I Love My Little Teddy Bear

July 18, 2013 #746

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

I love my little teddy bear.
I want to take him everywhere.
His arms are always open and
He has to sit, he cannot stand.

He's always smiling when we play
And says whatever I would say.
I take him by an arm or ear
Or leg, whichever one is near,
And carry him around with me,
And sit him down upon my knee,
Or hug him when I go to bed
And put my head beside his head.

He has a little rip inside
His armpit, which my mommy tried
To sew, but it keeps opening.
My mommy said my dad would bring
A new one home, but I said no,
I wanted this one, even though
He may be old, a little worn,
And delicate where he is torn.

I will be gentle with him, for
I would not want to tear him more.
Tell me, those who urge his end:
Would you throw away a friend?

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaOs9yVwX9Q .

Remember, Please, the Reason for Your Fasting

July 11, 2013 #745

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Remember, please, the reason for your fasting.
A body ought to live beyond the body,
More focused on a life that's everlasting
As all that must be clothed and shod turns shoddy,
Disintegrating slowly into dust,
Amazed, despite well knowing that it must.
Nor is salvation simply for the asking.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/MErebJCbuEQ.

Then, There Was No Right to Eat

July 4, 2013 #744

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Independence Day (USA).

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

Then, there was no right to eat, nor was health
A right, nor freedom for a slave. Native
Peoples were simply dispossessed, and wealth
Accrued to men only. The fierce and furtive
Cries for love, gay or straight, were smothered.
Non-human animals had no rights, nor children
Left to drunken fathers or brutal mothers.
Oh, yes, that government governed least, but no one
Could foresee the brood of rights sprung
From words that rang out across the western world
That summer day, rights now nearly won,
That long lay fearful in predawn silence curled.
The founders were wise, but to be true to them,
We must apply their words to now, not then.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/Mw-xZdCd7C8.

Happiness Is Half Real and Half Haunting

June 27, 2013 #743

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary 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

Happiness is half real and half haunting.
A moment is half passion and half dream.
Perhaps there is no richness without wanting.
Perhaps the things we yearn for only seem.
Yet there are things that over time accrue,
Enduring through integrity and will,
Implicit every day in what we do,
Grace that blooms in soil we turn and till.
How beautiful to celebrate in passing
The things that last, the loves that years prove true,
Happiness long lived yet longing still.

© by Nicholas Gordon

 Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/G3tgN_gRFnM.

Give a Little Thought to Years Gone By

June 20, 2013 #742

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Give a little thought to years gone by,
Remembering the time we spent together.
A moment, though long vanished, lasts forever,
Determining the tilt of every why.
Understand that nothing will be lost.
As we go, we also will remain,
Taking with us what we leave behind.
In each of us today a border's crossed,
Offering a past we will retain
Now that we'll be scattered to the wind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/_cbLVgJQiwk.

Fathers Are Forever

June 13, 2013 #741

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Father’s 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

Fathers are forever. Even death,
Although a distancing, does not divide
The child from the parent, nor does time,
However long, nor space, however wide.
Enduring beyond silence, beyond breath,
Resonant where hours cease to chime,
Some yearnings inconsolable abide.

© by Nicholas Gordon

You can watch me recite the poem at http://youtu.be/yj2DsL4CXZM.

Love Is the Spring from Which All Longing Flows

June 6, 2013 #740

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Love is the spring from which all longing flows.
Long may we long for what we have, for this
Is happiness, the bliss in wedded bliss,
Where married longing deepens as it slows.
How beautiful! The passion comes and goes
While love draws from the well of the abyss,
Watering well the seed of every kiss
As loves well tended soon take root and grow.
To love must be an everyday decision
Taken out of unrepented need,
The recognition of one's ceaseless longing.
The view depends on values more than vision,
The choice to let the choosing self recede,
Behind which lies revealed the grace of loving.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem at http://youtu.be/j24lZ6cOkJo .