Some Would Sing Unmercifully of Joy

December 4, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a humorous Season’s Greetings poem about bearing the holidays.

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

Some would sing unmercifully of joy,
Even as the darkness fast descends,
A soporific meant to spirits buoy,
So blissful that it gives one's heart the bends.
Often holidays can be a pain --
Needy, noisy, full of aggravation.
Still, it might seem churlish to complain,
Given Uncle Scrooge's reputation.
Remember, then, to cherish every day,
Even holidays, with heartfelt cheer,
Embracing what you cannot shoo away,
Though with a little snort that says you're here.
In everyone a bit of humbug lurks,
Nor should you judge a cover by its quirks,
Granting fools a bit of charity,
So long as you come by it honestly.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Time Is a Gift, like Food or Love or Death

November 27, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Thanksgiving about the gifts of time and death.

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

Time is a gift, like food or love or death,
However much one wants to live forever.
All that is, is in a single breath.
Now is ample time for each endeavor.
Knowing one will die makes time more precious
Since even music needs a proper end,
Giving each note density and purpose
In a compass one can comprehend.
Vistas have horizons, even though
Infinity still lurks beyond the stars,
Nothing that a grateful soul can know,
Given that one’s gift such knowledge bars.

© by Nicholas Gordon

The Years May Sing of Darkness

November 20, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

The years may sing of darkness.
The heart still sings of light.
On the edge of evening,
The will holds off the night.

Ah, yes, the winter's coming.
We will not make it through.
Spring will burst with beauty,
But not for me and you.

This is not cause for sadness.
This is not cause for tears.
Our brief time here is timeless.
The song outlasts the years.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Deep Sea Divers Dove One Day

November 13, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a nonsense 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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Deep sea divers dove one day,
All decked out in green and gray.
Underneath the sea they saw
A million muskrats, maybe more.

“What kind of creatures could you be
Underneath the salty sea?”
The deep sea divers asked. “Don't you
Need air to breathe and burrows, too?”

“Oh, my! Oh, my!” the muskrats said.
“It's time for treats, then off to bed!”
And in a flash, like fin-tailed fish,
The muskrats turned in one bright swish,
And vanished like a whispered wish.

Deep down they went where whales trade
Their favorite shellfish in the shade,
While walruses wear woolen coats
And stingrays feed seahorses oats;

Where turtles dance with manatees,
And snoring snails try not to sneeze,
And seals in tux and tails sing
While serving scallions in the spring,
Too deep dark down to see a thing.

There the muskrats went to sleep,
Deep down below the deepest deep,
Too deep for deep sea divers to
Descend to, as deep divers do,
And far too deep for me and you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Voices of the Dead Are All Around Me

November 6, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Veterans Day about coming home from war.

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

Voices of the dead are all around me.
Everyone alive seems much less real.
The smoke and screams and bombs and blood surround me,
Enduring through the love I still can’t feel.
Reality is rarely in the present
As truth and falsehood are defined by pain.
Nor can I stand one moment that is pleasant.
Sanity to me just seems insane.
Death is more attractive than a wife,
And loneliness a far less lonely life.
Yet I must turn and somehow live again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Happy, Happy Halloween

October 30, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about ghosts 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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happy, Happy Halloween!
A funhouse till tomorrow!
Let the living squirm and scream!
Leave the dead to sorrow.
Only ghosts endure such pain,
Well beyond their age,
Each undone again, again,
Each condemned to rage.
Nor can they turn the page.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Let the Love Be Free of Lust

October 23, 2014

Dear Subscriber:

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

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 the love be free of lust
And watch the marriage die.
Devils dance on days of dust
As desperate lovers lie.

Yet how might lust survive the years
Of naked intimacy,
The thousand nights of talk and tears,
The flesh too tame to free?

The answer lies in lovers' dreams
Made flesh in lovers' play,
Where each becomes the other's means –
White canvas, willing clay;

A mutual acceptance of
A mutual desire
For lust, a generous act of love
That fuels the inner fire;

Still themselves, still faithful to
A marriage of the heart,
Making old love ever new
With chaste and playful art.

© by Nicholas Gordon