Poem of the Week

12/13: Our Friendship Is as Close as Closest Sisters

12/14: I Have a Friend with Benefits

12/15: May Poetry Flow

12/16: Julian

Friday, December 14, 2018

May Poetry Flow

December 15, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A friendship poem wishing a friend continued inspiration and love of life:

May poetry flow

From your moonlit garden,

From your cool, dark fountain,

Untouched by age.

May your spirit read

The book of life

With the same enchantment

As the child within.

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/maypoe.html. For more friendship poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship

12/10: Why Did You Change

12/13: Our Friendship Is as Close as Closest Sisters

12/14: I Have a Friend with Benefits

12/15: May Poetry Flow

Thursday, December 13, 2018

I Have a Friend with Benefits

December 14, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A friendship poem about so-called friendship with benefits, each using the other for casual sex:

I have a friend with benefits,

Whom off and on I see.

While I use her to get my kicks,

She also uses me.

She's not my girlfriend, just a friend

With whom I have some sex.

Too young to love, we play the game

And wonder what comes next.

We try out stuff from porno sites,

Watching what we do

As though we were on film, and someone

Else was watching, too.

Yet somehow, somewhere even we

Still know we yearn for love,

And wait like withered stalks to feel

That wind within us move.

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/ihavea.html. For more friendship poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship

12/10: Why Did You Change

12/13: Our Friendship Is as Close as Closest Sisters

12/14: I Have a Friend with Benefits

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Our Friendship Is as Close as Closest Sisters

December 13, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about a close and lasting friendship:

Our friendship is as close as closest sisters,

Two flutes with a single melody,

Interchanging runs through changing vistas,

Notes like birds alighting on a tree.

To some, friends are like books upon a shelf;

Yet you to me are like another self.

This music will not stop for other misters,

Nor will it pause for princes, real or elf.

However life may wend, we will be we.

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/ourfri.html. For more friendship poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship

12/10: Why Did You Change

12/13: Our Friendship Is as Close as Closest Sisters

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

My Tears Are Not of Loss

December 12, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about the role of the imagination in friendship.

My tears are not of loss

But of time too quickly gone.

I miss our days together

Even while they're going on.

I savor odd, sweet moments

When you laugh or when you smile,

Nostalgic for your presence

Though you're with me all the while.

Strange how fantasy

Can wander in and out at will,

Looking back from somewhere

That is just beyond a hill.

And so when once you leave

You will not leave me alone,

For I will have you with me

Long after you are gone.

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/mytear.html. For more friendship poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship

12/10: Why Did You Change

Of You I Know So Much

December 11, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A friendship poem about what makes a friend so precious:

Of you I know so much, and yet

Nothing that I know

Encompasses just who you are

Or explicates your glow.

For you I would do anything,

As you would do for me.

Knowing this is breathing life:

Intense, serene, and free.

No one else so touched my soul

Deep in, where none can see.

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/ofyou.html. For more friendship poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship

12/10: Why Did You Change

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Why Did You Change

December 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem questioning why a friendship has turned sour:

Why did you change? What did I do?

We were like brothers, and now

Your face is a wall without windows, while you

Curse every claim you allow.

I don't understand what undid the sweet bond

That for years yielded nothing but joy.

I am who I was, and yet you respond

With words either cutting or coy.

Perhaps there's no why when some untoward wind

Whips away what one holds to one’s heart.

Though bitter it be to leave loved ones behind,

One must learn when it’s past time to part.

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/whydi2.html. For more friendship poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/friendshippoems.html .

This week’s theme: Friendship

12/10: Why Did You Change

Clearly There Were Jews and There Were Jews

December 9, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 9^th.

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

A Chanukah poem about how the attempt by the Syrian King Antiochus IV to persecute the Jews ironically led to the miracle that helped sustain Judaism:

Clearly there were Jews and there were Jews --

Hellenized, not Hellenized, not caring.

Assimilation let one pick and choose,

Not wedded to the faith that one was wearing.

Until a king sought Judaism's end,

Kindling a flame that burned inside,

A miracle that would the faith defend --

Here for us, a faith that else had died.

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/clearl.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

12/4: Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

12/6: Bees Swarm Along the Fragile Edge of Darkness

12/7: Chanukah Itself’s the Miracle

12/8: Before Chaos, There Was Perfect Light

12/9: Clearly There Were Jews and There Were Jews

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Before Chaos, There Was Perfect Light

December 8, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 9^th.

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

A Hanukkah poem about the eternal nature of light:

Before chaos, there was perfect light;

Only light, there was no hint of darkness.

Nor was this moment ever in the past,

Nor can it ever be. Outside time

It simply is. Perfect. Eternal. Pure

Existence. What we, at every moment, are.

Still, we must move downriver. We are

Each, in the end, prepared to turn to pure

Terror at the raging lip of time.

How can we vanish, yet live on in the past?

Life only seems to flow towards darkness:

Open those seams, and you see only light.

Red in the west heralds motion's darkness,

Revealing glories millennia past.

As the Earth spins, so we spin through time;

In gravity's grip, no circle is pure,

No being is Being, yet by being we are

Eternal, forever an instant of light.

Given: that light can only be; that light,

As such, cannot not be; that in time lights are,

But then are not; that nonetheless they are pure

Rays racing far beyond the lips of time,

Infinite, irrevocable; that the past

Exists forever, as such; that darkness

Limits only one's perception of light.

Most experts claim the night is clothed in darkness;

Instinctively, they view the past as past.

Do not assume that what you see in time

Is what appears in visions cold and pure.

Eternal isn't only forever. We are

Living eternally now, fragments of pure

Light--the track, the train, the farmhouse time

Erased. No thing is ever nothing--not the past,

Not loved ones lost, not what we know as darkness.

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/chaos.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

12/4: Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

12/6: Bees Swarm Along the Fragile Edge of Darkness

12/7: Chanukah Itself’s the Miracle

12/8: Before Chaos, There Was Perfect Light

Friday, December 7, 2018

Chanukah Itself's the Miracle

December 7, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 9^th.

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

A Chanukah poem about the miracle of keeping Chanukah alive for millennia of exile:

Chanukah itself's the miracle:

How could we remember all those years,

Aliens lost upon a shoreless sea,

Not only scattered--battered, shattered, tattered,

Unwelcome guests of hosts unmerciful,

Knowing well the wellsprings of our tears,

A life devoured by identity

Holding on to legacies that mattered?

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/chanuk.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

12/4: Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

12/6: Bees Swarm Along the Fragile Edge of Darkness

12/7: Chanukah Itself’s the Miracle

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Bees Swarm Along the Fragile Edge of Darkness

December 6, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 9^th.

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

A Hanukkah poem about life as a gift:

Bees swarm along the fragile edge of darkness.

Open wounds attract blood-hungry flies.

Near my heart lie savage little souls

Neatly arrayed to feast upon my life.

In eight days God will be through with miracles.

Even so, life is a gift of love.

So how does one enjoy this gift of love,

Even as one moves from light to darkness?

There is no moment free of miracles,

However swift and deep one's passion flies.

Glory is the dancing quark of life,

Alight with love and lust in all our souls.

Born of the cataclysm, our burgeoning souls

Race towards infinity, love

Infinite, lust infinite, life

Eternal as light billowing into darkness.

Little do we see how far it flies

As we spin through Earth-bound miracles.

Nor can we comprehend these miracles.

Darkness is the center of our souls,

Like still black water in the moonlight. Love

Is of this emptiness; unburdened, it flies

Swiftly in widening circles, skimming the darkness,

A motion outward at the heart of life.

More cry than ocean, more wish than star, life

Is the lyric of an explosion of miracles.

Dream and dung, it is the gospel of darkness;

In a petrie dish, a canticle of souls.

Earth is the stage for a concert of passionate love:

Lettuces and roses, gulls and flies.

Let flies and fish and redwoods sing of life

Equally, of love and miracles;

Nor shall our souls deny their birth in darkness.

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/bees.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

12/4: Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

12/6: Bees Swarm Along the Fragile Edge of Darkness

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Time to Light the Hanukkah Lights

December 5, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 9^th.

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

A Hanukkah poem for children about the meaning of the Hanukkah candles:

Time to light the Hanukkah lights,

Eight candles in a row,

One by one for eight whole nights –

Watch them dance and glow!

Time to light the Hanukkah lights

Eight nights in a row,

Remembering that one day’s oil

Burned eight nights long ago!

Time to light the Hanukkah lights,

To watch them dance and play,

Dancing, dancing eight whole nights –

A happy holiday!

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/timeto.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

12/4: Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

December 4, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 10^th.

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

A Hanukkah poem about various functions of the concept of God:

Before you light the candles, say the blessing.

One needs a giver for the gift of light:

Not to answer prayer or make things right;

Not to reward the good or punish sinning;

Instead, to make heart-sense of mystery,

Enduring icon of infinity.

Good God! A portrait of infinity?

An icon we’re interminably blessing?

But our being is a mystery.

Reason has no origin for light.

If the love of God can lessen sinning,

Eradicating wrong, increasing right,

Let God be the champion of right,

Knowing we can’t know infinity,

Engaged in our own struggle against sinning,

Needing someone to receive our blessing,

Noumenon derived from mystery,

A causeless cause of Being, love, and light.

Sing of an imagined source of light,

Embodiment of all that’s good and right,

The portrait hung upon the mystery,

Here to humanize infinity.

As you recite the time-perfected blessing,

Now sing of love, that moves the heart from sinning.

Do we need God to keep ourselves from sinning,

Endowed as we are with reason’s natural light?

Let yourself be tempted by the blessing,

Instinctive impetus for doing right.

Zeal’s too ravenous for finity,

As reason’s boundary line is mystery.

Break like a wave across that mystery!

Each soul must break, must break upon its sinning,

Then draw back into infinity,

Heart ravaged by a loving source of light.

Everything that helps one do what’s right,

Like faith, like wisdom, ritual prayer and blessing,

Lights one’s inner darkness. Sing the blessing,

Ever sinning, ever doing right,

Never far from infinite mystery.

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/befor5.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

12/4: Before You Light the Candles, Say the Blessing

Monday, December 3, 2018

Happiness Comes Wholly from the Heart

December 3, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Hanukkah, which began at sundown on December 2^nd and will end at sundown on December 10^th.

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

A Hanukkah poem using the Hanukkah candles as a metaphor for happiness:

Happiness comes wholly from the heart,

A light within illuminating darkness.

Now the candles flicker, now they flare,

Undulating feeling lighting where

Knowledge must give way to faith and art,

Kindled by the sense that gloom is senseless,

And love can make a song even of sadness,

Harmony in which one sings one’s part.

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/happ90.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Hanukkah

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Happy, Happy Holidays to You

December 2, 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A Happy Holidays poem about the legacy one derives from generations millennia ago and passes on to one’s children:

Happy, happy holidays to you!

A bit of joy before the winter comes,

Pausing for a holiday or two,

Pausing where the ancient stream still runs.

You know, but cannot know, the generations

Having millennia before you come this way,

Over many rites and revelations

Looking to this turn of light to pray.

In each of us the ancient urge still lives,

Dressed in more contemporary clothes,

A cultural inheritance that gives

You something precious to bequeath to those

Still ready to feel joy down to their toes.

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/happ89.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

11/29: Happy Holidays

11/30: Happiness Could Use Some Recognition

12/1: Happy Holidays Are Rarely Tranquil

12/2: Happy, Happy Holidays to You

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Happy Holidays Are Rarely Tranquil

December 1, 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A Happy Holidays poem about the difficulties of dealing with people on the holidays:

Happy holidays are rarely tranquil.

A social moment needs society.

People can be pains, hang on to ankles,

Play hurtful games, whoever they might be.

Yet happy holidays come every year.

Happiness does not preclude some stress.

One often finds that those one holds most dear

Lead one often dearly to regress.

In happy holidays one finds a song

Dancing in involuntary heads,

Asking one if one would sing along,

Yielding tears that sheer nostalgia sheds,

Song of love whose yearning can’t be wrong.

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/happ88.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Audio and Video Music: Sovereign Quarter. By Kevin MacLeod. Performed by Kevin MacLeod at the Free Music Archive under an Attribution license.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

11/29: Happy Holidays

11/30: Happiness Could Use Some Recognition

12/1: Happy Holidays Are Rarely Tranquil

Friday, November 30, 2018

Happiness Could Use Some Recognition

November 30, 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A Happy Holidays poem about the need to celebrate happiness:

Happiness could use some recognition,

A word or two of pleasure and of praise.

Perhaps it's not a matter of cognition.

Perhaps it needs the help of holidays.

Yet there is ample cause for unshed sorrow,

Hapless housemate one can’t leave behind,

Old comrade that will still be there tomorrow

Lest one lose the past and go forth blind.

In holidays there is a happiness

Deep and wide enough to hold the whole,

A truth that is too subtle to express

Yet satisfies enough to still the soul,

Serving as the gift that pays the toll.

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/happ87.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Audio and Video Music: Trust. By Jahzzar. Performed by Jahzzar at the Free Music Archive under an Attribution-ShareAlike license.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

11/29: Happy Holidays

11/30: Happiness Could Use Some Recognition

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Happy Holidays

November 29, 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A Happy Holidays poem from an ecumenical point of view:

Happy Holidays! Whichever ones

Apply: Jewish, Christian, secular!

People should be less particular,

Perhaps because the labels aren’t sums.

Year's end's a time of darkness, true, but when

Has outer darkness darkened inner light?

Our separate faiths at this sweet time unite,

Lighting one large room beyond our ken.

In celebration there is more than joy:

Days of feasting bind our friendships fast,

A fat and full embrace of things that last,

Yet holy in what sense one might employ,

Savoring all rites that spirits buoy.

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/happyh.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Audio and Video Music: Concerto for 2 Oboes in F Major Op9 no3, 1 Allegro. By Tomaso Albinoni. Performed by the Advent Orchestra at the Free Music Archive under an Attribution- Share Alike license.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

11/29: Happy Holidays

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Happiness Is Rarely Melody

November 28, 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A Happy Holidays poem describing happiness as the bass voice in a quartet:

Happiness is rarely melody

As other voices jockey for the lead.

Perhaps it is most comfortable as bass,

Pleased to underlie the others' grace,

Yielding to their histrionic need,

Holding up their fragile harmony.

On holidays, however, it becomes

Less self-effacing, stepping forth to sing,

In moments filled with labor, love, and longing,

Deep descants on the beauty of belonging;

After which, again retiring,

Yet not before the harried heart takes wing,

Softly at the base of life it hums.

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/happ33.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Audio and Video Music: Sonata No. 1 in F Minor: Adagio. By Ludwig von Beethoven. Performed by Daniel Veesey at the Free Music Archive under a Public Domain License.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

Monday, November 26, 2018

Hail to the Season of Remembrance

November 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A Happy Holidays poem about the function of holidays in preserving bonds of love:

Hail to the season of remembrance!

A time of times both prized and stored away.

Praised be the arts of social grace and semblance,

Put on like clothes to keep the cold at bay.

Years of atrophy require attention,

Hearing but an intermittent song.

On holidays we tend to love’s retention,

Lest time sever ties we would prolong.

In celebration, then, of life and love,

Destiny and hope and hapless mirth,

All ought let the season in them move,

Yielding to the rituals of rebirth,

Sustained by what we know dear friends are worth.

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/hailt2.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Audio and Video Music: Like the Sky. By Damiano Baldoni. Performed by Damiano Baldoni at the Free Music Archive under an Attribution license.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

Sunday, November 25, 2018

All Our Friends Have Come to Play

November 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 beginning of the holiday season is Happy Holidays.

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

A holiday poem for children:

All our friends have come to play

And celebrate the holiday --

The horses with their rainbow wings,

And parrots with a dog that sings,

Three elephants that love to dance --

Careful not to crush the ants! --

A kangaroo

Who looks like you,

And fifteen foxes wearing pants.

Come play with us! Come play! Come play!

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/allour.html. For more Happy Holidays poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Audio and Video Music: Entrance to the Queen of Sheba. By George Frideric Handel. Performed by The Advent Chamber Orchestra at the Free Music Archive under an Attribution-Share Alike license.

This week’s theme: Happy Holidays

Trees Are Grateful, as Are Squash and Squirrels

November 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which was celebrated on November 22^nd.

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

A Thanksgiving poem about gratitude in all living things:

Trees are grateful, as are squash and squirrels,

Hedgehogs, hedges, hummingbirds, and mites,

All that live in houses, reefs, or burrows,

Nests, shells, caves, cracks, walls, streams, toxic sites;

Knowing each its own sweet strain of joy,

Sensing pleasure, hunger, rapture, pain,

Grief and gladness, hopes that spirits buoy,

In hawks and humans, seaweed, grass, and grain;

Vividly in love with life and being,

In which the gift ordains the mystery;

Nor ought one rank the many ways of seeing,

Given the shared wonder of to be.

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/.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

11/20: The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don’t

11/21: There Is No Joy That Does Not Sing of Longing

11/23: I Look Across

11/24: The Thing I Am Most Thankful for Is Love

11/25: Trees Are Grateful, as Are Squash and Squirrels

Friday, November 23, 2018

The Thing I Am Most Thankful for Is Love

November 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which was celebrated on November 22^nd.

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

A Thanksgiving love poem:

The thing I am most thankful for is love:

Having yours, being able to love you.

It is a gift one takes possession of,

Not something any fortune might undo.

Knowing that you love me is a song

So beautiful I sing it through my day,

Glad to hear my whole world sing along

In harmony with what my feelings say.

Very little in my life is not

Immersed in us, in blessings that we share.

No gift could be more dear than what I’ve got,

Grace more pure than simply that you’re there.

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/theth3.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

11/20: The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don’t

11/21: There Is No Joy That Does Not Sing of Longing

11/23: I Look Across

11/24: The Thing I Am Most Thankful for Is Love

Thursday, November 22, 2018

I Look Across

November 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which was celebrated yesterday, November 22^nd.

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

A Thanksgiving poem about the beauty of a mountain view:

I look across

The palm of God's great hand

And see the peace

That underlies my pain.

No tragic loss

Or grief can be so grand.

Through life's short lease

Such sights our hearts sustain.

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/ilooka.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

11/20: The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don’t

11/21: There Is No Joy That Does Not Sing of Longing

11/23: I Look Across

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Time Is a Gift, like Food or Love or Death

November 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated today, November 22^nd.

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

A Thanksgiving poem about the gift of time:

Time is a gift, like food or love or death,

However much one wants to live forever.

All that is, is in a single breath.

Now is ample time for each endeavor.

Knowing one will die makes time more precious

Since even music needs a proper end,

Giving each note density and purpose

In a compass one can comprehend.

Vistas have horizons, even though

Infinity still lurks beyond the stars,

Nothing that a grateful soul can know,

Given that one's gift such knowledge bars.

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/timei2.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

11/20: The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don’t

11/21: There Is No Joy That Does Not Sing of Longing

There Is No Joy That Does Not Sing of Longing

November 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated tomorrow, November 22^nd.

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

A Thanksgiving poem about how anyone might turn towards joy:

There is no joy that does not sing of longing,

Having come a long, hard way to love.

All happiness is earned, all bliss belonging,

Nor need one be alone, though lonesome prove.

Kindness is a kind of gratitude,

Sign and source of pleasure in one's being,

Giving thanks by giving, as the shrewd

Invest in what they have small chance of seeing.

Very little time is spent in singing.

Instead, we speak of what we want or need,

Not knowing every minute we are bringing

Gifts to those whose music we might read.

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/ther25.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

11/20: The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don’t

11/21: There Is No Joy That Does Not Sing of Longing

Monday, November 19, 2018

The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don't

November 20, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 22^nd.

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

A Thanksgiving poem about fortune as a choice:

The point is what you have, not what you don't.

How can you be happy when you won't?

All of us at times are angry, sad,

Nervous, testy, thinking we've been had,

Knowing life for others turned out better,

Sure that in most dealings we're the debtor.

Granted, granted. But fortune is a choice

In which you find your music and your voice,

Vividly in tune with what you see

If you would live your life harmoniously.

None can choose acceptance without seeing

Gifts that come unsought from simply being.

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/thepo2.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving

11/20: The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don’t

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Tell Me, Please, Whom I Ought to Thank

November 19, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on November 22^nd.

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

A bitter Thanksgiving poem about the viciousness of life:

Tell me, please, whom I ought to thank,

Having come here not of my own will.

All life can seem like a sadistic prank,

Nor can I count the creatures I must kill.

Kids imagine witches, werewolves, ghosts.

Scientists see horrors every day:

Guests that eat the insides of their hosts;

Insects that cut up their living prey.

Viciousness can sometimes seem the main

Ingredient in this well-seasoned stew;

Nor can I live without inflicting pain,

Grace for which I guess I should thank You.

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/tellme.html. For more Thanksgiving poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Thanksgiving