Sing of the New Morning of Your Life

January 13, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A number poem for someone who has retired from a job in an unpleasant work environment:

Sing of the new morning of your life,

In which your labor claims its just reward!

Xylophones accompany your song,

The music of the heart that strikes a chord,

Yielding to the sheer joy of the fife!

So may such music smother soon the strife,

Ill-tempered times that will not linger long.

Xylophones heal all still-painful wrong.

© 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/sing12.html. For more retirement poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/retirementpoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

1/8: A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

1/9: Clearly, There Could Be No Better News

1/10: Behold the Mother with Her Newborn Child

1/11: Find Yourself a Purpose and a Goal

1/12: Retirement Is Not Simply What It Means

1/13: Sing of the New Morning of Your Life

Retirement Is Not Simply What It Means

January 12, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A poem about various meanings of the word “retirement”:

Retirement is not simply what it means,

Even as it literally means, "withdrawal."

To most, its less than literal sense is plural:

Infinite time to reify some dreams;

Rich, full days of doing as we please;

Enduring pleasures, passions satiated;

Mind and body fully liberated;

Endless hours to sift through memories.

Now, on your retirement, we hope

That of that word you make a lovely trope.

© 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/retire.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

1/8: A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

1/9: Clearly, There Could Be No Better News

1/10: Behold the Mother with Her Newborn Child

1/11: Find Yourself a Purpose and a Goal

1/12: Retirement Is Not Simply What It Means

Find Yourself a Purpose and a Goal

January 11, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A number poem about finding a new purpose for one’s life:

Find yourself a purpose and a goal

Into which you pour your energy,

For there is satisfaction in a role

That makes of life a gift that few may see,

Yet helps sustain the heart’s ecology.

Nor ought your purpose ever be control.

In giving, one relinquishes one’s keys.

No breath can be the wind that moves the whole,

Even as your best may stir the breeze.

© 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/findy3.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

1/8: A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

1/9: Clearly, There Could Be No Better News

1/10: Behold the Mother with Her Newborn Child

1/11: Find Yourself a Purpose and a Goal

Behold the Mother with her Newborn Child

January 10, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A poem celebrating the birth of a child:

Behold the mother with her newborn child!

An icon of a hope that never dies.

Death may label all we cherish lies,

Yet this love lies too deep to be defiled.

We clear an inner field where fate has smiled,

Letting play the pleasures of surmise,

Holding back all contrary replies,

As though our thoughts might turn the winters mild.

Despite the well-known travesties of time,

Each time a child is born we dream anew,

For only thus our losses are regained.

Though we must share the destiny of slime,

No passion in our palette is more true

Than that which cradles innocence unstained.

© 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/behold.html. For more poems about pregnancy and childbirth, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/birthpregnancypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

1/8: A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

1/9: Clearly, There Could Be No Better News

1/10: Behold the Mother with Her Newborn Child

Clearly, There Could Be No Better News

January 9, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A congratulations poem to a couple who has just announced their pregnancy:

Clearly, there could be no better news.

Of life and love, now there will be more.

Nor can we guess what grace we have in store,

Granted but imaginary views.

Rejoice in the creation of a soul,

A universe again emerged from darkness,

There being nothing, then a veiled vastness,

Unknowable, infinite, and whole.

Let there be again that bolt of light,

Again the wonder and the mystery,

The being that no cause could cause to be,

Incandescent day from utter night!

O children of desire, what have you done?

New-made a universe, another one,

Shard of One too luminous to see.

© 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/clear2.html. For more poems about pregnancy and childbirth, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/birthpregnancypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

1/8: A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

1/9: Clearly, There Could Be No Better News

A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

January 8, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A poem for a bridal shower:

A marriage celebrates a new beginning:

A couple starting out as man and wife.

A shower celebrates a happy ending:

The last days of a woman's single life.

The wide world now has narrowed to a garden

In which I will my pleasures plant and reap.

The outlines of my character will harden

According to the promises I keep.

My joy will soon become a melody

In counterpoint to those for whom I care,

Seeking a profounder harmony

Than any I alone could know or bear.

So shall I find a greater grace within.

One life is over: Let the new begin!

© 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/amarri.html. For more poems about weddings, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

1/8: A Marriage Celebrates a New Beginning

Revel in Your Golden Years

January 7, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since we’re beginning a new year, the theme for this week is new beginnings.

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

A poem to someone who has just retired:

Revel in your golden years!

Enjoy them to the hilt!

Time has crossed an open sea

Impelled by restless winds.

Remember well the joys and tears,

Each passion run full tilt,

More pain and pleasure than might be

Endured, if not combined.

Now savor in tranquility

The things you leave behind.

© 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/revel3.html. For more poems about retirement, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/retirementpoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Beginnings

1/7: Revel in Your Golden Years

Hope Is Not a Harbinger of Peace

January 6, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A Happy New Year poem about necessary survival of hope and love in a world ruled by hatred and fear:

Hope is not a harbinger of peace

As countless holocausts have made quite clear.

Perhaps the unsolved problem is that fear

Prevents the heart from seeking its release.

Years pass; we come no closer to the good,

Nor do we better understand why we

Each year have hope to live in harmony

While watering our fields with tears and blood.

Yet hope remains, and love, that hope revives.

Each knows well that hatred is insane,

And hates and fears and loves and hates again,

Resolving ever to keep hope alive.

© 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/hopei2.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

1/1: Happiness Is Wholly in One’s Power

1/2: Happy New Year! To Those Who Will Have None

1/3: Happy New Year, Darling

1/4: Harbingers of Happiness, Awake

1/5: Here We Have Another New Beginning

1/6: Hope Is Not a Harbinger of Peace

Here We Have Another New Beginning

January 5, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A more cynical Happy New Year poem about understanding that things won’t change:

Here we have another new beginning,

Another chance to be what we are not.

Praised be those who recognize the rot,

Portion out the guilt, and go on living.

Years change far more frequently than we,

Nor are our changes more than painted screens,

Each placed to maximize our meager means,

Windows on a world that none can see.

Yet, truth be told, we know well what's within.

Each resolution fails to touch the heart,

As in the end we are, as at the start,

Remorseful reprobates, half hope, half sin.

© 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/herewe.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

1/1: Happiness Is Wholly in One’s Power

1/2: Happy New Year! To Those Who Will Have None

1/3: Happy New Year, Darling

1/4: Harbingers of Happiness, Awake

1/5: Here We Have Another New Beginning

Harbingers of Happiness, Awake

January 4, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A Happy New Year poem about the need for innocence at least once a year:

Harbingers of happiness, awake!

And dreams abandoned, return from restless sleep!

Past hopes, whom bitter wanderers forsake,

Promise once again what will might reap!

Years turn and turn, at each new turn reborn,

New imagined by redeemers new,

Each in turn vouchsafed a festive dawn,

Wind driven towards a sky of darker hue.

Yearning is of innocence a cause,

Embracing with delight what ought to be,

As once a year even truth takes pause,

Reflecting on what other eyes might see.

© 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/harbin.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

1/1: Happiness Is Wholly in One’s Power

1/2: Happy New Year! To Those Who Will Have None

1/3: Happy New Year, Darling

1/4: Harbingers of Happiness, Awake

Happy New Year, Darling

January 3, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A Happy New Year poem love poem:

Happy New Year, darling!

Another year gone by!

Peeling off the onion,

Pausing just to cry.

Yet what could be more lovely?

Nestled into need,

Embracing while dancing

Wherever life may lead.

Yearning is a blessing

Even though we have

All we've ever yearned for,

Rendered us by 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/happ58.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

1/1: Happiness Is Wholly in One’s Power

1/2: Happy New Year! To Those Who Will Have None

1/3: Happy New Year, Darling

Happy New Year! To Those Who Will Have None

January 2, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A Happy New Year poem about the morality of wishing those in misery well:

Happy New Year! To those who will have none,

A wish that knows too well it cannot be.

Perhaps one ought not wish so futilely;

Perhaps one ought, that such not be alone.

Yearning is the price one pays for hope,

Nor can one hope unless one would endure.

Each futile wish makes paradise more sure,

Widening the world's supernal scope.

Yet there are those who find such wishes cheap,

Easy substitutes for sacrifice.

A wish for good is more than merely nice,

Restoring winds that stir the unguent deep.

© 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/happyn.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

1/1: Happiness Is Wholly in One’s Power

1/2: Happy New Year! To Those Who Will Have None

Happiness Is Wholly in One's Power

January 1, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A Happy New Year poem using a musical metaphor to describe the relationship between fate and will :

Happiness is wholly in one's power

As one provides the chords to fit the tune,

Pleased to play sweet music by the hour,

Pleased to harmonize one's passing gloom.

Yet there are days demanding dissonance,

Needing harsh accompaniment to pain.

Embrace them, then, and give them resonance,

With brass enough to brighten a refrain.

Years are symphonies of varied mood,

Each sketched out by fate, filled in by you.

As the woodwinds dance, the basses brood,

Resolved in beauty - crafted, yes, but true.

© 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/happ63.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

1/1: Happiness Is Wholly in One’s Power

Here We Are Again, Another Year

December 31, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A Happy New Year poem about making resolutions year after year:

Here we are again, another year!

Another chance to change, to do things better.

Praised be those who still believe and care!

Praised be hope, that would the will unfetter.

Yes, we know we’ve been through this before,

New Year after New Year. Yet we still

Endure in our desire for something more,

Wind-borne across bare treetops, bleak and chill.

Yes, we know our resolutions are

Easy to make and break, and still we make them;

And still pursue our dreams beyond the bar,

Resolved as ever, never to forsake them.

© 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/herew6.html. For more New Year poems go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

12/31: Here We Are Again, Another Year

I'm Your Christmas Tree, All Brightly Lit

December 30, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem to a child from his or her Christmas tree explaining its symbolic meaning:

I'm your Christmas tree, all brightly lit,

Hung with angels, colored balls, and elves.

Underneath my boughs your presents sit,

If you've behaved yourselves.

Why must we wait till early Christmas morn

To open up our brand-new games and toys?

Why gifts for us the day that Christ was born

If we're good girls and boys?

Now listen to your Christmas tree: I'm wise

In all the ways of faith that you must know.

I'm here because of what I symbolize:

Green through ice and snow.

There is a world beyond what we can see

Where, by grace of God, we can receive

God's greatest gift: to live eternally,

If only we believe.

Eternal life is what God gave to you

By sending down His son to live on Earth.

This was His gift, so Santa brings gifts, too,

To celebrate Christ's birth.

The baby Jesus got gifts on this day

Because, like any child, He loved to play.

And so God wants to share this special joy

With every girl and boy.

Believe God loves you as your parents do,

And takes great joy in giving gifts to you.

Live well and love, and evergreen like me,

You'll live eternally.

© 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/xmastr.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

12/26: Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

12/27: Can the Wind Across the Snow

12/28: Cheer Is Not What You’d Expect from Christmas

12/29: Cold Comfort in the Chastity of Sorrow

12/30: I’m Your Christmas Tree, All Brightly Lit

Cold Comfort in the Chastity of Sorrow

December 29, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem about the need for faith if one is to find true comfort in life:

Cold comfort in the chastity of sorrow,

Having turned in pain towards innocence,

Reaching through the madness for the marrow,

Intent, for once, on yielding all pretence;

Sensing the necessity of love

Though feeling none but hunger well within,

Meaning nothing more than one might prove

As one finds little proof in death and sin:

So it was one night in Bethlehem.

© 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/coldco.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

12/26: Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

12/27: Can the Wind Across the Snow

12/28: Cheer Is Not What You’d Expect from Christmas

12/29: Cold Comfort in the Chastity of Sorrow

Cheer Is Not What You'd Expect from Christmas

December 28, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem about how love survives the hassles of Christmas:

Cheer is not what you'd expect from Christmas:

Headaches are more like it, lack of sleep,

Raw nerves, rough words, waits to make you weep,

Irritable hours, days, intense, relentless.

So much money, time, so many dreams

Tied to one quick wanton winter's morning,

More an orgy than a merry dawning,

A ritual divorced from what it means.

Still, each year the love within it gleams.

© 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/cheeri.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

12/26: Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

12/27: Can the Wind Across the Snow

12/28: Cheer Is Not What You’d Expect from Christmas

Can the Wind Across the Snow

December 27, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem about returning to childhood hope and love at Christmas time:

Can the wind across the snow

Howl enough of frozen pain?

Return to where the children go.

In love and hope begin again.

So did Christ return to Earth

That lovers might renew their love.

May all your longing bring to birth

A passion that no wind can move,

So strong no wind can stronger 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/canthe.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

12/26: Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

12/27: Can the Wind Across the Snow

Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

December 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which was celebrated yesterday, December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem to his or her family from someone who will miss the celebration:

Can anyone explain the glow of Christmas?

Holidays are candles in the night.

Rebirth comes from family and friends

In one bright blur of food and talk that ends

Still burning as a peaceful inner light.

There is no way to substitute for Christmas.

Miss it and no circumstance feels right.

All my heart's with you, yet I must miss this

Season thick with love and rich delight.

© 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/canany.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

12/26: Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

December 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated today, December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem to a child about angel horses on Christmas Eve:

Angel horses flap their wings

High above the winter night.

Far below an angel sings

Of peace and joy, of love and light.

Down, down, down the horses fly,

Down through stars, across the moon,

Down through clouds and cold, dark sky

To where the angel sings her tune.

And there the angel horses wait,

Listening to her song of love,

Far from home and Heaven's gate,

Far from sweet green fields above,

Listening to the angel's song,

So beautiful it makes them weep,

Hovering over us all night long

While we are fast asleep.

© 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/angelh.html. For more Christmas poems, go to xmashttps://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

If All Were Now as It Was When

December 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which will be celebrated tomorrow, on December 25^th. Tonight is Christmas Eve.

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

A Christmas poem questioning whether there is any difference between one’s fear of faith in Christ’s time and now:

If all were now as it was when

Christ came to save us all,

And Christmas Day were Christmas Day,

Not some day we recall;

And in the East we saw a star

Exceptionally bright,

And wondered what was going on

That ordinary night;

If God were walking in our midst,

Saying what He said,

And we were not His followers,

But trod where He would tread;

And we were witness to His word

And looked Him in the eye,

And found His message interesting

But too bizarre to buy;

If we were in Jerusalem

And watched Him bear the cross,

And suffered with His suffering

But feared to share His loss;

And saw Him die in agony,

And wondered at it all,

And this were something we ourselves,

Not printed books, recall:

What would be the difference,

Had we known Him that way,

Between the faith we feared to feel

And what we fear today?

© 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/ifallw.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

Send a Little Sunshine to Your Heart

December 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about how the holidays are worth the effort required to sustain them, even to people who do not believe literally in their myths:

Send a little sunshine to your heart

Even as the gloomy days return.

A holiday's the work of will and art,

Sweet gift of time one nonetheless must earn.

Old memories and new combine to give

No little charm to your anticipation,

Singing of the love it takes to live

Gracefully, the light of all relation.

Reason sees the reason for the rite,

Even though the myth is mystical;

Even though a rational being might

Take exception to the miracle.

In full embrace of what the story means,

Not for what it says, but what it dreams,

Give voice to joy, and sing the festive song

Sung with such pure pleasure for so long.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

12/21: Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

12/22: Some Would Sing a Melancholy Song

12/23: Send a Little Sunshine to Your Heart

Some Would Sing a Melancholy Song

December 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about the cold, gloomy winter being as necessary a part of the year as death is a necessary part of life:

Some would sing a melancholy song

Even at this festive time of year.

After all, the frigid nights are long,

Sinking into daylight, harsh and drear.

O Earth, why do you lean away from joy?

Night rules the North, nor does the South long savor

Sunlight, as its dreams will hearts destroy,

Granting only longing for their labor.

Remember, then, that winter is a gift,

Even at this nadir of its night,

Even as the cold, white whispers drift,

Tailing into long, thin wisps of light.

In every moment everything exists,

Nor ought the mind rail, though the heart resists.

Grace is one, as life and death are one.

So sing of beauty till the song is done.

© 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/somew8.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

12/21: Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

12/22: Some Would Sing a Melancholy Song

Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

December 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about how the holidays dress up the gloomy season:

Sing of simple pleasures of the season,

Each a gift to cherish and to savor!

Although we dread the winter, with good reason,

Still, we give its early days full flavor.

On every street we hear the festive music,

Never less than angels on the brass,

So beautiful that we are loath to lose it,

Given that the season soon must pass.

Radiance consumes the early night,

Each lawn ablaze, each storefront window burning,

Each main street strung with unrestrained delight,

The joyful counterpoint to year-end yearning.

In every gathering there's much to taste,

Nor do we have much toil or time to waste.

Grace comes and goes so quickly every year.

Sing, then, of gifts and love and winter cheer!

© 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/sing11.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

12/21: Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

December 20, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about all days as holy days:

Suppose there were no special times for greetings,

Each day equally a holy day.

All things are holy just because of being

Shards of Being, lightning wrapped in clay.

One might then be merry all the time,

Needing no occasion for good cheer,

Seeing in each moment the sublime,

God born in every child throughout the year.

Reasoning thus, one need not leave bereft

Each everyday not specialized for joy.

Eden is a place we never left,

Though smoke and smog our view of it destroy.

In paradise all time is time for glory,

Nor do the angels choose one sacred story.

God is in all things with grace to be,

Shining in all seasons equally.

© 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/suppos.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

Short Days Augur Longer Ones

December 19, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about the time lag between the turn of a season towards light or darkness and one’s sense of the season as light or dark:

Short days augur longer ones

Even as the cold

Alights upon the early gloom,

Sailing on the wind.

One feels the chill inside one's bones;

Night too soon takes hold.

So we light the festive room,

Gathering within.

Remember those long summer days,

Each a little shorter?

Evenings had a touch of grief

Trailing behind.

In each sharp turn, time delays

Not only change of weather.

Gripped by passion or belief,

Slowly we unwind.

© 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/shortd.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

December 18, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about enjoying the religious holidays without being religious:

Secular celebrations seem so spare,

Even with religious ancestry,

As though the brick beneath what had been there

Stood unadorned where stuccoed grace should be.

Old prayers and praises now sound insincere,

No longer fitting where but reason reigns.

'Tis the season, nonetheless, for cheer;

Scoured of mystery, mystique remains.

God aside, the dark still turns towards light;

Revolving Earth still tilts into the sun;

Each gift of breath still fills one with delight;

Each child is still all being new begun.

The miracles one celebrates are questions

Implying answers too remote to know.

Nor need one not have faith in the directions

Given those whose fate it is to go

Step by careful step towards what is so.

© 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/secula.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

Seasons Are like Seasonings

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about enjoying the special tastes of each season:

Seasons are like seasonings,

Each a complex taste

Amplifying appetites of

Souls with senses graced.

Open up your windows,

Nestle in your beds,

Scent the scents of wakening fields,

Gaze at golds and reds.

Revel in the tang of time

Even now when night

Ends too soon the caravans

Traveling towards light.

In gratitude for being

Now sing that all might hear!

Give the gift of merriment!

Sing of love and cheer!

© 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/season.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings