Thirty-Five8

April 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem about how nature reflects the deepest inner experience.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thirty-five is on a long plateau,

Hiking through deep woods and sun-drenched fields.

It is a lovely path he follows well,

Reading signs no alphabet can spell,

The wordless whispers that his woodcraft yields.

Yet he knows he still has far to go.

For him, the journey is the only end,

Intense and vivid, mystically at peace,

Vistas of the heart at every bend,

Echoes of the soul that never cease.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/35h.html. For more poems about the environment, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 18: Twenty-Eight5

April 19: Thirty-Five8

Twenty-Eight5

April 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem for someone who advocates going back to a healthier past.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Twenty-eight commands a following

With passion, wit, intelligence, and style.

Even as he uses modern means,

Needing the technology awhile,

The past remains the future of his dreams,

Yielding days that dance and nights that sing.

Earth lies wounded, wincing, shuddering,

Injured every moment we defile

Gifts that once poured forth like spring-fed streams,

Heart beneath a breast once nurturing

Tumultuously pumping filth and bile.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/28e.html. For more poems about the environment, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/environmentalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 18: Twenty-Eight5

From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

April 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is the environment in honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22.

Today’s poem is a number poem about the beauty of all of Earth’s environments.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

From desert to forest, from sun to shade,

Open to sheltered, gravel to green,

Revel in beauty, delight in the land,

The grace and the glory of all you have seen,

Yearning for joy that no fortune can jade.

 

Of desire and awe are all creatures made,

Not living one moment but with gratitude keen,

Embracing with passion both gift and command.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: The Environment

April 17: From Desert to Forest, from Sun to Shade

God, if There Is One, Looks Down upon the World

April 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The twin themes for this week are Passover, the first night of which falls on April 10, and Easter, which falls on April 16.

Today’s poem is about the beauty of religious diversity.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

God, if there is one, looks down upon the world

And sees its religions squabbling beneath Him.

What does He think of our parsings of His word

And the many ways His worshipers perceive Him?

How beautiful! He thinks. How like a garden!

Delightful! Such a perfect panoply!

A spiritual version of My Eden,

Each faith a flowering, fruit-bearing tree!

Why can’t they see their complementary beauty,

Enjoying the impressionistic view,

And dwell in peace and love, as is their duty,

Giving every kind of grace its due?

Don’t they know I love them equally,

As they must love, if they would love 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/godift.html. For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Easter and Passover

April 10: Religions Live in a Crowded Neighborhood

April 11: Easter and Pesach, Eternally Linked

April 12: Every Religion Has Blood on Its Hands

April 13: Easter and Passover Go Together

April 14: Perhaps Christ Rose from the Dead; Perhaps HeDidn’t

April 15: Praised Be Those Who Marry Out of Love

April 16: God, if There Is One, Looks Down upon the World

Praised Be Those Who Marry Out of Love

April 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The twin themes for this week are Passover, the first night of which falls on April 10, and Easter, which falls on April 16.

Today’s poem is a Passover poem for a non-Jewish spouse.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Praised be those who marry out of love

And care not about class or faith or race.

Such marriages may problematic prove.

Still, the grit is sweetened by the grace.

One lives with what one chooses, by and by,

Vividly becoming what one chose,

Embracing more at first than meets the eye,

Redeemed by love, as every lover knows.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/prais6.html. For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Easter and Passover

April 10: Religions Live in a Crowded Neighborhood

April 11: Easter and Pesach, Eternally Linked

April 12: Every Religion Has Blood on Its Hands

April 13: Easter and Passover Go Together

April 14: Perhaps Christ Rose from the Dead; Perhaps HeDidn’t

April 15: Praised Be Those Who Marry Out of Love

Perhaps Christ Rose from the Dead; Perhaps He Didn't

April 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The twin themes for this week are Passover, the first night of which falls on April 10, and Easter, which falls on April 16.

Today’s poem is a Passover and Easter poem about the need for doubt.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Perhaps Christ rose from the dead; perhaps He didn’t.

And Moses may, or not, have split the sea.

So must faith supply what reason doesn’t,

Singing of how better life could be.

Ought one, can one pick and choose one’s truth,

Vested heavily in being right,

Even tailoring measurements to suit

Revelations seen in ambient light?

Even as one seals one’s certainties,

A bit of doubt should slip into the soul,

Sent to complicate one’s harmonies

That one might hear the richness of the whole.

Each truth’s a light that ought not make one blind:

Radiant, yes, but gentle, shy, and kind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/perha9.html. For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Easter and Passover

April 10: Religions Live in a Crowded Neighborhood

April 11: Easter and Pesach, Eternally Linked

April 12: Every Religion Has Blood on Its Hands

April 13: Easter and Passover Go Together

April 14: Perhaps Christ Rose from the Dead; Perhaps He Didn’t

Easter and Passover Go Together

April 13, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The twin themes for this week are Passover, the first night of which falls on April 10, and Easter, which falls on April 16.

Today’s poem is for a child of a mixed Christian/Jewish marriage about the relationship between Easter and Passover.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Easter and Passover go together

Like peas in a pod or birds of a feather.

The Last Supper was an orthodox Seder

(But without the four questions – they came later)

With matzah, not bread, since Jesus kept kosher,

And the story of how we left Egypt with Moshe,

And baruchas and songs and prayers like those you

Now sing as part of being a Jew.

So celebrate both holidays, if you like,

Since both are bright rays of one beautiful light.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/easte3.html. For more poems about religion, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Easter and Passover

April 10: Religions Live in a Crowded Neighborhood

April 11: Easter and Pesach, Eternally Linked

April 12: Every Religion Has Blood on Its Hands

April 13: Easter and Passover Go Together