Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

October 10, 2013 #757

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice.

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

Even as you sacrifice yourself,
In love with love and gratified to give,
Dancing 'cross the ancient inner gulf
Athwart the plain on which each soul must live,
Long-borne burdens lighten into prayer,
Acts of worship meant as acts of care,
Done freely out of gratitude and grace,
Hard – yes, hard – and far more than your share,
And still a gift no pleasure can replace.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

Instinct Is the Motion of Emotion

October 3, 2013 #757

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a psychological poem about instinct.

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

Instinct is the motion of emotion.
The agent of the action is the feeling.
On the land or in the air or ocean,
Creatures dance to what they find appealing.
Deep within the heart an ancient master
Guides us with intentions not our own,
Blind to individual disaster,
Seeking to preserve the eggs of stone.
O love, that lures us to the sacred ground
On which we dance the dances of desire,
And choose the fate the heart had long since found,
Doing what the ancient rites require:
Long may you rule where reason seeks to reign,
And move us to survive through joy and pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/Y036PsnylNA.

Social Workers Put a Human Face

September 26, 2013 #756

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about social workers.

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

Social workers put a human face
On bureaucracy, a smile on the machine.
Client-centered, they navigate between
Interests in a very narrow space.
All that they can do will rarely do,
Life and budgets being what they are.
Will and knowledge only go so far.
One pushes hope, but must push paper, too.
Roles come with scripts that well-trained players read,
Knowing both the function and the need.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at  http://youtu.be/0qJid1qioZg.

What a Life the Artist Lives Within

September 19, 2013 #755

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical 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

What a life the artist lives within!
Eden's innocence not left behind!
Ecstasy is everyday, and love
Is just one's ordinary state of mind.

Without, life still exacts its toll of pain.
Hunger is the engine of the will.
One commutes between despair and hope,
Even in the best times fearing ill.

Within, one dances to one's own sweet tune,
Elated with the beauty of one's art,
Walking in the gloom of midnight rain,
Singing in the sunshine of the heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

You Find but Little Solace in Success

September 12, 2013 #754

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

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

You find but little solace in success,
On which you long have hung your self-esteem.
Maybe you expected happiness,
Knowing how the self-important seem.
Instead, you feel a gnawing at the heart,
Perhaps because you know where you've gone wrong,
Purporting to be whole when you are part,
Unable yet to simply sing along,
Restored to worship by the grace of song.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/rPpG2SmHvoQ.

Reason Says, of Course, that There's No Book

September 5, 2013 #753

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

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

Reason says, of course, that there's no Book
Of Life in which one is, or not, inscribed.
Still, repentance can affect one's fate.
How well one loves, or not, can still reshape
How well the year turns out. The soul revived
Attends to what the wayward soul forsook.
So does the myth remake the everyday,
Holding out the hope that fervent prayer
Actually might make someone's fortune better.
Nor ought one judge the legend by the letter,
As what is writ enriches what is there,
Having set forth well both will and way.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/qpFVTaF9aH4.

Labor Is Identity

August 29, 2013 #752

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

Labor is identity
As one is what one does.
Beware the work that will not sculpt
One into what one would.
Remember well the bunko bees,
Defined by work that is
Awash in ugliness and guilt,
Yielding little good.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/QhzcumHl0jI.