Then, There Was No Right to Eat

July 4, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Independence Day (USA), which is celebrated today, July 4^th.

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

An Independence Day poem about applying Constitutional principles to modern realities:

Then, there was no right to eat, nor was health

A right, nor freedom for a slave. Native

Peoples were simply dispossessed, and wealth

Accrued to men only. The fierce and furtive

Cries for love, gay or straight, were smothered.

Non-human animals had no rights, nor children

Left to drunken fathers or brutal mothers.

Oh, yes, that government governed least, but no one

Could foresee the brood of rights sprung

From words that rang out across the western world

That summer day, rights now nearly won,

That long lay fearful in predawn silence curled.

The founders were wise, but to be true to them,

We must apply their words to now, not then.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thenth.html. For more poems about politics, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

7/2: In Politics Corruption Is the Norm

7/3: Now, at Last, the Time of Reckoning

7/4: Then, There Was No Right to Eat

Now, at Last, the Time of Reckoning

July 3, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Independence Day (USA), which will be celebrated tomorrow, July 4^th.

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

A political poem about the next recession or depression:

Now, at last, the time of reckoning.

It had to come. You knew that, didn't you?

After all, nothing can't be something

Even when its stock is on the rise.

Now the panic after the delusion,

The great big yawning pit within the heart.

One sees disaster happening and wonders,

Regrets, resolves, recriminates, sits tight.

O Lord, what will happen now? The hunger,

People on the streets and on the move.

The last depression blossomed into Hitler.

What flowers will this rain of terror bring?

One thing now we know for sure -- again:

That greed unfettered is a luxury car

Without a steering wheel, a mighty engine

That moves us forward into death and pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/nowatl.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

7/2: In Politics Corruption Is the Norm

7/3: Now, at Last, the Time of Reckoning

In Politics Corruption Is the Norm

July 2, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics in honor of Independence Day (USA), which is celebrated on July 4^th.

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

An Independence Day poem about the ubiquity of corruption in government:

In politics corruption is the norm,

Nor can one wield much power without its aid.

Democracy demands that minds be swayed,

Eviscerating efforts at reform.

Perhaps in tyrannies corruption's worse,

Existing without recourse or restraint.

Not even when the ruler is a saint,

Devout and good, can one stamp out this curse.

Each country has some white knights still unstained,

Nor can idealists long remain in power.

Corruption simply waits until their hour

Erodes once their energy has waned.

Depending on its character and press,

A nation might be more corrupt or less,

Yet underneath the law the blight remains.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/inpoli.html. For more poems about politics, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

7/2: In Politics Corruption Is the Norm

The Bells Ring Not for Just These Two

July 1, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A wedding poem about how wedding bells ring for everyone:

The bells ring not for just these two

Who will be joined in love today.

They also ring for me and you.

And not just for the families who

Now celebrate, as well they may.

The bells ring not for just these, too.

And not just those who know or knew

These families well, who came their way.

They also ring for me and you.

And not just those who came to view

The bride, the groom, the whole array.

The bells ring not for just these, too.

And not just those whose love is true,

Or those who would their doubts allay.

They also ring for me and you.

For all are joined in love, and do

Rejoice to hear the sweet bells play!

The bells ring not for just these two.

They also ring for me and you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thebel.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

6/25: A Vow Is Both a Promise and a Sign

6/26: We Met as Merely Words upon a Screen

6/27: I Never Thought I Ever Would Get Married

6/28: Gifts Are Not So Simply for the Taking

6/29: A Set of Wedding Vows

6/30: I Do Not See You Often with My Eyes

7/1: The Bells Ring Not for Just These Two

I Do Not See You Often with My Eyes

June 30, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A wedding poem from a friend from far away:

I do not see you often with my eyes,

But often you are with me in my heart.

We rarely speak, but there are deeper ties

That keep us close while we must be apart.

Friendships don't depend on sights and sounds,

But on the mysteries of need and grace.

You're with me always, unrestrained by bounds,

In some sweet field more permanent than place.

And so your marriage is a widespread glory,

Shining on a world of more than two.

All the characters in your life story

Share the happiness that's come to you.

No love but must with all love intertwine:

The joy between you two is also mine.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/idono4.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

6/25: A Vow Is Both a Promise and a Sign

6/26: We Met as Merely Words upon a Screen

6/27: I Never Thought I Ever Would Get Married

6/28: Gifts Are Not So Simply for the Taking

6/29: A Set of Wedding Vows

6/30: I Do Not See You Often with My Eyes

Wedding Vows2

June 29, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A set of wedding vows:

BRIDE: I vow to love you all my life,

In sickness and in health,

And share your journey through this world

In either want or wealth.

I vow to give myself to you,

To trust you with my life,

To be your source of happiness

As lover and as wife.

GROOM: I vow to give you all my love,

To be your lasting friend,

To care for you and comfort you

Till time and trouble end.

I vow to share your happiness

And sorrow, joy and tears,

And be for you the one true thing

That lasts through all your years.

BOTH: These vows we make not knowing what

Good times or ill may come,

But knowing well what we both want:

A joyful, loving home.

These vows we make of our free will

Before you all, that we

Might know the grace that comes to those

Who would long loving be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wedvo2.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

6/25: A Vow Is Both a Promise and a Sign

6/26: We Met as Merely Words upon a Screen

6/27: I Never Thought I Ever Would Get Married

6/28: Gifts Are Not So Simply for the Taking

6/29: A Set of Wedding Vows

Gifts Are Not So Simply for the Taking

June 28, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A wedding poem about the rewards and complications of gifts of love:

Gifts are not so simply for the taking.

A gift of love comes freighted with a soul.

Blessed are those who take the offer whole,

Rewarded with a life well worth embracing.

Intimacy's a gift requiring reshaping

Each to play a symbiotic role,

Life exchanging, changing lead to gold,

A mystic one of two now in the making.

Now one knows the other is for certain,

Dependent without fears, without regrets;

Knows that someone sees one as a gift;

Embraces the wizard hid behind the curtain;

Needs to be needed, for what one gives one gets;

Needs to need, for needless one might drift

Alone as passion rises and then sets.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/giftsa.html. For more wedding poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/weddingpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Weddings

6/25: A Vow Is Both a Promise and a Sign

6/26: We Met as Merely Words upon a Screen

6/27: I Never Thought I Ever Would Get Married

6/28: Gifts Are Not So Simply for the Taking