Poem of the Week

September 8, 2011 #650

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical love 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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fools desire flesh; the wise love souls.
Friendship, kindness, generosity,
Humor, wit, a harbor free of shoals --
These bring far more joy than ecstasy.
Yet there are those who, bored by harmony,
Prefer an edgy dissonance that holds
The prospect of a life near duty free,
Adventure unconstrained as time unfolds.
There is, of course, no choice without its cost.
One must be this or that or in between.
And what one isn't stays within the heart.
Wisdom lies in knowing what is lost.
The self's less self less selfless, and more mean,
While loving is a rich yet ruthless art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 1, 2011 #649

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Labor Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Long may you labor at something you love,
Awakening daily to passion and pleasure,
Blessed to find joy both in work and in leisure,
Obliged to move mountains you most want to move.
Remember that work is defined by the heart,
Delightful or not as the laborer chooses.
All life is a game that one wins or one loses,
Yielding what one would with will and with art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 25, 2011 #648

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Fitr.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Evening, and at last the fast is over!
It remains a gift we celebrate,
Delighting in our prayers as in a lover,
Abstaining with a joy no meal could sate.
Let us gather now with food and drink,
For now we turn again to mortal Earth,
Intended to desire, and love, and think,
To savor what is ours 'twixt death and birth,
Reminded by our faith what things are worth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 18, 2011 #647

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical 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/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Time passes like music, a tangle of voices
Harmonious, dissonant, yearning, resolved.
In turn it is passionate, calm, poignant, tearful,
Rhapsodic, despondent, a tumultuous earful,
The score of which leaves one with chances and choices,
Yet gives form and function to all those involved.

Sing, then, with love, as harmony dictates
Each note in a melody wholly your own.
Voices find freedom in shaping their own fates,
Even as each would sound poorly alone,
Needing the chords to make sense of each tone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 11, 2011 #646

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about love.

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

Lest your love lie undisclosed,
Simply say what's in your heart,
With neither eloquence nor art,
Unafraid to be exposed.

Some fear their love might be accepted,
Inspiring an expectation;
Others fear humiliation,
Too restrained to be rejected.

Either way, you're sure to lose
By hiding what you know is true.
The love you feel is merely you
Rendered up to whom you choose.

So say it, let your love be known,
And be more fully who you are!
The fear of pain ought never bar
The joy that else might be your own.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 4, 2011 #645

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a congratulations 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

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

Poem of the Week

July 28, 2011 #644

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Ramadan.

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

Roam anywhere you wish, and then return.
All you want to know, you ought to know.
Maybe you're afraid that what you learn
Apart from holy things will turn your head.
Delight in Allah everywhere you go,
And feed your hungry mind till it's well fed.
Nor need you for your faith one insight spurn.

© by Nicholas Gordon