,

Full, fat, feisty, feasting on the sun!

How long the labor lit by lengthened days!

How sweet the nights concealed in fleeting darkness!

The taste of life full, fruity, well-fermented.

The sunsets lingering, shot-through with yearning.

The dawns a bird’s full-throated cry of joy!

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/welco3.html. For more psychological poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

July 28: Elizabeth

July 29: Fruit Abounds Amid the Press of Labor

July 30: Thirty-Two

July 31: Welcome to the Prime of Life

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Thirty-Two

July 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is a number poem comparing a thirty-two year old to a slowly ripening summer field.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thirty-two's a slowly ripening field,

Hot and happy in the summer sun.

Intense and long, the days are filled with light.

Reason knows that past the blue is night,

That all that ever is will be undone;

Yet for now that letter is still sealed.

Time moves slowly, certain of its yield,

While gentle breezes through the barley run.

Odd wisps of memories float high and white.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/32.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

July 28: Elizabeth

July 29: Fruit Abounds Amid the Press of Labor

July 30: Thirty-Two

Friday, July 29, 2016

Fruit Abounds Amid the Press of Labor

July 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is a number poem describing a mother in the summer of her life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fruit abounds amid the press of labor.

Old, abandoned plants produce sweet plums.

Rivers run unseen through ripening fields.

The heartscape sings, dreams unremembered answer.

Youthful still, the mother waits and listens.

There is much in summertime to savor,

Hard though the work until the harvest comes.

Revel, then, in what all seasons yield,

Even as each leaf becomes a dancer,

Even as the white world gleams and glistens.

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

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

July 28: Elizabeth

July 29: Fruit Abounds Amid the Press of Labor

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Elizabeth

July 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is a philosophical name poem about a gardener reaching for the ideal.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Elizabeth spends summer afternoons

Leaning over roses and potatoes,

In radiant concentration as she prunes.

Zeno's thoughts are less with her than Plato's

As she snips and clips in steeply slanted light,

Blessed alike by tulips and tomatoes.

Each creature yearns to be, but never quite

Touches what it is, as dissonant tunes

Hover at the silent edge of night.

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

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

July 28: Elizabeth

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

One Late Summer Afternoon

July 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is about the recognition of death waiting behind a late summer afternoon sky.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

One late summer afternoon

As the stars waited patiently

Behind a deep cobalt sky,

I took my usual suburban walk,

Up this hill, down that hill,

Past tiny lawns and tidy gardens,

Till I stopped, and imagined the stars

Behind the sky, waiting,

Then took a deep breath and went on.

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

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

It's Been So Good to Have You as a Friend

July 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is a friendship poem comparing friendship to the light of a summer sun.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

It's been so good to have you as a friend:

As sweet and rich as honey-colored sun

Slanting steep across a summer lawn,

Gilding life with all that love can lend.

And now that you yourself have griefs to tend,

I want to be the strong and caring one

To count to you the lovely things you've done

Until these troubles pass and sorrows end.

You are so beautiful in form and soul

That you bring happiness to all you're near:

Just as a sea rose, flowering in mist,

Makes a paradise of some bleak shoal,

Turning truth to something far more clear,

No pain unsoothed or rain-swept cheek unkissed.

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

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

July 26: It’s Been So Good to Have You as aFriend

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Summer

July 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is summer.

Today’s poem is an acrostic calendar poem describing the slow motion of summer.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Summer slides but slowly to the sea

Underneath a bright blue breathless sky.

Memory meanders into dream,

Making time spill over its thin stream,

Each moment motionless, a golden eye,

Radiant image of eternity.

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

This week’s theme: Summer.

July 25: Summer

Forever Is a Fantasy of Time

July 24, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is faith.

Today’s poem is about a truth beyond reason.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Forever is a fantasy of time:

One imagines time without an ending.

Reason cannot grasp eternity,

That outside time is outside comprehending.

Yet one can know it well, if so inclined.

The pith of every being is divine,

Which one can reach ascending or descending.

One is one with One eternally.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/forev5.html. For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

July 19: Lest You Leave Your Longings in the Sunshine

July 21: Erase My Soul

July 22: Seventy-Three

July 23: Christine Joyce Ann

July 24: Forever Is a Fantasy of Time

Friday, July 22, 2016

Christine Joyce Ann

July 23, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is faith.

Today’s poem is a name and love poem comparing romantic love to faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Christine Joyce Ann has rekindled my heart!

Her nature is pure, without pretense or art.

Reason may tell you that such cannot be.

If so, then I cannot see what I see,

Singing of love through the dust of my days,

Through the bliss of my nights and the length of my ways,

In moments of passion, in moments of rest,

Needing no proof of the truth I know best.

Each moment I sing of my loved one I feel

Joy that proclaims my perceptions are real!

Oh, yes, I know some would call me a fool,

Yielding to rapture where reason should rule.

Choosing to love is like faith in that one

Embraces the fortune that faith has begun.

And thus life is lifted to be what one would.

No harsh view can dance with the grace of the good,

Nor stand once faith's powers are well understood.

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

This week’s theme: Faith.

July 19: Lest You Leave Your Longings in the Sunshine

July 21: Erase My Soul

July 22: Seventy-Three

July 23: Christine Joyce Ann

Seventy-Three

July 22, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is faith.

Today’s poem is a number poem about how inner love and faith can help one bear old age.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seventy-three refocuses on love

Even as she now must live alone.

Very little waits behind the door.

Every day is like the day before.

Nestled in her heart are sleeves of stone.

Time hangs like fog no sun will soon remove.

Yet there is much that makes her yearn for more.

To be is to be loved and blessed with grace,

However one might live or soon might die.

Revelations come like words long known,

Each an invitation to embrace

Ecstasy that needs no reason why.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/73.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.

July 19: Lest You Leave Your Longings in the Sunshine

July 21: Erase My Soul

July 22: Seventy-Three

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Erase My Soul

July 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is faith.

Today’s poem is a poem for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr about the beauty of Ramadan devotion and prayer.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Erase my soul and let me be

Invisible as air.

Detain me in Your emptiness

And let me be just prayer.

Let my passion disappear;

Focus well my mind.

Immerse me in infinity

Till at peace I turn to see

Ramadan behind.

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

This week’s theme: Faith.

July 19: Lest You Leave Your Longings in the Sunshine

July 21: Erase My Soul

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Every Friday Night I Bless My Children

July 20, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is faith.

Today’s poem is about the beauty of the Jewish tradition of blessing one’s children before the Sabbath meal.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Every Friday night I bless my children.

I put my hands upon their inclined heads

And say the words my father said to me:

"May God shine His countenance on you."

I put my hands upon their inclined heads,

Chanting with a pure, intense delight.

"May God shine His countenance on you,"

I pray as though my love might make it so.

Chanting with a pure, intense delight,

Each week I play this part with equal joy.

I pray as though my love might make it so,

That God might live with them as He with me.

Each week I play this part with equal joy,

And say the words my father said to me,

That God might live with them as he with me

Every Friday night I bless my children.

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

This week’s theme: Faith.

July 19: Lest You Leave Your Longings in the Sunshine

Monday, July 18, 2016

Lest You Leave Your Longings in the Sunshine

July 19, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is faith.

Today’s poem is a poem for the Lunar New Year about how the beauty of traditional worship can help guide faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Lest you leave your longings in the sunshine

Unprotected from night's bitter shade,

Now you may take them on the lunar wind,

Alive to phantoms vivid as your face

Reveling in front of Reason's door.

Nor could your own inventions offer more,

Even those transfigured from your race,

Which, privatized, seem downsized, somehow thinned.

Yet here is all the wealth the past has made,

Each relic well preserved in ancient brine,

A treasure-trove of comedy and grace

Resting where your faith would else be blind.

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

This week’s theme: Faith.