And These Are the Islands

December 5, 2013 #766

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

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

And these are the islands, tiny green drops
On the broad bright blue canvas of tropical seas.
And these are the great white wheels spinning like tops,

Swallowing mountains as the sea swallows rocks,
Swallowing churches and children and trees,
Swallowing islands like tiny green drops

With their warehouses, schoolhouses, dollhouses, shops,
With their dreams and intentions and sweet fantasies,
All smashed by the great white wheels spinning like tops

That gorge on the profits of energy stocks
And the fumes of our lust for convenience and ease,
Heedless of islands like tiny green drops

And the people who live on them tending their crops
Or working in offices, homes, factories,
Devoured by monsters spinning like tops

In a line of disasters no tragedy stops
Despite the raw poignance of powerless pleas …
And these are the islands, tiny green drops.
And these are the great white wheels spinning like tops.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/pskpL9Jv9pM.

Best Believe in Miracles

November 28, 2013 #765

Dear Subscriber:

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

Best believe in miracles!
One need not be a fuelless flame,
Nor come to Earth as Jesus came,
Nor be unnatural, for we
Indeed all miracles must be,
Each of us unfathomable.

Some think we are fathomable,
Eliminating miracles,
Though that quite clearly cannot be,
Hosting, as we do, the flame,
Each on fire as dancing we
Like God's first light from darkness came.
Into life we lilting came,
Zestful, frail, unfathomable,
Amazed at everything, as we
Believed all things were miracles
Except what was – that inner flame
That must unfueled forever be,
Having lit all things that be.

Glad to come when we first came
Alight with the eternal flame,
Blessed with gifts unfathomable,
Rich in daily miracles,
Innately loving, longing, we
Embraced what seemed as real as we,
Lending life to all that be,
And all around were miracles.
Nor were we skeptics when we came,
Determined to be fathomable,
Knowing fuel accounts for flame,
Even so-called fuelless flame,
No longer needing faith as we,
Now fathoming the unfathomable,
Adult, aware, alone would be.

Even so, in love we came,
Living proof of miracles.
Like the miracle whose flame
Endured eight days, we kindled came,
Nor could be less unfathomable.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/OsfbM9fFSTA.

The Point Is What You Have, Not What You Don't

November 21, 2013 #764

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

The point is what you have, not what you don't.
How can you be happy when you won't?
All of us at times are angry, sad,
Nervous, testy, thinking we've been had,
Knowing life for others turned out better,
Sure that in most dealings we're the debtor.
Granted, granted. But fortune is a choice
In which you find your music and your voice,
Vividly in tune with what you see
If you would live your life harmoniously.
None can choose acceptance without seeing
Gifts that come unsought from simply being.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/n-rvvcunRms.

How Lovely to Live as Marriage Intends

November 14, 2013 #763

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

How lovely to live
As marriage intends:
Partners in pleasure,
Passionate friends!
Years come and go;
The story goes on:
Work, will, and wonder,
Each day too soon gone.
None could know better
Truths that all know:
In well-tended joy
Each embraces the woe
That, shared, finds what solace
Hearts can bestow.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite this poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/lHmbgALLMh8.

Veterans Have Claims upon the Hearts

November 7, 2013 #762

Dear Subscriber:

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

Veterans have claims upon the hearts
Even of those who railed against their wars.
The years of sacrifice transcend the cause,
Endured through agonies no word imparts.
Reason cannot comprehend such hell,
As strangers murder strangers out of duty.
Nor does the bleak, obscene, nightmarish beauty
Stop haunting dreams that love and rage compel.
Decency demands we do them honor,
Albeit with a hatred of the horror
Yet rampaging through joy, alive and well.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/l0L82l91jf8.

Brooms Inspire Restless Witches

October 31, 2013 #761

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Brooms inspire restless witches
Ready for their midnight rides,
Overcome by urgent itches
One indulges to survive.
Maybe you will see them soon
Shrieking as they cross the moon.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/kmdGahlM7ZU.

Retirement Is Not a Long Vacation

October 24, 2013 #760

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Retirement is not a long vacation,
Even though at times it may so seem.
The point now is the long-deferred vocation,
In which the work is free to serve the dream.
Retire well, then, as you long well labored,
Embracing well the job you took of need,
Making it a servitude well savored,
Enduring work with joy your heart decreed.
Now, though, you unburdened may pursue
The calling that you always thought was you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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