Marriage Is a Letting Go

January 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about the need for married couples to surrender to marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Marriage is a letting go,

A plunge into the deep.

No one need the currents fear

Nor hesitate to leap.

You may your spirits keep.

More is gained by giving up

And less by taking in.

Remember that to dwell in joy

You must make room within.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/marri4.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

January 14: Marriage, as a Choice, Requires Choices

January 15: Marriage Is a Letting Go

Marriage, as a Choice, Requires Choices

January 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is from wife to husband vowing to overcome marital difficulties.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Marriage, as a choice, requires choices.

One must choose not once, but every day.

Life offers us a hundred thousand voices,

Yet those we fail to hear fast fade away.

I choose you with all my wounded heart:

You and our two children. All the rest

Lies in the distance, charming, but apart

From the circle of the ones with whom I'm blessed.

Our marriage isn't easy, but our love

Is still the force that shapes my daily life.

I want us to be happy, and will move

Wherever I must be to be your wife.

I'm yours, and I want you to be mine.

We'll find a way our wishes to combine.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/marri2.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

January 14: Marriage, as a Choice, RequiresChoices

Love Returns on Saturdays

January 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about love on the weekend.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love returns on Saturdays,

Having been away

To labor in the labyrinth

That underlies our joy.

How dark the days of abstinence,

Of sleep too dire to stay,

Of mornings mere mechanical

And flesh no hands employ!

But then--Ah, then!--on Saturdays

Love finally has its way,

Coming into crevices

Whose cravings passions buoy.

How beautiful, the love that can

Such soporifics sway!

No wasteland world of weekdays shall

Our dalliance destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/lover2.html. For more poems about marriage, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/marriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

Love Finds Little Latitude

January 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem compares marriage to leaving the sea for a safe harbor.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love finds little latitude

Once it leaves the sea

And sails between the rocky heads

That guard its proper berth.

Precise in pitch and attitude,

It must turn perfectly

To miss the sharp-edged coral beds

Garlanding its girth.

The wind still blows, the waves still roll

Out where the water's deep,

But here within, a tidal peace

Reverses with the moon.

Here is the elusive goal,

Too permanent to keep,

That sits in small print on the lease

Of those who dock at noon.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about marriage as paradise.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Life sings with an extraordinary passion,

Intent on being all one can afford.

For those who let their love their fortune fashion,

Eden is indeed a just reward.

So might we live in paradise unending

If only we would see the salient sea,

Needing need with honesty unbending,

Grace to love so long and well that we,

Singing each to each, might simply be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an ExtraordinaryPassion

Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 10, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a name poem with advice on how to find joy in marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Joy is in the simple things: touching,

Embracing, chattering on for hours about nothing,

Sure of your place within another's heart.

Simple things: like coming home knowing

Exactly where the treasure lies; like being

At ease with what you do and who you are;

Needing what you already have; accepting,

Desiring what you have been given; feeling

The gratitude of someone who is loved;

Investing goodness instead of money; giving

For the pleasure of giving pleasure; seeing

Fortune come to take you in its arms.

All this joy is yours for the price of loving,

Not only well but long, days of willing,

Years and years of wise and patient love.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

Jody and Blue

January 9, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about how love can overcome the limitations and frustrations of marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Jody and Blue have a great deal to do

On their way to be blissfully wed,

Determined to be repossessed by the sea

Yet confining themselves to one bed.

Bright days and nights can be had without lights;

Love works well, if by will, in the dark.

Undoing the pain of frustration and strain,

Each arrow finds always its mark.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

The Point of Life Is that There Is No Point

January 8, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is a number poem about the need to create rather than discover one’s epiphanies.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The point of life is that there is no point.

We find our meaning in that lack of meaning.

Each is therefore free to choose a mission,

Needing something more than mere ambition,

The pursuit of which can often seem redeeming.

Yet some would their uncertainties anoint.

Freedom doesn't disappear with choice.

In being one, one cannot help be free.

Vast the view, and miniscule the voice,

Even as the voice makes meaning be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/thepo3.html. For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

January 6: Epiphanies Come and Go

January 7: Eager for a Miracle

January 8: The Point of Life Is that There Is NoPoint

Eager for a Miracle

January 7, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is about the validity of epiphanies.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eager for a miracle, one sees

Plainly and precisely as one wills,

Immersed in purposes, plans, goals, needs, desires,

Peering through the window of a dream.

How might one see right through the way things seem,

Adjusting for the light of inner fires?

Numbers measure what the measure kills.

Yet some truths are best planted on one's knees.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

January 6: Epiphanies Come and Go

January 7: Eager for a Miracle

Epiphanies Come and Go

January 6, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is about a continuous beauty that lies beyond epiphanies.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Epiphanies come and go; what remains

Plays upon the harp strings of the heart,

In which an inborn harmony sustains

Passion, pleasure, patience, purpose, art.

How might beatitude come every day,

A bit of the bright ecstasy of Heaven?

None need do more than tarry by the way,

Yielding to the grace that all are given.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

January 6: Epiphanies Come and Go

Aaron

January 5, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is a name poem about the circular nature of some epiphanies, which can only occur within the context of an already established faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Aaron is an acolyte of Being,

A lover of the One within the many,

Revealed alone through rituals of seeing

On which one must agree before agreeing,

Needing faith before one can have any.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 4, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is a number poem about the role of imagination in epiphanies.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Forever is not merely time unending.

It simply is, outside of space and time.

For us, who cannot be except in motion,

The eternal is like color to the blind,

Yearning without hope of comprehension.

 

There is, however, beauty in the notion.

What one imagines, one can be, depending

On powers resident in every mind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/forev6.html. For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

The Meaning of Eternity

January 3, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is about the meaning of eternity.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

THE MEANING OF ETERNITY

Most people think of eternity as a very, very, very, very, very long time.

Which, of course, it’s not.

Eternity, being outside of time, is neither short nor long.

It just is.

The isness of every instant.

The isness of every grain of sand.

Something that is eternal never changes.

For example, a truth.

For example, a mathematical equation.

For example, a moment that is over.

For example, a character in a play.

For example, a loved one who has died.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 2, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is a poem about the epiphany that comes with every child.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Every child might redeem your soul,

Put your sins to right, unclasp your heart,

Invade your fantasies and make them whole,

Prepare you to perform your destined part.

Here is your Bethlehem, where from afar,

Alight with faith and love you’ve made your way.

Nor would you be a king but for that star

You knew would lead to where your purpose lay.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

How Beautiful the Turning of the Year

January 1, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about the beauty of the moment when one year ends and another begins.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How beautiful the turning of the year!

A moment artificial yet profound:

Point upon an arbitrary chart

Passing like a breath upon the heart,

Yearning with anticipation wound,

New hope new harbored in old-fashioned cheer.

Even when the boundary line is clear,

We recognize the oneness of the ground.

Years, like circles, do not end or start

Except we lay across their truth our art,

Adjusting dates as they go round and round

Revolving to a tune long sung and dear.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 31: New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

January 1: How Beautiful the Turning of the Year

New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

December 31, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a New Year’s poem about the need to dream.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

New years are a chance for a beginning

Even when there hasn't been an end.

Wheels turn in an interminable bend,

Yet, marked in one spot, seem to wobble spinning.

Each year we hope to do a little better

Although we know that really nothing's changed.

Reason often is from hope estranged,

So we must dream if we would fate unfetter.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/newye2.html. For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 31: New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem was written for the turn of the millennium.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Millennia are fairly common things:

In a billion years are quite a few.

Long or short, their roundness pleasure brings:

Life needs some pretext to start anew.

Each millennium's a fresh, blank page:

No future ever stretched so fair and far.

Now we wait upon the empty stage

In hopes we'll catch a glimpse of who we are.

Underneath is something vast and free:

Millennia are chains across a sea.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about the purpose of artificially designating one moment as the beginning of the New Year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hours mean no more or less than years.

A moment is a point with no dimension.

People count to undermine their fears,

Persuaded numbers lead to comprehension.

Yet time is an illusion of our motion,

No realer than the rising of the sun.

Each line we draw rests on a restless ocean,

Way, way beyond the scalable scope of one.

Years do not begin and never end

Except for purposes of calibration.

A need to share our yearnings, friend to friend,

Requires just one point of celebration.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less thanYears

Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about one’s lease on hope being renewed each year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hope is often rented by the year.

A ceremony helps ensure the signing.

People like transitions to be clear,

Preferably at moments when they're dining.

Yet as a rental flat can be a home,

No one wants to terminate this lease.

Each thinks hope too poor a risk to own

While needing its bright arc for inner peace.

Years therefore start with hope again renewed

Even as the old year's wishes die.

After all the books have been reviewed,

Ring in the New Year!--with a gentle sigh.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about the experience of permanence and change.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness depends on more than years.

All one's moments gather to a wave

Passing in a rolling swell of tears,

Passions too immense to name or save.

Yet New Year's is a crest on which to sing,

Now poised between the future and the past.

Each awaits what course the fates may bring,

Winds that never touch the things that last.

Years turn and turn with an hypnotic grace

Even as the depths of life lie still.

Although above one might not silence face,

Remember that below the divers will.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/happi4.html. For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here's a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More thanYears

Here's a Happy Harbinger

December 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Happy New Year poem about hope being reborn with the New Year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here’s a happy harbinger,

A sign of good to come,

Placed where darkness dooms the day,

Placed where hope is gone.

Years, like people, age, and therefore

Need to be reborn,

Ending with a tired sigh,

Weary, weak, and worn.

Yet like a child, each new year is

Embraced with joy regained,

A harbinger of happiness

Returning once again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heres3.html. For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

How Lovely 'Tis to Take This Time

December 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is a Christmas poem about keeping the flame of love alive through friendship.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How lovely 'tis to take this time

To greet our dearest friends,

To wish them health and happiness

Before the old year ends.

Darkness comes late afternoon

And winter lies ahead,

But friendship is a glowing fire

When all seems cold and dead.

Just as in some vacant barn,

Unnoticed in the night,

The whole of human history turns,

So we, too, make things right.

We must keep alive the flame

Though darkness grip the Earth;

For in the love we find in friends

Is our chance for rebirth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 23: So Who Said It Was Easy

December 24: Hanumas Is Something Strange Indeed

December 25: How Lovely ‘Tis to Take This Time

Hanumas Is Something Strange Indeed

December 24, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is about celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas (Hanumas) on the same night.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hanumas is something strange indeed:

A Hanukkah and Christmas in one night!

Now mixed families must combine the two,

Uniting loved ones just as God would do,

Making separate flames a single light.

All who love by love are thenceforth freed

Simply in all love to find delight.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 23: So Who Said It Was Easy

December 24: Hanumas Is Something Strange Indeed

So Who Said It Was Easy

December 23, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is a Hanukkah poem about keeping the flame of love alive.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So who said it was easy to keep old flames burning?

Even experts could use a little divine help now and then.

The easy part is to go out and be brilliant as Shakespeare.

Harder--much harder--to be the light dancing in someone else's eyes.

Lights such as love require more faith than fuel.

Of all leaps, the most dangerous is into the mind of your lover.

Regarding miracles: What is less explicable than

Remaining in love through the long icy anguish of anger?

All lovers long for freedom only slightly less than they fear it.

In the end, love burns not desire but fear.

Not one of us would be capable of keeping the fire burning

Except for the knowledge that it is the sweetest, best, and most

beautiful thing in our lives.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 23: So Who Said It Was Easy

Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

December 22, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Santa lights the Hanukkah lights

Eight days in a row,

As Jews sing carols winter nights,

Songs they love and know.

Out of many, one, but one

Need not reduce one’s faith.

Some love love, wherever from,

Glad to share the grace.

Remember that identity

Endures through love alone.

Exclusive faith eventually

Turns loving hearts to stone.

Into your well-chosen cup

Now pour a blended soul,

Giving not one blessing up,

Savoring the whole.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 22: Santa Lights the Hanukkah Lights

Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

December 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is for a child of a mixed marriage about celebrating all three end-of-year holidays.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Three holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

Chanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s Day!

And we celebrate all three

‘Cause we’re a lucky family.

Jewish, Christian, American,

We cherish all the days we can,

Loving all, and not just one,

‘Cause all of them are lots of fun!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/3holid.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

December 21: Three Holidays! Hooray! Hooray!

Can Anyone Love Christmas Who's Not Christian

December 20, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is about appreciating Christmas even if you’re not Christian.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Can anyone love Christmas who’s not Christian?

How, if one does not believe in Christ?

Remember that in life no truth is certain.

In loving beauty, doubt is quite all right.

So one can see the beauty of the story

That God came down to Earth in human form.

Maybe all can share the hope and glory

Angels sang of when that child was born,

Singing songs of joy on Christmas morn.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/canan2.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 20: Can Anyone Love Christmas Who’s Not Christian

Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

December 19, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since Christmas and Chanukah fall so near each other this year (Christmas Eve and the first night of Chanukah are both on December 24), this week’s theme is the spirit common to both holidays.

Today’s poem is about the seasonal pairing of Chanukah and Christmas.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hanukkah and Christmas go together,

A pair of holidays quite complementary,

Pleased to have become more elementary,

Pleased to have become birds of a feather.

Yet once, of course, they were antagonistic,

Having more to do with their religions,

On which they long depended for their visions,

Lest faith become increasingly heuristic.

In our time, the holidays are friends,

Delivered by the same inclusive heaven,

A pair of pastries all puffed up with leaven,

Yeasted well for mercenary ends,

Sweetened well to bind once-bitter blends.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hanuk2.html. For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Chanukah and Christmas

December 19: Hanukkah and Christmas Go Together

So Might One Turn from Winter into Spring

December 18, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem that takes us through the seasons, ending with the holidays at the beginning of winter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So might one turn from winter into spring,

Emerging from the season's icy womb

Alight with life, with all the world in bloom,

So sweet a scent one cannot help but sing;

Or turn to summer as the blossoms fade,

Now whistling as one waters well one's garden,

Sensing one's terrain begin to harden,

Growing what would thrive in sun or shade;

Ramble through the summer into fall,

Each day a generous gift of lilting light,

Even though the cool wind hints of night

Too quickly, as one wishes time would stall;

Into winter turn with holiday cheer,

Needing joy to light the darkened way,

Grace that lingers through the lengthening day,

Silent celebrant of each new year.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 15: Silent Night. The Whole World Holds Its Breath

December 16: Shine like a Moon upon Your Field of Snow

December 17: Silence Is a Quality of Snow

December 18: So Might One Turn from Winter into Spring

Silence Is a Quality of Snow

December 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is a Season’s Greetings poem about beauty and grace even in the dead of winter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Silence is a quality of snow.

Eager to hear it, I trudge through virgin fields,

Awake at the heart of nothingness, and so

Seized press on, as the world's white oneness yields.

Oh, what happiness! Though the deadly cold

Numbs the extremities, traveling inward,

'Ere it reaches the heart, I turn, the old

Songs singing in my head as I head homeward.

Give thanks, then, for the unforgiving silence,

Revelation in white swaddling clothes,

Eden's seed asleep as we find radiance

Even in the bleak December snows.

To be is to contain the holy light,

In nothingness the being ever born,

Never more the locus of delight,

Grace the equal gift of day and night,

Shining like a candle until dawn.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings.

December 12: Some Would Sing to Celebrate the Season

December 13: So Ancient a Festival Ought Touch the Heart

December 14: Sing of the Rhythms of Life

December 15: Silent Night. The Whole World Holds Its Breath

December 16: Shine like a Moon upon Your Field of Snow

December 17: Silence Is a Quality of Snow