The World Is Not Sufficiently in Order

January 24, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is a Chinese, or Lunar New Year poem for The Year of the Dog, from the dog’s point of view.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The world is not sufficiently in order,

However much one wishes it were so.

Everyone likes to think that they are loyal,

Yet find that there are times they cannot be,

Even as I’m loyal by design.

All I want and do is by design,

Reducing what disorder there might be,

Offering the hope that, if I'm loyal,

Fortune will be fair, and what I sow

Today I'll reap in time and proper order.

Heroes are the sentinels of order,

Ever vigilant to live just so:

Dependable, consistent, honest, loyal

Overseers of what ought to be,

Given the chaos deep in the design.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/thewo4.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 24: The World Is not Sufficiently inOrder

Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by the Moon

January 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. This year is The Year of the Rooster.

Today’s poem is about luck and fate, and what a person might do about them.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Luck is like a tide pulled by the moon,

Undulating through the undertow.

None can tell how far that tide might go,

Afloat upon the wash's wind-blown spume.

Remember, then, each year to celebrate

New turnings of the tide that bears us all,

Each to ends no flailing can forestall,

Whether good or ill, the choice of fate.

Yet knowing well one's wishes face the wind,

Even so, one does what one can do,

Alert to rituals that spirits woo,

Rendering what renders them benign.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/luckis.html. For more poems about the Chinese, or Lunar New Year, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chinesenewyearpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Chinese, or Lunar New Year

January 23: Luck Is like a Tide Pulled by theMoon

Seventy-Five

January 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is a number poem about someone who devotes his life to justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seventy-five sustains an active life,

Engaging in the turmoil of his time.

Voices must be raised in speech and song

Embracing right, excoriating wrong,

Needed to cut through the mental grime

That veils one's vision of systemic strife.

Yet power comes to those whose will is strong.

For him the fight continues hard and long

In every vale where suffering is rife,

Vested in beliefs that make life shine

Even as he walks the picket line.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/75.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

January 19: Justice Is the Antidote for Vengeance

January 20: Make of Me a Hero

January 21: Even So, We Did What We Believed In

January 22: Seventy-Five

Even So, We Did What We Believed In

January 21, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is about justice in the case of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were executed on July 19, 1953, for conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even so, we did what we believed in:

Treason, yes, perhaps, but with good cause.

History will judge by its own laws,

Each act within the sunlight of its season.

Love was what inspired us, a reason

As pure as any saint in Satan's jaws.

Nor was the god we worshipped through those wars

Demonized, as later all would see him.

Justice would not just sustain our guilt,

Undoing those who would undo a wrong,

Leaving us in lucid infamy.

Instead, it would remember what we willed

Under the illusion of a song

So beautiful it would the chained earth free.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/rosenb.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

January 19: Justice Is the Antidote for Vengeance

January 20: Make of Me a Hero

January 21: Even So, We Did What We Believed In

Make of Me a Hero

January 20, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is a poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, written while Barak Obama was President.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make of me a hero, but I was

A failure in what mattered most to me.

Remember well the ill that sainthood does,

Taking holiness for victory.

I think we are as far away as ever,

Not from equal laws but equal lives.

Little has been done to make life better,

Unless you like the shift to guns from knives.

The icon of my face is now a mask

Hiding the destruction of the poor.

Each day is worse for millions than the last.

Raging unregarded is a war.

Know, then, though our president is black,

I would march again, could I come back,

No icon, but a loving, peaceful scourge,

Gathering strength where race and class converge.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/juslov.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

January 19: Justice Is the Antidote for Vengeance

January 20: Make of Me a Hero

Justice Is the Antidote for Vengeance

January 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is about justice and vengeance.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Justice is the antidote for vengeance,

Undoing the tight knot of rage and pain.

Symmetry is ever its ideal,

The balanced grief that might the grievance seal,

In point of fact not easy to attain.

Cool heads and burning hearts must shape a penance

Equal to the honor of the slain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/justic.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

January 19: Justice Is the Antidote forVengeance

Justice Isn't Only in a Courtroom

January 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is about the many aspects of justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Justice isn’t only in a courtroom.

It has to do with wages, healthcare, schools.

It has to do with races more than rules.

It has to do with class as well as classrooms.

It has to do with the reward for labor.

The market is efficient but not just.

A just State sets some limits on its lust,

And ameliorates the brunt of its behavior.

It has to do with prejudice and hate,

With opening crucial doors to one’s own kind

And leaving those with differences behind,

Then blaming their condition for their fate.

It has to do with hearts as well as laws,

And with how many would take up its cause.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/justi3.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

January 18: Justice Isn’t Only in a Courtroom

Justice Is as Justice Does

January 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem is about how history affects justice.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Justice is as justice does.

Under is, is always was,

Singing songs that shape the mind,

That render justice less than blind.

If justice could be bias free,

Courts would work inhumanly.

Each judge responds to history.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/justi2.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 17: Justice Is as Justice Does

Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is justice, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which falls on January 16.

Today’s poem compares the political movement for justice to waves breaking on the shore.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Movements are like waves upon the shore

As they break across the yielding sand,

Rushing ravenously up, and then withdraw,

Though not before remodeling the land.

If change awaits high tide, so let it be.

Nor will waves cease to break when tides are low.

Let us fight for justice ceaselessly,

Uplifted by the seaward undertow.

There is no disappointment in my song,

However much injustice still remains.

Each generation needs to come on strong,

Reckoning the incremental gains.

Know that I am proud of what we’ve won

In spite of all the lives and labor lost.

No cause well worth one’s love is ever done.

Good is good regardless of the cost.

Justice is a wave that breaks, and then

Returns, returns, again, again, again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/moveme.html. For more poems about justice and other political topics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Justice

January 16: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

Marriage Is a Letting Go

January 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Marriage is a letting go,

A plunge into the deep.

No one need the currents fear

Nor hesitate to leap.

You may your spirits keep.

More is gained by giving up

And less by taking in.

Remember that to dwell in joy

You must make room within.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

January 14: Marriage, as a Choice, Requires Choices

January 15: Marriage Is a Letting Go

Marriage, as a Choice, Requires Choices

January 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Marriage, as a choice, requires choices.

One must choose not once, but every day.

Life offers us a hundred thousand voices,

Yet those we fail to hear fast fade away.

I choose you with all my wounded heart:

You and our two children. All the rest

Lies in the distance, charming, but apart

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

Our marriage isn't easy, but our love

Is still the force that shapes my daily life.

I want us to be happy, and will move

Wherever I must be to be your wife.

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

We'll find a way our wishes to combine.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

January 14: Marriage, as a Choice, RequiresChoices

Love Returns on Saturdays

January 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about love on the weekend.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love returns on Saturdays,

Having been away

To labor in the labyrinth

That underlies our joy.

How dark the days of abstinence,

Of sleep too dire to stay,

Of mornings mere mechanical

And flesh no hands employ!

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

Love finally has its way,

Coming into crevices

Whose cravings passions buoy.

How beautiful, the love that can

Such soporifics sway!

No wasteland world of weekdays shall

Our dalliance destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

January 13: Love Returns on Saturdays

Love Finds Little Latitude

January 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love finds little latitude

Once it leaves the sea

And sails between the rocky heads

That guard its proper berth.

Precise in pitch and attitude,

It must turn perfectly

To miss the sharp-edged coral beds

Garlanding its girth.

The wind still blows, the waves still roll

Out where the water's deep,

But here within, a tidal peace

Reverses with the moon.

Here is the elusive goal,

Too permanent to keep,

That sits in small print on the lease

Of those who dock at noon.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 12: Love Finds Little Latitude

Life Sings with an Extraordinary Passion

January 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

Today’s poem is about marriage as paradise.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Life sings with an extraordinary passion,

Intent on being all one can afford.

For those who let their love their fortune fashion,

Eden is indeed a just reward.

So might we live in paradise unending

If only we would see the salient sea,

Needing need with honesty unbending,

Grace to love so long and well that we,

Singing each to each, might simply be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 11: Life Sings with an ExtraordinaryPassion

Joy Is in the Simple Things

January 10, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Joy is in the simple things: touching,

Embracing, chattering on for hours about nothing,

Sure of your place within another's heart.

Simple things: like coming home knowing

Exactly where the treasure lies; like being

At ease with what you do and who you are;

Needing what you already have; accepting,

Desiring what you have been given; feeling

The gratitude of someone who is loved;

Investing goodness instead of money; giving

For the pleasure of giving pleasure; seeing

Fortune come to take you in its arms.

All this joy is yours for the price of loving,

Not only well but long, days of willing,

Years and years of wise and patient love.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

January 10: Joy Is in the Simple Things

Jody and Blue

January 9, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Jody and Blue have a great deal to do

On their way to be blissfully wed,

Determined to be repossessed by the sea

Yet confining themselves to one bed.

Bright days and nights can be had without lights;

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

Undoing the pain of frustration and strain,

Each arrow finds always its mark.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Marriage

January 9: Jody and Blue

The Point of Life Is that There Is No Point

January 8, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The point of life is that there is no point.

We find our meaning in that lack of meaning.

Each is therefore free to choose a mission,

Needing something more than mere ambition,

The pursuit of which can often seem redeeming.

Yet some would their uncertainties anoint.

Freedom doesn't disappear with choice.

In being one, one cannot help be free.

Vast the view, and miniscule the voice,

Even as the voice makes meaning be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

January 6: Epiphanies Come and Go

January 7: Eager for a Miracle

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

Eager for a Miracle

January 7, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is about the validity of epiphanies.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eager for a miracle, one sees

Plainly and precisely as one wills,

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

Peering through the window of a dream.

How might one see right through the way things seem,

Adjusting for the light of inner fires?

Numbers measure what the measure kills.

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

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

January 6: Epiphanies Come and Go

January 7: Eager for a Miracle

Epiphanies Come and Go

January 6, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Epiphanies come and go; what remains

Plays upon the harp strings of the heart,

In which an inborn harmony sustains

Passion, pleasure, patience, purpose, art.

How might beatitude come every day,

A bit of the bright ecstasy of Heaven?

None need do more than tarry by the way,

Yielding to the grace that all are given.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

January 6: Epiphanies Come and Go

Aaron

January 5, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Aaron is an acolyte of Being,

A lover of the One within the many,

Revealed alone through rituals of seeing

On which one must agree before agreeing,

Needing faith before one can have any.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 5: Aaron

Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

January 4, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Forever is not merely time unending.

It simply is, outside of space and time.

For us, who cannot be except in motion,

The eternal is like color to the blind,

Yearning without hope of comprehension.

 

There is, however, beauty in the notion.

What one imagines, one can be, depending

On powers resident in every mind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

January 4: Forever Is Not Merely Time Unending

The Meaning of Eternity

January 3, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Today’s poem is about the meaning of eternity.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

THE MEANING OF ETERNITY

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

Which, of course, it’s not.

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

It just is.

The isness of every instant.

The isness of every grain of sand.

Something that is eternal never changes.

For example, a truth.

For example, a mathematical equation.

For example, a moment that is over.

For example, a character in a play.

For example, a loved one who has died.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 3: The Meaning of Eternity

Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

January 2, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Every child might redeem your soul,

Put your sins to right, unclasp your heart,

Invade your fantasies and make them whole,

Prepare you to perform your destined part.

Here is your Bethlehem, where from afar,

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

Nor would you be a king but for that star

You knew would lead to where your purpose lay.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Epiphanies

January 2: Every Child Might Redeem Your Soul

How Beautiful the Turning of the Year

January 1, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How beautiful the turning of the year!

A moment artificial yet profound:

Point upon an arbitrary chart

Passing like a breath upon the heart,

Yearning with anticipation wound,

New hope new harbored in old-fashioned cheer.

Even when the boundary line is clear,

We recognize the oneness of the ground.

Years, like circles, do not end or start

Except we lay across their truth our art,

Adjusting dates as they go round and round

Revolving to a tune long sung and dear.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 31: New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

January 1: How Beautiful the Turning of the Year

New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

December 31, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

New years are a chance for a beginning

Even when there hasn't been an end.

Wheels turn in an interminable bend,

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

Each year we hope to do a little better

Although we know that really nothing's changed.

Reason often is from hope estranged,

So we must dream if we would fate unfetter.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 31: New Years Are a Chance for a Beginning

Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

December 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Millennia are fairly common things:

In a billion years are quite a few.

Long or short, their roundness pleasure brings:

Life needs some pretext to start anew.

Each millennium's a fresh, blank page:

No future ever stretched so fair and far.

Now we wait upon the empty stage

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

Underneath is something vast and free:

Millennia are chains across a sea.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 30: Millennia Are Fairly Common Things

Hours Mean No More or Less than Years

December 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hours mean no more or less than years.

A moment is a point with no dimension.

People count to undermine their fears,

Persuaded numbers lead to comprehension.

Yet time is an illusion of our motion,

No realer than the rising of the sun.

Each line we draw rests on a restless ocean,

Way, way beyond the scalable scope of one.

Years do not begin and never end

Except for purposes of calibration.

A need to share our yearnings, friend to friend,

Requires just one point of celebration.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 29: Hours Mean No More or Less thanYears

Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

December 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hope is often rented by the year.

A ceremony helps ensure the signing.

People like transitions to be clear,

Preferably at moments when they're dining.

Yet as a rental flat can be a home,

No one wants to terminate this lease.

Each thinks hope too poor a risk to own

While needing its bright arc for inner peace.

Years therefore start with hope again renewed

Even as the old year's wishes die.

After all the books have been reviewed,

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

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 28: Hope Is Often Rented by the Year

Happiness Depends on More than Years

December 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happiness depends on more than years.

All one's moments gather to a wave

Passing in a rolling swell of tears,

Passions too immense to name or save.

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

Now poised between the future and the past.

Each awaits what course the fates may bring,

Winds that never touch the things that last.

Years turn and turn with an hypnotic grace

Even as the depths of life lie still.

Although above one might not silence face,

Remember that below the divers will.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here's a Happy Harbinger

December 27: Happiness Depends on More thanYears

Here's a Happy Harbinger

December 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here’s a happy harbinger,

A sign of good to come,

Placed where darkness dooms the day,

Placed where hope is gone.

Years, like people, age, and therefore

Need to be reborn,

Ending with a tired sigh,

Weary, weak, and worn.

Yet like a child, each new year is

Embraced with joy regained,

A harbinger of happiness

Returning once again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: New Year’s Day

December 26: Here’s a Happy Harbinger