Fantasies Find Flower in What's Real

June 18, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

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

Fantasies find flower in what's real –
A wife and children waiting at the door.
Though there is much, perhaps, one would repeal,
How sweet it is to know what one is for.
Enduring love is like an organ tone
Resounding 'neath the restless notes of home,
So beautiful one could not ask for more.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Uw9JbqdxU74.

Graduation Grabs You from Behind

June 11, 2015

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/week.html.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation grabs you from behind.
Reality seems suddenly unreal,
A timeless moment somehow trapped in time,
Drowning in a feeling you can’t feel.
Ultimately, when the day is over
And you are left alone with who you are,
The moment will be something to remember,
In which you feel your feelings from afar.
Only now too much is happening.
Nor can you keep your heart from wandering.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/4lbYBRyp828.

We Put Our Greatest Treasures in Your Hands

June 4, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a thank you poem to school bus drivers and attendants.

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

We put our greatest treasures in your hands,
And watch the yellow buses pull away,
And turn back to the purposes and plans
That tend to take up much of every day.
How strange! Our scattered lives depend on trust.
We give our children up into the care
Of people we don’t know because we must,
Because to do our jobs we can’t be there.
How strange! For life to work we all must be
Dependable and good at what we do.
But children must be handled lovingly,
And therefore we are grateful to have you.
The work you do requires skill and art,
But most of all it needs a loving heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/nFcIaxR8Bvw.

Let There Be Joy, Always Joy in Giving

May 28, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about charity written for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who care for the elderly.

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 there be joy, always joy in giving,
In serving those who cannot serve themselves.
There is no better gift one gets from living
Than that sweet will that from the heart upwells.
Let there be pleasure in giving others pleasure,
Enjoyment in giving others joy,
Sheer happiness, beyond all one might measure,
In toiling in a loving God's employ.
So may we be the instruments of love,
The flesh of God's will working in the world,
Each a thread within the banner of
Redemption, to the winds of time unfurled.
Sacrifice is then no sacrifice,
Obligation then no obligation,
For what is gained has neither peer nor price,
There being none remotely in relation.
How might one find sanctity in service,
Each menial task a grateful act of prayer?
Perhaps if one believed that life was senseless,
Old folk were simply woe one wouldn't share.
Only love gives dignity to all,
Restoring faith in those who heed its call.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/xW9PUXQtBQo.

Memories Evoke a Painful Joy

May 21, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Memorial Day about the joy and pain of memories.

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

Memories evoke a painful joy,
Evoke a harsh and bitter tenderness.
Maybe that’s the price of happiness:
One loves what time or tempest will destroy.
Remember, then, those whom you have loved
In mingled joy and sorrow. Sing a song
As beautiful as is your love, and mourn
Like one who is by some chance blessing moved.
Days of mourning are a celebration,
A dance whose healing grace sustains relation,
Yielding grief that will redemptive prove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/om4Kup534M8.

Glad to Graduate and Sad to Leave2

May 14, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Glad to graduate and sad to leave.
Ready and not ready for what’s next.
Afloat on buoyant dreams and deep in debt.
Determined both to give and to receive.
Uncertain what the future has in store.
Aware of an enormous inner change
That makes these years worthwhile, a greater range
In which to ramble, seeking to learn more.
Open to a richer world of mind.
Now moving forward as I look behind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/fcfRuEsDH5Q.

Glad to Graduate and Sad to Leave2

May 14, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Glad to graduate and sad to leave.
Ready and not ready for what’s next.
Afloat on buoyant dreams and deep in debt.
Determined both to give and to receive.
Uncertain what the future has in store.
Aware of an enormous inner change
That makes these years worthwhile, a greater range
In which to ramble, seeking to learn more.
Open to a richer world of mind.
Now moving forward as I look behind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Watch me recite the poem on YouTube at https://youtu.be/fcfRuEsDH5Q.