How Lucky to Have Had So Good a Father

June 16, 2018

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 will be celebrated tomorrow, June 17^th.

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

A Father’s Day poem for a deceased father:

How lucky to have had so good a father!

On us his warm, unstinting sun long shone.

We were, of his hardworking life, the center,

Loved for the pure joy of love alone.

Uncanny are the requisites of pleasure,

Coming as they do within the will.

Knowing well where lay his greatest treasure,

Years on years of love he labored still.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howluc.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

6/11: Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

6/12: Hope Turns Slowly into Realization

6/13: Fathers Must Have Faith in What They Do

6/14: A Father and a Dad Are Not the Same

6/15: Before I Was Myself, You Made Me, Me

6/16: How Lucky to Have Had So Good a Father!

Before I Was Myself You Made Me, Me

June 15, 2018

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 is celebrated on June 17^th.

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

An appreciative Father’s Day poem about adjusting the mixture of discipline and freedom:

Before I was myself you made me, me

With love and patience, discipline and tears,

Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,

Allowing me to sail upon my sea,

Though well within the headlands of your fears.

Before I was myself you made me, me

With dreams enough of what I was to be

And hopes that would be sculpted by the years,

Then bit by bit stepped back to set me free,

Relinquishing your powers gradually

To let me shape myself among my peers.

Before I was myself you made me, me,

And being good and wise, you gracefully

As dancers when the last sweet cadence nears

Bit by bit stepped back to set me free.

For love inspires learning naturally:

The mind assents to what the heart reveres.

And so it was through love you made me, me

By slowly stepping back to set me free.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/befor2.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

6/11: Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

6/12: Hope Turns Slowly into Realization

6/13: Fathers Must Have Faith in What They Do

6/14: A Father and a Dad Are Not the Same

6/15: Before I Was Myself, You Made Me, Me

A Father and a Dad Are Not the Same

June 14, 2018

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 is celebrated on June 17^th.

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

An appreciative Father’s Day poem to a stepfather:

A father and a dad are not the same:

One can be a dad and not a father,

Or one can be a father and not bother

To earn through love the more endearing name.

Some find fatherhood a bit too tame,

Leaving all the details to the mother,

Or dumping the sweet burden on another

Man with just a passing twinge of shame.

You have been our dad so many years

That you've become the landscape that is home,

The mountain that we look to from afar.

No matter where we go we're not alone,

For you remain within to still our fears

And be the word that tells us where we are.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/afath.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

6/11: Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

6/12: Hope Turns Slowly into Realization

6/13: Fathers Must Have Faith in What They Do

6/14: A Father and a Dad Are Not the Same

Fathers Must Have Faith in What They Do

June 13, 2018

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 is celebrated on June 17^th.

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

A Father’s Day poem about the need for faith in raising children:

Fathers must have faith in what they do,

As long as what they do proceeds from love.

The thousand thousand gifts of self accrue,

Held for years in bonds they know not of.

Even discipline, if not in anger,

Reasonable, not stubborn, patient, wise,

‘Mid rebellions resolute for order,

Succeeds at last in children’s later lives.

Deeds are bricks with which one builds a home,

A dwelling of the heart, though kids may roam,

Yielding more love than one might surmise.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fath11.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

6/11: Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

6/12: Hope Turns Slowly into Realization

6/13: Fathers Must Have Faith in What They Do

Hope Turns Slowly into Realization

June 12, 2018

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 is celebrated on June 17^th.

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

A Father’s Day poem about how to handle parental expectations:

Hope turns slowly into realization

As children slowly grow into themselves.

Perhaps some remnant fantasy rebels.

Perhaps one should revise one’s expectation.

Yet children owe one’s dreams no explanation,

For one must heed the tale that fortune tells

And greet the prodigal with joyful bells

That render the sweet song of the relation.

Have no illusion: Love is like a tide

Ebbing and flowing through the channeled heart,

Returning, turning as some smiling moon

‘Mid bits of shattered glory makes its way.

So must one with unremitting pride,

Destined for a quintessential part,

Attempt to harmonize that complex tune,

Yielding, shaping, listening to it play.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hopetu.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

6/11: Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

6/12: Hope Turns Slowly into Realization

Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

June 11, 2018

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 is celebrated on June 17^th.

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

A Father’s Day poem about the love that underlies all close relations:

Fear not, for love is all around you,

All you see and feel, your light and air.

The passion and the joy of it surround you,

However much, or not, you know it’s there.

Even in the darkest of your days,

Raw anger, disappointment, fierce frustration,

‘Mid those whose frailties their love betrays,

Still, love configures every close relation.

Destiny comes dressed at times to kill,

And willing it takes every ounce of will,

Yet love’s the bloom in every obligation.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fearn2.html. For more Father’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fathersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Father’s Day

6/11: Fear Not, for Love Is All Around You

Melanie

June 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Melanie, a woman whose love is for God:

Melanie is always deep in love,

Even more so when she is alone.

Love of God is like a quiet lake,

A heart within her heart no heart can break,

Nor passion, pain, nor solitude remove.

In her is beauty of which all partake,

Easy as breath, dependable as stone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/melani.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

6/5: Maggie

6/6: Viridiana

6/7: Amalia

6/8: Lorraine

6/9: Abby

6/10: Melanie

Abby

June 9, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Abby, a woman who has the bearing of a queen without the cause:

Abby is a queen without a country,

Blessed and cursed by destiny to be

Bereft of title, subjects, power, bounty,

Yet reigning in each word like royalty.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/abby.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

6/5: Maggie

6/6: Viridiana

6/7: Amalia

6/8: Lorraine

6/9: Abby

Lorraine

June 8, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Lorraine, a woman who accepts equally the good and bad in life:

Lorraine is sovereign of her willing heart.

Of her pain she weaves a tapestry of flowers,

Revealing alike her love and joy and grace.

Remembrances of hopes she long had grieved

Are now among the gifts she has received,

Inseparable from those she would embrace.

No way can she divide her sea of hours:

Each breath sustains a whole and not a part.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lorrai.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

6/5: Maggie

6/6: Viridiana

6/7: Amalia

6/8: Lorraine

Amalia

June 7, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Amalia, a woman who knows the secret of happiness:

Amalia is happy, though life can be sad,

Making harsh words into rhythm and rhyme,

A friend whose sweet smile might make a tear laugh,

Loosen a longing, cut sorrows in half,

Impose on abuses a bright rainbow sign

As she returns good for all that is bad.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/amalia.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

6/5: Maggie

6/6: Viridiana

6/7: Amalia

Viridiana

June 6, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Viridiana, a woman whose beauty, like that of most of us, is mainly unseen:

Viridiana is a vast blue ocean

In which ten thousand treasures lie unseen.

Rays glide like intimations in slow motion,

Intent on meaning more than they can mean.

Deeper still are jewels that wait for sunlight,

Iridescent on their beds of bone.

Awash in a white innocence like moonlight,

No grace can be perceived till it, unknown,

Awakens with the clarity of stone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/viridi.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

6/5: Maggie

6/6: Viridiana

Maggie

June 5, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Maggie, a woman who is unaware of her goodness:

Maggie knows no end to her travail

As she finds little solace for her sins.

Giving far more than she has received,

Giving far more than she has believed,

In her there is no sense where grace begins

Even as she lives behind its veil.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/maggie.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

6/5: Maggie

Aimee

June 4, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A name poem for Aimée, who plays at love:

Aimée aims directly for the heart,

Imagining the impact of each dart,

More for fun than love, except of self,

Eager for each chance to prove her art,

Ever the elusive, impish elf.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/aimee.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Portraits of Women

6/4: Aimée

I Would Not Be the Sun to End Your Night

June 3, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated on May 28^th.

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

A poem about the role of a friend in the process of mourning:

I would not be the sun to end your night,

Nor would I be the wall to turn your tears.

But I will watch with you until it's light.

Because there are no words to set things right

Nor hopes that one immersed in mourning hears,

I would not be the sun to end your night,

Offering a wisdom far too bright

To soothe your pain or put to rest your fears.

But I will watch with you until it's light.

There must be time to grieve that sorrow might

Be equal to the love of days and years.

I would not be the sun to end your night.

For grief, before it breaks, must reach its height,

And tides must turn before one homeward steers.

But I will watch with you until it's light.

There are agonies no friendship can requite,

A bitterness unstained till dawn appears.

I would not be the sun to end your night.

But I will watch with you until it's light.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/iwould.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/28: Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

5/31: I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

6/1: Buddy

6/2: In Eighth Grade My Best Friend Passed Away

6/3: I Would Not Be the Sun to End Your Night

In Eighth Grade My Best Friend Passed Away

June 2, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated on May 28^th.

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

A poem about the beauty of mourning someone who died long ago:

In eighth grade my best friend passed away.

He isn't gone, of course. I have him here

With me, within my heart, as I do always.

How beautiful that people are so dear

To one another! For all my life I'll love him.

Only one small part of us dies. The rest

Lives on in others. We are music within

Music. Nor do we ever hear the best

Of us, which sings in other hearts, a chorus

Of angels! However much I miss him, he sings

Here now, my friend, in me, to you, for us,

As we still breathe in the beauty that he brings.

Love lives forever passed along, and we

All are blessed to live, to love, to be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/in8th.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/28: Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

5/31: I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

6/1: Buddy

6/2: In Eighth Grade My Best Friend Passed Away

Buddy

June 1, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated on May 28^th.

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

Two contrasting name poems for Buddy, who is mourned with both joy and sorrow:

BUDDY

Buddy's memory burns ever bright;

Underneath our sorrow, ever there.

Death, unlike the coming of the night,

Does nothing to the loveliness of light,

Yet dancing through the willows' tangled hair.

Buddy lies beyond all love and light,

Underneath a grief too harsh to bear.

Dreams may try to keep his memory bright,

Drawing blindly in the depths of night,

Yet none can borrow what’s no longer there.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/buddy.html and https://www.poemsforfree.com/buddy2.html . For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/28: Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

5/31: I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

6/1: Buddy

I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

May 31, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated on May 28^th.

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

A poem of mourning for a deceased child:

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

I miss you so, the darkness will not pale.

My darling child, come to me again.

I know you cannot come, and still I strain

To put my arms around you through the veil.

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

Other lives and loves call me in vain.

I try to turn away from you and fail.

My darling child, come to me again.

You are my unendurable refrain.

Back and back I hurry to impale

My heart on you, to stop my heart with pain.

Yet nothing that I do undoes the plain

Brutal fact which always must prevail.

Ah, my darling, come to me again!

You are both my sunshine and my rain,

My dearest joy, my anguish, and my grail.

I feel as though my heart must stop with pain.

My darling child, come to me again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ifeel.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/28: Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

5/31: I Feel as Though My Heart Must Stop with Pain

Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

May 29, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which was celebrated yesterday, May 28^th.

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

A Memorial Day poem about murder as a soldier’s duty:

Murder ought not ever be a duty,

Even though for soldiers it must be.

Maybe one is bound by love or beauty

Only after one is safe and free.

Remember, then, those who murdered for you,

Invading, burning, bombing in your name,

And those whose plain white tombstones are before you,

Long dead, with neither guilt nor pride nor shame.

Deep within the heart the cause of war,

Alive and well, assures us there'll be more,

Yielding hatred, fear, revenge, and pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/murder.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/28: Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

5/29: Murder Ought Not Ever Be a Duty

Memories Evoke a Painful Joy.2

May 28, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is mourning in honor of Memorial Day, which is celebrated today, May 28^th.

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

A Memorial Day poem about the mingled joy and pain of memories:

Memories evoke a painful joy,

Evoke a harsh and bitter tenderness.

Maybe that's the price of happiness:

One loves what time or tempest will destroy.

Remember, then, those whom you have loved

In mingled joy and sorrow. Sing a song

As beautiful as is your love, and mourn

Like one who is by some chance blessing moved.

Days of mourning are a celebration,

A dance whose healing grace sustains relation,

Yielding grief that will redemptive prove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memor3.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Mourning

5/28: Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

Thank You for Your Love Throughout the Years

May 27, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation and thank-you poem from the graduate to his or her parents:

Thank you for your love throughout the years.

How else could I become what I've become?

All your plans and hopes and even fears

Now come together in what I have done.

Know that I am grateful for your love.

Your hard work is mirrored now in mine.

On you all my accomplishments must shine.

Underneath my pride, your spirits move.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thank5.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

5/22: Graduates Are People with Degrees

5/23: Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

5/24: How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

5/26: Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

5/27: Thank You for Your Love Throughout theYears

Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

May 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about what might make one’s education meaningful:

Give a little thought to what comes next.

Remember: education isn't training.

A person needs to struggle with a text,

Delving into truths beyond explaining.

Understanding means you must go under,

And make your own the ground on which you stand.

The urge to learn comes from a sense of wonder

Ill-served in those who like their knowledge canned.

Open up your mind so that your soul

Not be confined to one small, shallow bowl.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/giveal.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

5/22: Graduates Are People with Degrees

5/23: Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

5/24: How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

5/26: Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

May 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem for two friends, both graduating, who share their pride and pleasure:

The happiness I feel at your achievements

Reflects the happiness you feel at mine.

Friends expand the pleasure of such moments,

As mine in yours, and yours in mine, combine.

The same when we look forward to our futures:

So much more unfolds when there are two!

Populating your proposed adventures

Gives me a joy that mine must give to you.

We've been through much, and will be through much more,

But traveling together is more fun.

Whatever life and love may have in store,

Two is always preferable to one.

Your graduation thus becomes for me

Far more sweet than mine alone would be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happi3.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

5/22: Graduates Are People with Degrees

5/23: Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

5/24: How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

May 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem comparing a student to a rat in a maze:

How many times you almost lost your way,

About to leave the maze in pure frustration,

Indignant at extrinsic motivation,

Learning not enough to want to stay …

The rat must sometimes hate the proffered cheese,

Open to the eye but not the tongue,

The prize that makes him learn which colored rung

Has the power his torturers to please.

Even so, so much that you have learned

(Granted not the whole, but some good part)

Resonates within the mind and heart,

A legacy that now you've fully earned.

Drab though some of life may yet still prove,

Unbind those restive dreams that you employ!

All roads, no matter whither, lead to joy,

Though none will take you there unless you love.

Each maze becomes a garden when you love.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howman.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

5/22: Graduates Are People with Degrees

5/23: Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

5/24: How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

May 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about joy through good and bad weather:

Happiness does not depend on weather,

Although it sometimes helps to see the sun.

Perhaps one finds one’s best landscape within,

Precisely where one's labor is one's joy.

Yearning finds fulfillment in compassion.

Given the uncertainties of weather,

Rain and night in league against the sun,

All must find their happiness within,

Depending on their love of life for joy,

United by the bonds of their compassion.

And all should value knowledge, regardless whether

Their learning gives them more sweet days of sun.

In knowledge there’s a brighter sun within,

Opening one’s heart and mind to joy,

Necessary cradle of compassion.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happ22.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

5/22: Graduates Are People with Degrees

5/23: Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

Graduates Are People with Degrees

May 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about the real value of an education:

Graduates are people with degrees,

Rewarded with some letters by their names.

An education must be more than these.

Doubtful bosses aren't playing games.

Unless you know the things you need to know,

And have a mind honed well by what you've learned,

The piece of paper might as well be snow –

It is the least of what you here have earned.

Of what value have these hard years been?

Now that depends on how much you put in.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/grad10.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

5/22: Graduates Are People with Degrees

Congratulations on Your Doctorate

May 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about the difficulties and rewards of earning a doctorate:

Congratulations on your doctorate!

One must not only dare, but persevere,

Not giving in to stress, fatigue, or fear,

Grinding out the hours obdurate.

Rewards, we hope, will be commensurate:

A passionate and interesting career;

The joy of making truth a bit more clear,

Unafraid to speak your mind on it.

Let your happiness for now take wing

As you rest on the mountaintop awhile,

The victor in your struggle with yourself.

In time, of course, the world will cease to sing.

One must at length that piece of paper file,

No less basking in one’s inner smile,

Still savoring one’s well-earned inner wealth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/congr5.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/21: Congratulations on Your Doctorate

Forty-Six3

May 20, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A number poem in which one is the instrument of God’s music:

Forty-six takes pleasure in the act

Of being, as each moment sings of joy.

Regardless of the certainty of death,

There's beauty in the light that spirits buoy,

Yielding truths one need not take for fact.

So does one live within the house of breath,

Instrument of what none can destroy,

Xylophone among the bric-a-brac.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/46c.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/16: Reason Doesn’t Travel Well

5/17: If Reason Is the Word, Faith’s the Music

5/18: Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

5/19: Little Do the Others Know

5/20: Forty-Six3

Little Do the Others Know

May 19, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A religious poem in which the poet speaks to God about the merciless nature of truth:

Little do the others know

How much I hurt inside.

But you, who must know everything,

Care little for my pride.

You, with eyes of steel, rebut

Without a word my pain,

And with a passion pitiless

Undo me once again.

The truth is ever loving, though

It recks not how we feel.

And you, who are the truth, love me

Too much to let me heal.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/littl2.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/16: Reason Doesn’t Travel Well

5/17: If Reason Is the Word, Faith’s the Music

5/18: Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

5/19: Little Do the Others Know

Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

May 18, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A number poem about the eternal nature of the soul:

Souls seem to stay the same; the body ages.

In time we change, though somehow souls remain

X’s anchored deep beneath the sea,

The bobbing buoys that lean and shift and sway,

Yet mark their place as life goes through its stages.

For throughout our joy, guilt, ecstasy, and pain;

In spite of all the love along the way;

Vivid though our passions, prayers, and rages;

Each soul still sojourns in eternity.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/soulss.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/16: Reason Doesn’t Travel Well

5/17: If Reason Is the Word, Faith’s the Music

5/18: Souls Seem to Stay the Same; the Body Ages

If Reason Is the Word, Faith's the Music

May 17, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A poem comparing reason to words and faith to music:

If reason is the word, faith’s the music.

One yields sanity; the other, grace,

Allowing those who have the heart to choose it

To dance through life with Being face to face.

One need not, of course, turn on the music.

Words alone are not devoid of grace.

For cool-eyed skeptics who choose not to choose it,

Faith paints on the void a dancer’s face.

Can one, ought one do without the music?

Does not silence yield a deeper grace?

Still, the song’s so beautiful some choose it,

A truth one need not doubt or fear to face.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ifreas.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/16: Reason Doesn’t Travel Well

5/17: If Reason Is the Word, Faith’s the Music

Reason Doesn't Travel Well

May 16, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A Ramadan poem about the limitations of reason:

Reason doesn’t travel well

Across the desert sand.

Maybe it needs quince to quell

A hunger for command.

Do not think it will survive

A long and thirsty camel ride,

No nutrient near at hand.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/reaso7.html. For more poems for Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa

5/16: Reason Doesn’t Travel Well

Alyssa

May 15, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is spirituality, in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on May 16^th.

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

A name poem for a new-born child just descended from Heaven:

Alyssa's the angel I hold in my arms

Like a spirit not yet metamorphed to a self.

Yet anchored in life by my love unrestrained,

Sucking my breast that her flesh be maintained,

She crosses from Heaven that wild-flowered gulf

As her Eden gives way to fences and farms.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/alyssa.html. For more poems about angels, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/angelpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Spirituality

5/14: Time Passes like a Stream in Which One Stands

5/15: Alyssa