Memory's an Antidote for Death

June 2, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about memory and death.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Memory's an antidote for death.

Each love remembered does not wholly die.

Maybe one thinks loved ones will recall

One’s sacrifice preserved in ritual,

Redeemed by more than meets the buried eye.

In homage do the fallen draw their breath.

All, then, have a stake in memory,

Living in the hope of honor due.

Death might all obliterate, but all

Act with their post-mortem lives in view,

Yet longing to be loved in worlds to be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

May 30: Maybe in the Grip of Pain

May 31: Make of Me Whatever You Desire

June 1: Memories Respond to Invitations

June 2: Memory’s an Antidote for Death

Memories Respond to Invitations

June 1, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about the need for memorials to keep the memory of those long dead alive.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Memories respond to invitations,

Electing in their interests to attend.

Moments of remembrance moor sensations

On shadows shifting gently in the wind.

Remember to remember, then, those passed

In whom we vested hope in days of strife,

Again among the trenches, dropping fast,

Lost now to love as once they were to life.

Do honor them with rituals that last,

A list of names reduced to battered brass

Yet hallowed by a hell we cannot end.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

May 30: Maybe in the Grip of Pain

May 31: Make of Me Whatever You Desire

June 1: Memories Respond to Invitations

Make of Me Whatever You Desire

May 31, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day epitaph for a fallen soldier.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make of me whatever you desire.

Empty me of everything but you.

Memory's the light without the fire,

Offering what now will have to do.

Remember me for your sake, not for mine.

I'm nothing now but what you want to see,

A well-wrought miniature of your design,

Laid to rest within your marquetry.

Days of longing are for you alone

As I turn slowly into soil and stone,

Yielding what means nothing more to me.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

May 30: Maybe in the Grip of Pain

May 31: Make of Me Whatever You Desire

Maybe in the Grip of Pain

May 30, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Memorial Day, which falls on May 30.

Today’s poem is a Memorial Day poem about love and grief.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe in the grip of pain

Each moment seems like years.

Maybe there is beauty that

One cannot see through tears.

Remember that it’s love that is

Impossible to bear,

As loss would not be torture without

Love to lead it there.

Days of grief are days of grace,

Although quite different on their face.

Yet love is what they share.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/mayb12.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.

May 30: Maybe in the Grip of Pain

Nine

May 29, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is children’s birthdays. If you would like to use any of these poems, please feel free to change the names and/or genders in them.

Today’s poem is a birthday number poem for the parents of a nine year old.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Nine is an age when children like to lie:

Instantly, the world is rearranged!

Nothing is the same, and nothing's changed,

Except an angel waves one last goodbye.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/9.html. For more birthday poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/birthdaypoems.html . For more poems to children, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Children’s Birthdays.

May 23: Sing, Little Madeline

May 24: You’re Four

May 25: You’re Eight

May 26: Maddy Is Four Years Old Today

May 27: One5

May 28: You Are Five

May 29: Nine

You Are Five

May 28, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is children’s birthdays. If you would like to use any of these poems, please feel free to change the names and/or genders in them.

Today’s poem is a birthday poem for a five-year-old girl who can read.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You are five!

A big girl now!

Reading on your own!

I know you can

'Cause look at this:

You've just read this poem!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/your5.html. For more birthday poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/birthdaypoems.html . For more poems to children, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Children’s Birthdays.

May 23: Sing, Little Madeline

May 24: You’re Four

May 25: You’re Eight

May 26: Maddy Is Four Years Old Today

May 27: One5

May 28: You Are Five

One5

May 27, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is children’s birthdays. If you would like to use any of these poems, please feel free to change the names and/or genders in them.

Today’s poem is a birthday number poem for the parents of a one-year-old girl.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

One has piano legs and chubby cheeks.

Now she babbles, now she nearly speaks,

Embracing heartily the words she seeks.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/1e.html. For more birthday poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/birthdaypoems.html . For more poems to children, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/childrenpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Children’s Birthdays.

May 23: Sing, Little Madeline

May 24: You’re Four

May 25: You’re Eight

May 26: Maddy Is Four Years Old Today

May 27: One5