You Pray Not for Yourself Alone but All

October 15, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is atonement, in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on October 12.

Today’s poem is about the communal nature of personal sin.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You pray not for yourself alone but all.

One never chooses sin in isolation.

Most evil is not merely personal.

Kindness looks for common inspiration.

In every act there is community.

Perhaps one would prefer it were not so.

Placing each's guilt on all may be

Unfair, but then each righteous soul must see

Reflections of itself in every woe.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Atonement.

October 10: Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

October 11: Ye of Little Faith, You’re Welcome Here

October 12: You Wonder Whether Fate Is Accidental

October 13: Yom Kippur Remains a Day of Morning

October 14: You Cannot Get Away from Being Plural

October 15: You Pray Not for Yourself Alone butAll

You Cannot Get Away from Being Plural

October 14, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is atonement, in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on October 12.

Today’s poem is about the relationship between your sins and mine.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You cannot get away from being plural;

On you must rest the burden of my sin.

Moreover, your self-portrait is a mural,

Kaleidoscope of all you’ve touched within.

In what you say I find my inspiration,

Perhaps unfairly making you my guide.

Penitence presumes that expectation,

Uniting others’ sins with yours inside,

Relating my pretense to your false pride.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/youca2.html . For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Atonement.

October 10: Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

October 11: Ye of Little Faith, You’re Welcome Here

October 12: You Wonder Whether Fate Is Accidental

October 13: Yom Kippur Remains a Day of Morning

October 14: You Cannot Get Away from BeingPlural

Yom Kippur Remains a Day of Morning

October 13, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is atonement, in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on October 12.

Today’s poem is about Yom Kippur as the hopeful beginning of a joyful, loving year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Yom Kippur remains a day of morning

On which another year of joy depends.

Most make the most of life by choosing love,

Knowing what they have no knowledge of.

Immersed in means, they leave to God the ends.

Penitence must work its will by evening,

Passionate enough to make amends,

Until the last horn blows, the lovers leaving,

Resolved to grace whichever way life wends.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/yomki2.html . For more poems for Yom Kippur, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Atonement.

October 10: Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

October 11: Ye of Little Faith, You’re Welcome Here

October 12: You Wonder Whether Fate Is Accidental

October 13: Yom Kippur Remains a Day of Morning

You Wonder Whether Fate Is Accidental

October 12, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is atonement, in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on October 12.

Today’s poem is about prayer with uncertain faith.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You wonder whether fate is accidental,

Or whether this one day a harrowed heart

Might make some difference to a willing God,

Knowing faith is not experimental.

In fact, you know quite well that you don't know

Precisely why you're here, or why today,

Perhaps most out of loyalty, you pray,

Unwilling to let long-loved labors go,

Reciting with true grace the ancient part.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Atonement.

October 10: Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

October 11: Ye of Little Faith, You’re Welcome Here

October 12: You Wonder Whether Fate IsAccidental

Ye of Little Faith, You're Welcome Here

October 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is atonement, in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on October 12.

Today’s poem is for those who come to pray but once a year.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Ye of little faith, you're welcome here

On this day of fasting, faith, and prayer.

May we attempt together to atone,

Knowing well that we in sin are one.

If you come but once a year, at least

Please take a smidgeon with you when you leave:

Perhaps a shard of beauty, or a word

Uniting you with us until the world

Returns you next year safe to this, your home.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Atonement.

October 10: Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

October 11: Ye of Little Faith, You’re WelcomeHere

Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

October 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is atonement, in honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on October 12.

Today’s poem is about the appropriateness of a selfish motive for repentance.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Yearning is a function of atonement.

One yearns for one’s own personal salvation.

Might that give one pause for just one moment,

Knowing one’s extrinsic motivation?

Is that yearning purely for oneself,

Praying for the sake of one’s own good?

Perhaps. But in the heart there is no gulf

Unbridged between the roots of what one would.

Repentance draws from all springs, as it should.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Atonement.

October 10: Yearning Is a Function of Atonement

Proverbs on Justice and Love

October 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is peace and brotherly love, in honor of the fact that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Muharram, the Muslim New Year, fall just one day apart.

Today’s poem is a set of proverbs on justice and love.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

PROVERBS ON JUSTICE AND LOVE

1. Every person, no matter how horrible, is a child of God and is therefore loved.

2. The causes of evil are pain, lust, and fear.

3. Since evil is both caused by pain and causes pain, it is self-perpetuating.

4. Thus one way to diminish evil is to answer pain with love and understanding.

5. Violence may be necessary in self-defense or in pursuit of justice, but violence in pursuit of vengeance is evil.

6. People have an innate sense of justice, just as they have of symmetry or balance. Even infants know when a punishment is just. Parents can tell from the sound of the cry.

7. Without just rules there is anarchy or rebellion, in which everyone's survival is threatened. Thus just rules and equitable enforcement are the primary responsibilities of the State.

8. Without justice the weak are defenseless. Without mercy justice is a robot that knows not what it does.

9. Justice diminishes evil by diminishing fear. Love diminishes evil by diminishing pain and lust.

10. Failure to discipline a child who does wrong teaches weakness. Discipline in anger teaches evil. Discipline out of justice teaches order. Discipline with love teaches goodness.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Peace and Brotherly Love.

October 3: Ismail and Yitzhak Are Half-Brothers

October 4: Hatred Has No Color, Creed, or Race

October 5: My Home Is Here, America

October 6: Revel in Your Righteousness

October 7: Hope Is the Only Road to Peace

October 8: Peace Is Just a Brief Time Out from Killing

October 9: Proverbs on Justice and Love