Great Ends Demand Great Sacrifice

February 17, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of President’s Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, and Washington’s Birthday, is political activism and greatness.

Today’s poem is a name poem for George Washington about leaders who pursue great ends.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Great ends demand great sacrifice,
Else the dream becomes a debt.
Open hearts will pay the price,
Redeeming loss without regret.
Great leaders also make demands,
Else the mandate turns to dust.
Willing minds find willing hands,
As courage shared engenders trust.
So a nation moves ahead,
Having found its avatar,
In hard times hungry to be led,
Navigating by its star.
Great followers must take great care
To choose a leader who will be
Out of love and duty there,
Not shy, but still reluctantly.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Political Activism and Greatness.
Feb. 15: Greatness Is the Child of Choice and Chance
Feb. 16: Seventy-Six2
Feb. 17: Great Ends Demand Great Sacrifice

Seventy-Six2

February 16, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of President’s Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, and Washington’s Birthday, is political activism and greatness.

Today’s poem is a number poem for a seventy-six year old who has passed political activism down to his children and grandchildren.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seventy-six has sown the sacred seed,
Ensuring that another generation,
Vested in the cause of liberation,
Engages in the politics of justice.
Nor after centuries is there less need.
The archetypal rulers are relentless.
Yet one can pit one's love against their greed.

Sing, then, of an inherited vocation,
Identities along a chain that's endless,
Xeroxing the dream that marks the breed.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/76b.html. For more poems about politics, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Political Activism and Greatness.
Feb. 15: Greatness Is the Child of Choice and Chance
Feb. 16: Seventy-Six2

Greatness Is the Child of Choice and Chance

February 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of President’s Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, and Washington’s Birthday, is political activism and greatness.

Today’s poem is a name poem for George Washington about what is necessary to achieve greatness.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Greatness is the child of choice and chance,
Even when one's character is right.
One must fit the urgent circumstance,
Requiring wrongs that one's gifts can requite.
Greatness needs a time that calls for greatness,
Embracing an entire generation,
When some grave danger, failure, or injustice
Awaits a leader to unite the nation.
So might the mantle fall upon a soul
Having just the qualities to be
In mien and temper suited to the role.
Nor ought one, chosen, turn down history.
Greatness waits upon one like a bride
That knows well one's humility and pride,
On which she plays to keep one by her side.
Nor, after, will one care how much she lied.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/great2.html. For more Presidents Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Political Activism and Greatness.
Feb. 15: Greatness Is the Child of Choice and Chance

A Valentine Is Nothing Like

February 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day.

Today’s poem is a humorous definition of a Valentine.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

A Valentine is nothing like
A chocolate or a rose.
For in a week these shall be gone,
But Valentines remain.

If love were always sweet to tongue
Or fragrant to the nose,
Each day would be like Valentine's,
And we would go insane.

A Valentine just hangs around
Waiting to be kissed
Long after special days have passed
And every days are here.

So one is wise to choose one well
And chocolates to resist.
For in the midst of mania
It's nice to have one near.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/avalen.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
Feb. 8: I’m Far Too Shy to Tell You that I Love You
Feb. 9: You Are the Landscape of My Life
Feb. 10: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
Feb. 11: The Day of Love Requires a Companion
Feb. 12: Will You Be My Valentine
Feb. 13: Very Little Love Is Lost in Living
Feb. 14: A Valentine Is Nothing Like

Very Little Love Is Lost in Living

February 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day.

Today’s poem is a Valentine’s Day poem about the nature of love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Very little love is lost in living.
A star can fill a universe with light,
Lasting not one second less for giving
Each of us the gift of its delight.
Nor do we love ourselves the less for loving,
Taking others' pleasures for our own.
In love there is an ecstasy unmoving,
Neither more engaged nor less alone,
Eternal in its house of flesh and bone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/veryli.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
Feb. 8: I’m Far Too Shy to Tell You that I Love You
Feb. 9: You Are the Landscape of My Life
Feb. 10: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
Feb. 11: The Day of Love Requires a Companion
Feb. 12: Will You Be My Valentine
Feb. 13: Very Little Love Is Lost in Living

Will You Be My Valentine

February 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day.

Today’s poem is a will-you-be-my-valentine poem.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Will you be my Valentine?
I know that I am yours.
You are like a tossing sea
And I am like your shores.

You are like an endless wave
And I your waiting sand.
And I will wait forever as
You come and smooth my hand.

I will wait forever, yet
You are a part of me.
I hold you in my arms, while you
Come to me endlessly.

Will you be my Valentine?
I know that I am yours.
I love you with a love that yearns
To be your golden shores.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/willyou.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
Feb. 8: I’m Far Too Shy to Tell You that I Love You
Feb. 9: You Are the Landscape of My Life
Feb. 10: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
Feb. 11: The Day of Love Requires a Companion
Feb. 12: Will You Be My Valentine

The Day of Love Requires a Companion

February 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Valentine’s Day.

Today’s poem is about being alone on Valentine’s Day.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The day of love requires a companion,
But I find myself at this time all alone.
Words of sweet affection fill the morning
Like bells outside the windows of my room.

I don't know why I don't have someone with me.
I've loved and been loved through the restless years.
The mysteries of love I hold within me
Are a darkness unrelieved by moon and stars.

And yet I feel more love than I have ever
Felt within the circle of a kiss.
Love need not be a passion or a fever,
Nor does it need a hand for its caress.

Love does not require a companion.
It doesn't need an object or a home.
It flies above the ecstasy of morning
And fills the universe inside my room.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/theday.html. For more Valentine’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/valentinesdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Valentine’s Day.
Feb. 8: I’m Far Too Shy to Tell You that I Love You
Feb. 9: You Are the Landscape of My Life
Feb. 10: Although Our Love Is Over, It Remains
Feb. 11: The Day of Love Requires a Companion