Life for Most of Us Has Not Improved

August 28, 2014

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Life for most of us has not improved.
A few billion live in agony.
Beasts live better, and are far more free.
Of course, the rest of us are deeply moved.
Remember, then, though business may be brisk,
Decency demands we buy and sell
At prices that reward the labor well,
Yet yield returns that justify the risk.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

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

Let Not Lust Undo Your Greater Longing

August 21, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Let not lust undo your greater longing,
Lest you lose the love you most desire.
The point is not the partner you are wronging,
But who you are, and what grace you require.
It may be fear that keeps you from betraying
The trust that keeps your present life intact.
But fear alone should not keep you from straying;
The inner truth should flower in the act.
A moment is just one step in a dance
Performed through life upon an inner stage,
Choreographed in turn by will and chance,
Viewed more from the balcony with age.
Choose love, then, over lust, and dance with grace
Within a long and mutual embrace.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/HS8cR6NZ0kw.

Light of the Senses

August 14, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about being blind.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

LIGHT OF THE SENSES

SINGER

Each note is like a moonbeam in the night,
More visible in darkness than in light.
You sing with closed eyes; I must sing with none.
Yet equally we would shut out the sun.
For music, like one's passion, seems to be
Purer when there's nothing one can see.

PIANIST

The melody is no more sound than touch.
My fingers sing; I press the keys with such
Grace as I can hear within my heart.
So beautiful to be consumed by art!
Though vision might be wonderful, I know
That I am who I am only so.

COMPOSER

I do not need to see or even hear,
But with a well-trained mental eye and ear,
I have an orchestra that plays within,
Ready every moment to begin.
The music issues forth like God's first light,
Filling with its radiance my night.

SCULPTOR

My hands are my sophisticated eyes,
Knowing better where the spirit lies
Within the shape you survey in the light.
Touch is far more intimate than sight.
I feel by feel the feeling that the form
Wishes to embody once it's born.

POET

I write about a world I cannot see
In images that are part fantasy,
Drawn from other senses that I use
As both my passionate eyes and choral muse.
None sees the world unfiltered through the mind.
Mine is no less lovely, though I'm blind.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/CO17MWdXTwM.

Say Goodnight, Gracie

August 7, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a lullaby.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Say goodnight, Gracie,
It's time to go to sleep.
The animals are all in bed –
The horses, pigs, and sheep.

The baby turtles are tucked in,
The zebras in the zoo,
Seal pups on little pillows lie –
Now, Gracie, how about you?

Only the moon is not asleep.
It sheds its pale light,
And says, “I wish that I could sleep,
But I must shine all night.”

Say goodnight, Gracie.
Your body needs to rest.
Your heart could use some quiet time
Tucked inside your chest.

Take pity on your tiny toes,
Your fingers, hands, and feet,
Your arms and legs, your ears and nose –
They all could use some sleep.

Give your eyes a little break,
Close them for a while,
And in the morning, when you wake,
You'll wake up with a smile.

Say goodnight, Gracie,
It's time to dream your dreams.
Ride your winged horse to the stars
Upon the moon's pale beams.

Mommy and Daddy also want
To dream our dreams tonight.
So go to sleep. We'll kiss you now,
And then turn off the light.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/F5yYTaI8Plg.

Success Is Measured Out in Humdrum Days

July 31, 2014

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Success is measured out in humdrum days.
Enduring love evolves from ecstasy.
Vested in a choice, one settles in,
Eventually becoming what one is,
Needing what would else be mere desire.

Years pass, the elemental union stays,
Each turning bit by bit more otherly.
A change without becomes a change within,
Richer than what once was hers or his,
Self no self could by itself acquire.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/-Snr1k5lF6Y.

Eid Is Bittersweet

July 24, 2014 #798

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Fitr, the feast that ends the holy month of Ramadan.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eid is bittersweet. The holy month
Is over and the mundane months begun,
Devoted to the world of work and pleasure.
A sense of satisfaction comes at length,
Like winds that through the open windows run,
Freshening the soul, at last at leisure.
In celebration, then, and with new strength,
Turning to the many from the One,
Re-embrace the lives and loves you treasure.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/aBRCQ-Odp-c.

Let Me Love You Long and Well

July 17, 2014 #797

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Let me love you long and well,
Long past passion's prime.
For love begins as passion, but
Becomes far more in time.

Let me dream with you beyond
The woods that line time's bend,
And see not just a lover, but
A mate, companion, friend.

Oh, is it far too early to
Imagine what might be?
We are only you and I,
Not near to being we.

Love is like that, making plans
That dance within the heart
Before the words can find their way
To where the curtains part.

So let me love you long and well,
Though for now we wait
For life to catch up with what I
Would like to be our fate.

© by Nicholas Gordon.

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at http://youtu.be/BT2oMxii5ZA.