Some Would Satisfy Their Utmost Longings

March 16, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated tomorrow, March 17^th.

Today’s poem is spoken by St. Patrick about relinquishing personal ambition.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Some would satisfy their utmost longings,

Always reaching for what lies beyond.

I know well the soul has no belongings,

Neither short-term lease nor long-term bond.

Though I long for You, I know You're with me.

Peace comes through delivery from desire.

All Your love for all burns right through me.

There is nothing left that I require.

Rich in faith, I can be poor in fashion,

Intending but to be Your instrument.

Called to this green land, I preach Your passion.

Kings come to me through You, their crowned heads bent.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/somew3.html. For more poems for St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day

March 12: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

March 13: Seriously, Nothing Would Surprise Me

March 14: Sing of Ireland, That Salad Bowl

March 15: Sing of the Home That You Have Never Seen

March 16: Some Would Satisfy Their Utmost Longings

Sing of the Home That You Have Never Seen

March 15, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17^th.

Today’s poem is a poem for St. Patrick’s Day to the descendants of Irish immigrants.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing of the home that you have never seen,

The place your ancestors once called their own!

Play the music of that island green,

And dance the dances dear to those long gone!

Time again to fill their dancing shoes,

Reawakening the ghosts within,

In touch with some incendiary muse,

Channeling the beauty that had been.

Knowledge is not merely of the mind:

'Tis of the arms and legs, the throat, the heart.

Sing, that you not lose your soul to time!

Dance, that you might nurture it through art!

As all your passions quickly become past,

Yet you may give life to things that last.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/singo4.html. For more poems for St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day

March 12: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

March 13: Seriously, Nothing Would Surprise Me

March 14: Sing of Ireland, That Salad Bowl

March 15: Sing of the Home That You Have Never Seen

Sing of Ireland, That Salad Bowl

March 14, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17^th.

Today’s poem is a poem for St. Patrick’s Day about how Ireland, like the rest of the world, is becoming multi-racial.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing of Ireland, that salad bowl!

The greens are tossed with bits of yellow and brown.

Perhaps the tossing might make some folks frown,

Although the taste be tangy to the soul.

There is no past for which the bells don't toll,

Regardless how its ways are handed down.

In time its heroes, once of great renown,

Come faded to the fun house of the whole.

Know, then, that the Ireland of old

'Ere long will be what none alive remember,

Save for remnants treasured by a few.

Deep within the heartache that takes hold,

An ancient ecstasy becomes an ember,

Yielding over years to Irelands new.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/singo5.html. For more poems for St. Patrick’s Day, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day

March 12: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

March 13: Seriously, Nothing Would Surprise Me

March 14: Sing of Ireland, That Salad Bowl

Seriously, Nothing Would Surprise Me

March 13, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17^th.

Today’s poem is a poem for St. Patrick’s Day about the commodification of popular culture through tourism.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seriously, nothing would surprise me.

The land we love is turned into a store,

Prettied up for foreigners, while we

Are salesclerks and waitresses, no more

The warriors of old, the priests of passion,

Royalty of tongue, the banshee dancers.

Instead, we have become the latest fashion,

Cheapened by the sale itself, the prancers

Kindled by a check to do their chore.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day

March 12: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

March 13: Seriously, Nothing Would Surprise Me

Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

March 12, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17^th.

Today’s poem is a poem for St. Patrick’s Day about the nature of the self.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Self becomes less self the more self-served,

As who one is arrives from parts unknown.

Identity is never one's alone,

Nor can one learn unchanged a single word.

Thus the self by nature is a part,

Present in the body of the whole.

A healthy arm or leg is not a goal

That one pursues regardless of the heart.

Remember, then, that one is more or less

In common with the boundaries one draws,

Choosing or not the love that sings and soars,

Knowing or not what brings one happiness.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day

March 12: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

Birthdays Do Not End with Death

March 11, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is life after death.

Today’s poem is a birthday poem for a deceased loved one at the gravesite.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Birthdays do not end with death,

But last as long as love,

A feeling that remains alive

And grateful grief still moves.

And so we celebrate your day

By visiting your grave,

A place that you have left long since,

But is all that we have.

Dear spirit, come and join us here,

Your loved ones by your stone!

Come sweep across the barrier

To claim us as your own!

Happy birthday, dearest one!

Oh, happy, happy day!

Not even the most bitter night

Can take this joy away!

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Life After Death

March 5: Death Is like a Car

March 6: Death Is Nothing but a Moment’s Rest

March 7: I Think of You as Watching from

March 8: Our Grandson Tyler Was Just Over Seven

March 9: Where Did You Go, My Lovely Ones

March 10: Bobbie Jo Can’t Be with Us

March 11: Birthdays Do Not End with Death

Bobbie Jo Can't Be with Us

March 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is life after death.

Today’s poem is a name poem for a deceased friend on her birthday.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Bobbie Jo can't be with us

On this, her special day,

Because, although she fought like hell,

Bobbie could not stay.

If love can reach across the void,

Each of us will let her know

Just how much we treasure still

Our time with Bobbie Jo.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Life After Death

March 5: Death Is like a Car

March 6: Death Is Nothing but a Moment’s Rest

March 7: I Think of You as Watching from

March 8: Our Grandson Tyler Was Just Over Seven

March 9: Where Did You Go, My Lovely Ones

March 10: Bobbie Jo Can’t Be with Us