Here Again We Have a New Beginning

January 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

This year begins a new direction as the poem of the week turns into the poem of the day. Each week will have a theme that the daily poems will explore and expand on.

Those of you who don’t want to receive so many poems can unsubscribe by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. But I hope that most of you will enjoy reading poems that explore a variety of topics from a number of perspectives.

The poems for today and the following two days will be New Year poems: one about the new year as a new beginning, one a romantic poem about beginning the new year together, and one written for the new year of 2002 looking back at the catastrophic year of 9/11.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

A New Year poem about beginning once again:

Here again we have a new beginning,
An old refrain to start a brand-new verse.
Perhaps the belly droops, the hair is thinning;
Perhaps each year the memory gets worse.
Yet new beginnings always start with hope,
Needing hope to nurture innocence,
Endeavoring to find a way to cope
When nothing deeply thought about makes sense.
Years come and go; Eden doesn't change.
Each new year we toddle forth again,
Afoot into a world that's ever strange,
Restored by some great turning tide within.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hereag.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This three-day week’s theme: New Year Poems.
Jan. 1: Here Again We Have a New Beginning

December 31, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for New Year’s Eve about loneliness and freedom.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

New Year’s Eve is hard to spend alone
Even when one wants no company,
Willing to be lonely to be free,
Yearning for a life pared to the bone.
Even so, one feels an inner tug
As hope curls over memory’s undertow,
Roiling the restless tidal flow,
‘Mid well-worn thoughts, a longing for a hug.
So does the heart respond to holidays,
Embracing what the mind would else ignore,
Vividly in search of something more
Enduring than the self, which time betrays.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/newye3.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

Merry Christmas to My Darling Wife

December 24, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas love poem to a wife.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Merry Christmas to my darling wife!
Enduring love makes much of holidays,
Rituals that mark the grace of life,
Refrains of old, familiar roundelays.
Years fall into rhythms that repeat,
Creating opportunities to dance.
Hard as life might be, the hour is sweet,
Returning us to choreographed romance.
In this moment of expected cheer,
Still in love, I tell you once again
That I am ever blessed to have you here,
My partner in our journey to the wind.
Again, again, the season has its way,
Singing what I else too rarely say.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Christmas poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/christmaspoems.html .

Happy Holidays to You

December 17, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Happy Holidays poem to a child about wishing animals a happy holiday.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happy Holidays to you!
All the ducks are here,
Quacking quite contentedly,
Full of holiday cheer.

“Quack! Quack!” they say, which means, “Quack! Quack!”
And “Quack!” which just means, “Quack!”
Quivering from head to toe
And shaking front to back.

Wish them Happy Holidays!
The geese and seagulls, too!
And all the creatures, big and small,
Who share the Earth with you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Happy Holidays poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Saviors Seldom Surface Nowadays

December 10, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a Season’s Greetings poem about ancient and modern miracles.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Saviors seldom surface nowadays,
Even though they're needed just as much.
Although a suffering population prays,
Salvation rarely is revealed as such.
Only long ago did miracles
Numb the vocal chords of disbelief.
Signs and wonders turned to canticles,
Giving souls some spiritual relief.
Rest assured, saviors still surround us,
Each a bit of light, though little known,
Each a sign of miracles around us,
The wonders we must seek out on our own.
In our time, yes, the fuel-less flames still burn,
Not least within our temporary urn.
Grace still comes to us on every morn,
Still a miracle, of our love born.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

Hanukkah Menorahs Are like Love

December 3, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Hanukkah about the menorah as a symbol of love.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hanukkah menorahs are like love:
Alive with light, dancing, yet serene.
Now you light the candles one by one,
Undoing all the anger in your soul.
Kindle, then, like candles thoughts that prove
Kind and generous, and words that seem
As sweet as silver songs, and when you're done,
How beautifully your burning heart will glow!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Hanukkah poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

There Is No Substitute for Gratitude

November 26, 2015

Dear Subscriber:

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no substitute for gratitude.
Here or there, the gift is just the same.
A joyful life depends on attitude,
Nor does one need a giver or a name.
Knowledge is not needed, nor is faith,
So long as one is struck by being’s beauty,
Going humbly, as the preacher saith,
Immersed in the minutiae of one’s duty.
Vast the suffering and fierce the pain.
In life is death; in every moment fear.
Nonetheless, one would one’s life sustain,
Grateful for the gift of being here.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html . For more Thanksgiving poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/thanksgivingpoems.html .