Poem of the Week

February 2, 2012 #670

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a 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

Some would look for love when love is nigh,
Or fill their fantasies with love unreal,
Afraid to love, and thus afraid to feel,
Afraid to be entangled in a lie.
For love is a commitment that might tie
One to a choice one would, perhaps, repeal,
Leading to regrets one would conceal,
Since any time, it's true, one's love could die.
Simpler just to dream instead of be,
Since being is so hard, and dreaming easy,
Allowing one one's choices without choosing.
One cannot choose to love and still be free,
A gift of self that tends to make one queasy,
Not knowing what, by keeping, one is losing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 26, 2012 #669

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Winter wills white whispers into being,
Into frigid air white dancing death,
Needles that can take away one's breath,
Thick, soft flakes preventing one from fleeing,
Ending briefly in bright drifted hills,
Returning with the churning chaff that kills.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 19, 2012 #668

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for the Lunar (Chinese) New Year, the Year of the Water Dragon.

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

There is no knowledge – only good opinion.
Happiness is not afraid of pain.
Each truth is limited to its dominion.
Years sweep away one's walls again, again.
Everyone knows better in their hearts,
Although their hearts know better than to know.
Reason is a razor's edge that parts
Objects from the fullness of their flow.
Fortune is a poor excuse for failure.
The only help one needs is what one gives.
Hard work and happiness extend one's tenure,
Ever more alive the more one lives.
Death is a prerequisite of time,
Revealing far more than it ever hides.
All is limitless, yet etched in lines,
Graven images of what abides.
One dragon, yes, can harmonize a song,
Needing only dreams to sing along.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 12, 2012 #667

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

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

Maybe it's a little strange that I
Am now the only one whose day of birth
Remains a holiday. I don't know why
That honor should be mine alone. My worth
Is certainly no more than Washington's,
Nor do I more than Lincoln days deserve.
Let me then suggest a change: Once
Unmoored from my name, let the holiday serve
To honor not the person but the cause,
Healing racial wounds, pursuing justice,
Examining the morals of our mores,
Revisiting the pain of prejudice.
Kings require homage; this king would
Instead be an occasion for remembrance:
Not of me, but of all who fought for good,
Giving “Freedom Day” its proper sense.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 5, 2012 #666

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Each of us might follow a bright star,
Perhaps to a redemptive revelation,
Intending, then, to change the way things are,
Passionate to socialize salvation.
However, please beware of what you do:
Ambition, even selfless, can turn sour.
No truth fits all, though burning inside you,
Yearning less for paradise than power.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 29, 2011 #666

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for New Year's.

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

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

Poem of the Week

December 22, 2011 #665

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Morning never comes on Christmas Day!
Eons pass and still the sun won't rise
Running late, the parents check closed eyes,
Retrieving gifts they long had hid away.
Years pass too quickly; loves and friendships stray.
Christmas comes and goes; the magic dies.
Happiness is hard and elsewhere lies.
Reality erodes one's sense of play.
Innocence remains a memory,
Sustaining hope and faith in later years,
The gift of what the child once believed.
Morning comes, of course, eventually,
As dreams give way to deep and unshed tears,
Still waiting for a glory long since grieved.

© by Nicholas Gordon