Poem of the Week

June 16: Father’s Day Is Not Meant Just for Fathers

June 17: Hold On to What You Know – That You’re in Love

June 18: For You the Symphony Will Never End

Friday, June 16, 2017

Hold On to What You Have -- That You're in Love

June 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Father’s Day, which falls on June 18.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem for a father dealing with the difficulties of fatherhood.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hold on to what you know – that you’re in love,

And will be for life, a sentence that’s a joy,

Pleased to have one thing you’re certain of,

Pleased to have one thing time can’t destroy.

Yes, of course, all love must ebb and flow.

Feeling is liquid, moved by winds and tides,

Above, all waves and ripples, while below

The simple, silent, unchanged truth abides.

Have faith in that sweet tie that binds you fast,

Embracing you with elemental need.

Regardless of reverses, it will last,

‘Mid grief and grace the gift of love-sown seed.

So may you cherish well what life has given,

Desiring what you have, though you have striven

Against your own unyielding gods within,

Yearning for a calmer, gentler wind.

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

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

June 16: Father’s Day Is Not Meant Just for Fathers

June 17: Hold On to What You Know – That You’re in Love

Father's Day Is Not Meant Just for Fathers

June 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Father’s Day, which falls on June 18.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem for an uncle.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Father's Day is not meant just for fathers.

An uncle, too, can claim his just reward.

The child has a need for loving men,

However they may be akin, and when

Each grows into adulthood, has a word

Required to describe a model other,

Singing just the name to hear the chord.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/fath10.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

June 16: Father’s Day Is Not Meant Just for Fathers

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Fathers Vest Themselves in a Relation

June 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Father’s Day, which falls on June 18.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem about the pain and beauty of the relation between father and child.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fathers vest themselves in a relation,

And, as we know, relationships can change.

The hot and cold are often in rotation.

Heartache’s not a place one should find strange.

Each love can be a corridor for pain,

Reopening a door that had been closed.

‘Mid need and fear one loves again, again,

Sacrificing more than one supposed.

Do, then, love not for the joy but for

A gift of self that makes one’s being more,

Yielding grace that none but love sustains.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathe9.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Forget the Fantasies of Fatherhood

June 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Father’s Day, which falls on June 18.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem for a divorced father who does not have custody of his child.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Forget the fantasies of fatherhood

And take a look at what your life has wrought.

The choices you have made, both good and bad,

Have added up to … Well, you can add.

Enduring love will bring what you have sought,

Regardless of the pain the years have brought,

Sustaining what can only end in good.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/forge4.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

Monday, June 12, 2017

Fortune's a Chameleon, Changing Shade

June 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Father’s Day, which falls on June 18.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem advising a father to appreciate his good fortune.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fortune’s a chameleon, changing shade

As one embraces, or does not, one’s fate.

Ties that bind one to an ordered life –

Having children with a loving wife –

Endure, though passions pale and friendships fade.

Remember, then, to hug the life you made,

Singing, singing as you celebrate.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/fortu6.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Fathers Are the Giants of Our Lives

June 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Father’s Day, which falls on June 18.

Today’s poem is a Father’s Day poem for an expectant father who sees his father as the giant he will soon be.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fathers are the giants of our lives,

Atlases who once held up our worlds.

They do not shrink as we increase in size,

However handsomely our lives unfurl.

Even when we know them for themselves,

Reducing them to their humanity,

‘Mid myth and memory we are still elves,

Still small beside the giants we still see.

Do, then, both enjoy your coming state

And know you will reprise your father’s fate,

Yearning for the giant you will be.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathe8.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

There Is a Love So Certain

June 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem for a couple getting married after a long involuntary separation.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is a love so certain

It can underwrite all fears;

A passion so enduring

It abides beneath the years;

A yearning so consuming

It's consumed by its own will

To yearn if need forever

For the one its need might still.

How beautiful the rapture

That sustains those long apart!

The joyful inner union

Of the undivided heart.

How sweet yet sad the music

That conveys such loyalty!

The devastated grace

Of the hope of love to be.

And now the mystic moment

Has arrived, and the reward

For all that time of waiting

Shall be gathered in a word.

And life with utter longing

Shall let down its golden hair

That these long faithful lovers

Find at last their pleasure there.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/loveso.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

June 9: They Said We’d Never Make It

June 10: To Be a Child at a Parent’s Wedding

June 11: There Is a Love So Certain

Friday, June 9, 2017

To Be a Child at a Parent's Wedding

June 10, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem from the child of a previous marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To be a child at a parent's wedding

Is strange, for there's a hint of darkness there.

The past stands just offshore, although we're heading

Inland into cool, fresh mountain air.

The love you two have found is my love also;

Your happiness this day is also mine.

Where your heart leads you, mine will also follow

As more than two lives in this act combine.

So like a sun that burns off morning mist,

Or like a rainbow gracing a blue sky,

Or like the weeping of the newly blessed,

Or like a deep-felt truth that cannot lie,

This moment is far more than we can be,

Joining you to you, and then to me.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/tobeac.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

June 9: They Said We’d Never Make It

June 10: To Be a Child at a Parent’s Wedding

They Said We'd Never Make It

June 9, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem for the renewal of vows.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

They said we'd never make it,

But now we've come this far.

Today we celebrate our love

And honor who we are.

We had a hard beginning,

Adults before our time.

But growing up together made

Our deepest roots entwine.

You are my life, my love, my hope,

My friend, my world, my song,

The mirror of my unseen heart,

The place where I belong.

And as our one life passes,

Through love we live for two:

A cornucopia of joy

That we this day renew.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/theysa.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

June 9: They Said We’d Never Make It

Thursday, June 8, 2017

You Are the Mirror of My Past

June 8, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem from mother to daughter.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You are the mirror of my past,

The future of my dreams,

The hope for what in life may last,

The jewel that time redeems.

You are yourself, of course, no less,

But also you are mine,

The light of all my treasured days,

The gift for which I pine.

Long may we this closeness share,

This place where memories play,

And if our friendship needs repair,

May love reveal the way.

And now that you're to be a wife

With loves and passions new,

May you find in your sweet life

The joy I have in you.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/youar6.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

This Is a Second Marriage for Us Both

June 7, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem for a second marriage.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

This is a second marriage for us both,

And yet we are the soul mates of our lives.

Sometimes it's a while till love arrives,

Though we may watch it sail along the coast.

Sometimes we fail to understand that pain

Can be a journey to a sunlit shore.

We never know what suffering is for,

Or when we lose, what treasures we might gain.

And so I'm grateful now that I am free

To join my life with yours. I would not change

One moment of my past, or rearrange

The shining chain that brings your love to me.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/2ndmar.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

Getting Married Means You'll Have

June 6, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem from a child’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Getting married means you'll have

Someone's hand to hold,

Even when you're feeling sick,

Even when you're old.

It means when you sit down to eat,

Someone will be there,

So you won't have to tell your day

To an empty chair.

It means that you can have some kids

Just like a mom and dad,

And play with them all afternoon,

Except when they are bad.

It means that when you need some help,

Someone will help out,

Someone always near to you

So you won't have to shout.

But best of all is when it's time

To turn out all the lights:

You won't have to be alone

Those long and scary nights.

So even though you don't have toys,

You don't have to care:

Once you're married you can be

Each other's teddy bear!

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/gettin.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Childhood Sweethearts Share an Innocence

June 5, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since June is a popular month for weddings, that is the theme for this week.

Today’s poem is a wedding poem for childhood sweethearts.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Childhood sweethearts share an innocence

That, if they marry, lasts them all their lives,

An early sacrifice that makes no sense,

Save that something beautiful survives.

There is the sense that angels would do this,

A rightness like a rock before the sea,

A hunger for a symbiotic kiss,

For love as pure as it was meant to be.

And so it is for those who make that choice,

Who dare to love so faithfully and long

That each becomes to each a second voice,

Transforming merest moments into song.

How beautiful first love! Yet better still,

A love for life sustained by wish and will.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/childh.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

I Miss Your Laughter, Fun, and Gentleness

June 4, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which was observed on May 29.

Today’s poem is about a mother’s love for her dead child.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I miss your laughter, fun, and gentleness.

I miss the things I used to do for you.

I miss the time, now filled with emptiness,

When each day was a stage for something new.

I miss your love, though mine for you remains,

A passion with no outlet to the sea,

A teardrop in a desert, that contains

What's left of my maternal ecstasy.

I miss your presence, like a silent chord

That anchored even solitude in grace.

I miss, for my love's labor, the reward

Of seeing some small pleasure in your face.

All these I miss, and yet they are all here

Within my heart, far more than I can bear.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/imiss7.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week's theme: Memorial Day

June 2: Maybe There's a Good Excuse for Fighting

June 3: Memories Are All That I Have Left

June 4: I Miss Your Laughter, Fun, and Gentleness

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Memories Are All That I Have Left

June 3, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which was observed on May 29.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about the inadequacy of memories.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Memories are all that I have left.

Each becomes a well-worn photograph.

Missing is the warmth, the touch, the heft

Of life, the smile, the reassuring laugh.

Real people change, they grow, relate, unfold.

In time we share the adventures of their lives

As they marry, have kids, change jobs, grow old,

Loving us -- their parents, husbands, wives.

Dead people are alive in us, but they

Are not within themselves. No love revives

Your love, which I once cherished day-to-day.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/memor2.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day

June 2: Maybe There’s a Good Excuse for Fighting

June 3: Memories Are All That I Have Left

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Maybe There's a Good Excuse for Fighting

June 2, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which was observed on May 29.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about the legacy of pain even of righteous wars.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there's a good excuse for fighting;

Every era has its righteous wars.

Maybe wrongs require bloody righting,

Or self-defense gives warriors just cause.

Remember, though, the legacy of pain,

Intense and passionate, a world of wounds,

Agony unveiled again, again,

Livid in the light of lonely rooms.

Death is a relief, but think of those

Alive with grief, whose loved ones lie in rows,

Youth on youth in neat, well-ordered tombs.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe4.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day

June 2: Maybe There’s a Good Excuse for Fighting

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Maybe It Was Worth It, Maybe Not

June 1, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which was observed on May 29.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem weighing the value of a single life against the reasons for war.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe it was worth it, maybe not.

Each life is priceless, yet we paid the price.

Maybe what we gave up you forgot,

Or found some meaning in our sacrifice.

Reason would not choose to let us die

If all the reasons on all sides could be

Against one life forced one whole night to lie,

Letting love run through them honestly.

Deep beneath the normal calculation,

A life is far more precious than a nation.

Yet war survives, and will till all agree.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe8.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Maybe Grief Needs Ritual, as Music

May 31, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which was observed on May 29.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about how ritual can contain the pain of grief.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe grief needs ritual, as music

Embraces rules that turn sound into song.

Maybe if one trusts that one won't lose it,

One can turn away, though grief be strong.

Reserve, then, days for rituals of mourning

In which one may allow the flood of grief

Again to inundate the heart, restoring

Life to deserts thirsting for relief.

Dance depends on choreography

As pain declares its sovereign right to be,

Yet performs with grace restrained and brief.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybeg.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day

Make My Death a Canticle for Peace

May 30, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which was observed on May 29.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem asking the mourner to pursue inner harmony and peace.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make my death a canticle for peace.

Evil has no greater friend than anger,

Making ready converts to its cause.

On me think but of beauty as you pause,

Remembering the service of a stranger

In giving up his life to purchase yours.

All I ask is that you do your part,

Living in the sunlight of my death,

Dancing till your self-sown furies cease.

As you enjoy the gift of every breath,

Yet mourn for me with morning in your heart.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/makemy.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Make a Little Time for Public Mourning

May 29, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which is observed today, May 29.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about the need for public mourning.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make a little time for public mourning,

Easing the harsh pangs of hidden grief.

Maybe ritual tears will bring relief,

Offering a role for one's dark calling.

Remember the utility of sharing,

Inviting cloistered hearts to come outdoors

And dance with us along our barren shores,

Lost within the music of our longing.

Death requires our collaboration

As we render due commemoration,

Yielding sorrow to the common cause.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/makeal.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day

Remember, Please, the Reason for Your Fasting

May 28, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the purpose of fasting.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Remember, please, the reason for your fasting.

A body ought to live beyond the body,

More focused on a life that's everlasting

As all that must be clothed and shod turns shoddy,

Disintegrating slowly into dust,

Amazed, despite well knowing that it must.

Nor is salvation simply for the asking.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/remem4.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 26: Reason Without Faith Is Pure Relation

May 27: Right Action Is the Mother of Right Feeling

May 28: Remember, Please, the Reason for Your Fasting

Friday, May 26, 2017

Right Action Is the Mother of Right Feeling

May 27, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins today, May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about how, in the pursuit of faith, action precedes feeling.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Right action is the mother of right feeling.

As one does, one ultimately becomes.

Mere words are insufficiently revealing.

An act of faith revives what living numbs.

Do, then, faithfully the month observe,

And by your abstinence your spirit serve.

Nor will that act be any less than healing.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/reaso3.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 26: Reason Without Faith Is Pure Relation

May 27: Right Action Is the Mother of Right Feeling

Reason Without Faith Is Pure Relation

May 26, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the inadequacy of reason without faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Reason without faith is pure relation,

A sterile tool with doubt as its reward.

Mere connection cannot guide the mind

Absent a wisdom with deep faith combined,

Defining each sustained note with a chord.

A soul sees little substance in sensation,

Needing more than unframed thought can find.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/reaso3.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 26: Reason Without Faith Is Pure Relation

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Roam Anywhere You Wish and Then Return

May 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem urging the faithful not to fear secular knowledge.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Roam anywhere you wish, and then return.

All you want to know, you ought to know.

Maybe you're afraid that what you learn

Apart from holy things will turn your head.

Delight in Allah everywhere you go,

And feed your hungry mind till it's well fed.

Nor need you for your faith one insight spurn.

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

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Return to the Sweet Discipline of Faith

May 24, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the beauty of following religious ritual.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Return to the sweet discipline of faith!

A ritual is rich in grace and feeling.

Make yourself a servant that you might

Attend with less of will and more of sight,

Doing what is asked, not what's appealing,

Alive with light, free of want and hate.

Nor does one moment pass that is not healing.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/retur2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

Monday, May 22, 2017

Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the role of faith in every moment of life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Religion must touch more than mind and heart.

A living faith must be a way of life.

Mundane tasks done righteously are prayer,

As outer harmony heals inner strife.

Devotion must not be a thing apart,

Applied when turned towards Mecca. Everywhere

Needs passionate delight and humble care.

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

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness

May 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the distinction between righteousness and self-righteousness.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Righteousness is not self-righteousness,

As it requires a humble, loving heart.

Maybe one is proud that one is faithful

And slowly turns more arrogant than grateful,

Delighting in oneself. But faith is tearful,

Alight with longing and joyful tenderness,

Never whole but as an indigent part.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/right2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan