Heaven Has No Exit to Despair

March 26, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about the twin errors of too absolute a faith and no faith at all.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Heaven has no exit to despair.
A faith too pure’s a prison in disguise.
Passion is the impetus for prayer,
Pleading for more hope than meets the eyes.
Yet lack of faith can, too, be too complete,
Emancipating one from all that matters,
A separate, though quite equal, self-deceit,
Sustained by reason, that one’s flailing flatters.
Truth demands fidelity to pain,
Ecstasy that comes and goes again,
Revealing nothing but a faith in tatters.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heave2.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection
March 25: Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding
March 26: Heaven Has No Exit to Despair

Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding

March 25, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem questions God about the purpose of Creation.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Grant us all the peace of understanding
Why it is that anything is here.
Happiness or horror notwithstanding,
The point of the whole thing is far from clear.
If You are perfect, why this botched creation,
Replete with hunger, torture, lust, and greed?
Why suffer on the cross for our salvation?
I understand the end, but not the need.
A perfect being needs no son, no heaven,
No purposes, no places, priests, or prayers,
No stars or sepulchers, no souls, not even
One dead fool, about whom someone cares.
Could it be perfection could not be
Without my love for You, and Yours for me?

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection
March 25: Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding

Each Year We Celebrate Christ's Resurrection

March 24, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about how faith can be beautiful even for those who don’t share it.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each year we celebrate Christ's resurrection,
Although some of us do not believe it.
So does faith become our common myth,
The beauty of which we must grapple with,
Even if the truth, as we conceive it,
Remains the moonlight of our own reflection.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eachy2.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
March 24: Each Year We Celebrate Christ’s Resurrection

Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain

March 23, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about the difference between telling the tale of Christ and attempting to model one’s life on His.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even though passions are common as rain,
And we must pass by as God’s children are slain,
Smiling while crossing their rivers of pain,
Telling the tale of Christ risen again:
Even as we do our best to stay sane,
Redemption comes only to those who remain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be
March 23: Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain

Each of Us Eventually Will Be

March 22, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem expresses faith in personal resurrection and redemption.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each of us eventually will be
A soul in waiting, neither here nor there.
So shall we wait until Messiah comes
To take us with Him to His Heavenly home,
Embracing us with love. This is our prayer,
Redemptive faith, life-giving prophecy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eacho6.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing
March 22: Each of Us Eventually Will Be

Even in the Depths of Longing

March 21, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is faith, in honor of Easter, which falls on March 27.

Today’s poem is about how the beauty of being turns every moment into joy.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Even in the depths of longing,
All one is and sees is light.
So the moment, barren, burning,
Touches bliss beyond one's sight,
Embers of a flame so bright,
Reason turns to joy, to dancing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eveni3.html. For more poems for Easter, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/easterpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Faith.
March 21: Even in the Depths of Longing

St. Patrick's Day Commemorates the Turning

March 20, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on March 17.

Today’s poem is about why St. Patrick’s Day is meaningful to everyone.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the turning
To Christianity of Irish clans.
Perhaps, if you’re not Irish, there’s no burning
Ache to march, so you’ve got other plans.
The day, however, marks a special moment
Regarding the persuasion of us all.
Islands are not islands of the spirit;
Callings come to more than hear the call.
Know that we are one, and Irish monks
’Ere we were born redeemed us with their prayers,
Sang our chants and gave our gracious thanks,
Died our deaths and climbed our golden stairs.
All changed for all after Patrick’s day;
Years turn, and yet their winds within us play.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpat2.html. For more poems about St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 14: Sing in Celebration of Your Race
March 15: Sing Me a Love Song for My Irish Boy
March 16: Sinners All, We Ask for Your Forgiveness
March 17: Saints Are Rarely Saints, if You Know What I Mean
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children
March 19: St. Patrick Rid the Emerald Isle of Snakes
March 20: St. Patrick’s Day Commemorates the Turning