Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Reason Is No Cause for Revelation

June 8, 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 Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about faith and reason.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Reason is no cause for revelation.
A moment comes and goes; a word endures.
More than sense must underlie sensation.
A holy mind and heart such faith secures.
Depend, then, on your fasting to awaken
A love of Allah easily forsaken.
Nor is there mooring where one’s reason moors.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Faith.
June 8: Reason Is No Cause for Revelation

Monday, June 6, 2016

Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

June 7, 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 Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is about the role of Ramadan in reminding us of the primacy of eternal life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Ramadan reminds us that the world
Around us is a temporary place
Made for an equivocal embrace
As we ride this rock through vastness hurled.
Dance upon the Earth with joy and laughter
As long as you remember what comes after.
Nor will you find your home in time and space.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramad2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Faith.
June 7: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

June 6, 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 Ramadan, which begins on June 7.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the relationship between discipline and rapture.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rapture comes most easily within
A discipline that divvies up the day,
Making time for timelessness, and space,
A rolled-up rectangle holy anyplace,
Dear temple of delight where one might pray,
Assigned some sweet-tongued verses to begin
Now hallowing this hollow cask of clay.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Faith.
June 6: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

Make My Sorrow Pride

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 pain of grief.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Make my sorrow pride.
Enter me with light.
Mourning turns to morning,
Or so I would believe.
Reach me with your tide.
Inundate this blight.
Awaken me with longing,
Lest I live to grieve.

Deaf, dumb, blind inside,
All I am is night,
Yet too frail to leave.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/makem2.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.
June 5: Make My Sorrow Pride

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Maybe There Is More to Life than Living

June 4, 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 how life is a gift that is sometimes worth giving.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe there is more to life than living.
Existence has more meaning as a means.
Maybe life's a gift that's well worth giving
Once the sacrifice distills the dreams.
Remember, then, the heroes we have squandered
In ignorance and fear and lust and greed.
All sacrifice ought equally be honored
Lest we confuse the courage with the need.
Destiny decrees the undreamed end
As some die for the dreams they would defend,
Yet yearning for what lies beyond the deed.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe3.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.
June 4: Maybe There Is More to Life Than Living

Friday, June 3, 2016

There Is in Grief a Saving Grace

June 3, 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 saving grace of grief.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is in grief a saving grace,
A melody of love
So beautiful no angel could
A mourner's heart so move.

The pain is just a measure of
The value of the loss,
A gift that will remain a gift,
For life can be no less.

The love's not lost, nor will it be
Eroded by the wind,
But will become the soil in which
You plant new seeds each spring.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther35.html. For more Memorial Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/memorialdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Memorial Day.
June 3: There Is in Grief a Saving Grace

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

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.
June 2: Memory’s an Antidote for Death