Poem of the Week

June10, 2010 #585
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a wedding poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
The bells ring not for just these two
Who will be joined in love today.
They also ring for me and you.
 
And not just for the families who
Now celebrate, as well they may.
The bells ring not for just these, too.
 
And not just those who know or knew
These families well, who came their way.
They also ring for me and you.
 
And not just those who came to view
The bride, the gown, the whole array.
The bells ring not for just these, too.
 
And not just those whose love is true,
Or those who would their doubts allay.
They also ring for me and you.
 
For all are joined in love, and do
Rejoice to hear the sweet bells play!
The bells ring not for just these two.
They also ring for me and you.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 3, 2010 #584
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a graduation poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Give a little thought to what comes next.
Remember: education isn't training.
A person needs to struggle with a text,
Delving into truths beyond explaining.
Understanding means you must go under,
And make your own the ground on which you stand.
The urge to learn comes from a sense of wonder
Ill-served in those who like their knowledge canned.
Open up your mind so that your soul
Not be confined to one small, shallow bowl.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 27, 2010 #583
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Memorial Day poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Memories are all that I have left.
Each becomes a well-worn photograph.
Missing is the warmth, the touch, the heft
Of life, the smile, the reassuring laugh.
Real people change, they grow, relate, unfold.
In time we share the adventures of their lives
As they marry, have kids, change jobs, grow old,
Loving us – their parents, husbands, wives.
Dead people are alive in us, but they
Are not within themselves. No love revives
Your love, which I once cherished day-to-day.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 20, 2010 #582
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a number poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon

So may your silver years pass pleasantly,
Even as you rest beside the river.
Vanities are gone, ambitions, schemes,
Evanescent as night's vanished dreams,
Nor need you be as prodigal a giver.
There is much that now will never be,
Yet what is, is more alive than ever.
 
The current hurries by; the tall grass teems
With creatures, each intent on some endeavor.
Old memories float like white sails out to sea.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 13, 2010 #581
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an epitaph.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Life blessed me with a sunny disposition
Even as I lived through terrible storms.
Sport was my passion; justice was my mission.
The world, I thought, was something one reforms.
Embrace it, then, with all your warmth and joy!
Rebel, as I did, for, and not against,
Resolving to create, not to destroy,
Open-armed and loving, not incensed.
Delight, exuberance, a child's wonder --
Not naively did I these display.
Even though the wide world split asunder,
Yet one needs to live and love and play.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

 
May 6, 2010 #580
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Mother's Day poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Happy Mother's Day to a dear aunt,
A refuge from conditions and demands,
Perhaps because you have a different slant,
Perhaps because your love is free of plans.
Yet for whatever reason, you are there
More simply and directly than the other,
One with whom a child can always share
The kinds of joys too carefree for a mother.
Happiness can use a bit of room,
Even in the midst of an embrace.
Relevance requires not the womb:
'Tis love and labor that replenish grace.
So do you play this secondary part,
Dealt not by birth but by the willing heart,
Aunt extraordinaire, whose love will bring
Years of memories that dance and sing.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 29, 2010 #579
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a feminist poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
To the heroines still not well known,
Those who would be famous were they men,
And those whose sunlight never fully shone,
Veiled for life behind men's fear of sin:
 
Now it's time your tales were well told,
Well past time you got your bit of glory!
We need to rescue you so that the old
Slant no longer skews our common story.
 
Those who love the truth and know the past
Is never past, that stories steer one's choices,
Will want to look for heroines in the vast
Store of women's lives and hear their voices.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon