Here There Is No Antidote for Longing

May 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about the need to give children space.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Here there is no antidote for longing.

A love like this admits no more or less.

Perhaps that is the price of happiness.

Perhaps love is itself a kind of yearning.

Yet mothers need to temper their desiring,

Making room for those whom they would bless,

On whom they lay the burden of success,

The mirror in which they would see their dancing.

Here one cannot choose to be too choosy.

Each child is a separate universe

Regarding one’s sweet dreams with its own eyes

‘Mid the ancient battleground called love.

So must mothers do their chosen duty,

Deep in love for better or for worse,

And easy in their minds, if they are wise,

Yet with hopes no wisdom can remove.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/heret6.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 2: Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

May 3: Hard by Happiness Is Always Pain

May 4: Aunts Are like a Small, Secluded Garden

May 5: Maybe There’s a Sorrow That You Hide

May 6: Here There Is No Antidote for Longing

Maybe There's a Sorrow That You Hide

May 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is for mothers of miscarried children.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there’s a sorrow that you hide,

One that never lessens, never leaves,

That sings a lonely counterpoint inside,

Hard to hear but for the one who grieves.

Each child unborn is not therefore unloved,

Redeemed by tears that through dry streambeds move

So quietly the pain can scarcely breathe.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 2: Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

May 3: Hard by Happiness Is Always Pain

May 4: Aunts Are like a Small, Secluded Garden

May 5: Maybe There’s a Sorrow That You Hide

Aunts Are like a Small, Secluded Garden

May 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is a Mother’s Day poem for an aunt.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Aunts are like a small, secluded garden,

Untenanted but treasured nonetheless,

Needed most in times of most distress

Though visited at any time a person

Seeks comfort, peace, or just a place to rest.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/aunt3.html. For more poems about other family members, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 2: Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

May 3: Hard by Happiness Is Always Pain

May 4: Aunts Are like a Small, Secluded Garden

Hard By Happiness Is Always Pain

May 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about how to deal with mixed emotions.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hard by happiness is always pain.

A child is born in equal hope and fear,

Perhaps because one grieves what one holds dear,

Perhaps because all longing is in vain.

Yet beauty is what mothers stand to gain,

Music none but parents get to hear,

Of which the organ tone is deep and clear,

The best of being, love, that life sustains.

How might one manage well one’s mixed emotions,

Embracing while enduring parenthood,

Retaining the sweet glow of expectation

‘Mid chaos that one knows one must control?

So might one have to rearrange one’s notions,

De-coupling what one wills from what one would,

Allowing love to launder complications,

Yielding slowly to a separate soul.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/hardb2.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 2: Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

May 3: Hard By Happiness Is Always Pain

Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

May 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is motherhood, in honor of Mother’s Day, which falls on May 8.

Today’s poem is about a mother’s timeless role.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Mothers are what make the boo-boos better,

Overcoming crises with a kiss.

There is no greater burden or delight,

Having as one’s role to make things right,

Even when one may find much amiss.

Remember that such loving lasts forever,

Singing through the silence of each night.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/moth14.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Motherhood.

May 2: Mothers Are What Make the Boo-Boos Better

The Earth Needs Its Defenders

May 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is about the need to engage the souls of trees if we would save the Earth.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The Earth needs its defenders. The long healing

Has just begun, has costs, has enemies,

Is fitful, is here and there, is not assured.

Remember that the patient won’t be cured

Till more of us engage the souls of trees,

Yielding to a deep and ancient feeling.

Those who don’t yet feel it must be lured

With wilderness, with art, with games revealing

Our inner tides, the wash of outer seas.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/theea2.html. For more poems for Earth Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/earthdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 25: For Ancient Trees Weeping Once a Year

April 26: Ashley

April 27: After You Leave, I Will Become a Tree

April 28: To My Brother, the Tree upon My Plain

April 29: Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast of Light

April 30: Eleven

May 1: The Earth Needs Its Defenders

Eleven

April 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is trees, in honor of Arbor Day, which falls on April 29.

Today’s poem is a number poem comparing an eleven-year-old girl to a young tree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Eleven is a lovely, slender tree,

Leaves fluttering like bright green butterflies.

Each root is tuned to murmurs in the skies,

Veering deep dark down deliciously.

Even as the root winds towards its lair,

New winds caress the sapling's long green hair.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/11.html. For more number poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Trees.

April 25: For Ancient Trees Weeping Once a Year

April 26: Ashley

April 27: After You Leave, I Will Become a Tree

April 28: To My Brother, the Tree upon My Plain

April 29: Even Trees Awake to a Breakfast of Light

April 30: Eleven