Thirteen

August 27, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem about the bubbly joys of being thirteen:

Thirteen is a very lucky age!

Happiness comes tumbling out the door

Instantly a-giggle with a friend,

Returning with the bounce of empty bliss.

There's no better ecstasy than this,

Even when the strange teen changes end,

Even when one finally knows the score.

No time of life's more bubbly than this stage.

© 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/13.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Teenagers

8/27: Thirteen

Mostly, I Would Like to Be Remembered

August 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is sacrifice in honor of Eid al-Adha, which this year is celebrated on August 21-22.

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

An epitaph for a wife and mother who sacrificed much but savored so much more:

Mostly, I would like to be remembered

As someone who was passionate for life.

The days of unsought ecstasies are numbered,

However long we linger in the light.

I was one who cultivated wonder,

Less of one contented to explain,

Delighted by the promises of hunger,

Enduring for their joy the years of pain.

Gifts I had aplenty: Some I savored,

Others sacrificed for others' needs.

Remember me as someone who was favored,

Despite constraints, to tumble in the reeds,

Ocean to what winds I could not be,

Nightrider through what worlds I could not see.

© 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/mostly.html. For more epitaphs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

8/20: Eric

8/21: Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

8/22: Selfishness and Selflessness

8/23: Darrin2

8/24: Amanda

8/25: Enduring Passions Are What Change the World

8/26: Mostly, I Would Like to Be Remembered

Enduring Passions Are What Change the World

August 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is sacrifice in honor of Eid al-Adha, which this year is celebrated on August 21-22.

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

A poem for those who devote their lives to creating an institute:

Enduring passions are what change the world,

Undertaking what might last one’s life,

Grasping what at first in darkness furled

Emerges year by year into the light.

No gratitude can match such deep devotion,

Encompass all the good that it has done,

Grant such sacrifice its due emotion,

Reward a selflessness that asks for none.

Even so, we do what we can do,

Enabling this passion, if we can,

Not just by funding institutes, but through

Building what sustains what it began.

Each institute embodies an idea

Rooted in a passionate career,

Granting that the good outlasts the man.

© 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/.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

8/20: Eric

8/21: Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

8/22: Selfishness and Selflessness

8/23: Darrin2

8/24: Amanda

8/25: Enduring Passions Are What Change theWorld

Amanda

August 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is sacrifice in honor of Eid al-Adha, which this year is celebrated on August 21-22.

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

A name poem for someone who sacrifices herself for love:

Amanda is a keeper of the flame,

Mistress of the house and of the ring;

A passionate giver, who knows well the shame

Needing someone silently can bring.

Don't pity her for her self-sacrifice:

Amanda knows her joys and pays the price.

© 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/amanda.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

8/20: Eric

8/21: Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

8/22: Selfishness and Selflessness

8/23: Darrin2

8/24: Amanda

Darrin2

August 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is sacrifice in honor of Eid al-Adha, which this year is celebrated on August 21-22.

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

A name poem about drug addicts who are resolved sacrifice their habit for the sake of their child:

Darrin is a ship of dreams

Afloat upon a wind

Reserved for those whom love redeems,

Resolved to turn again

In grim and patient sacrifice,

Not for themselves, but him.

© 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/darri2.html. For more poems about alcoholism and drug addiction, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/alcoholismaddictionpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

8/20: Eric

8/21: Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

8/22: Selfishness and Selflessness

8/23: Darrin2

Selfishness and Selflessness

August 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is sacrifice in honor of Eid al-Adha, which this year is celebrated on August 21-22.

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

A set of proverbs about selfish and unselfish sacrifice:

SELFISHNESS AND SELFLESSNESS

1. The last vestige of egotism is the desire for self-sacrifice.

2. The reward for self-sacrifice is self-adulation.

3. The desire to "make a difference" is a desire for personal significance, the cause of much evil, error, and pain.

4. True selflessness requires one to relinquish the desire for power.

5. The motivations for action ought always to be joy and love.

© 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/selfis.html. For more proverbs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/proverbs.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

8/20: Eric

8/21: Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

8/22: Selfishness and Selflessness

Even as You Sacrifice Yourself

August 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is sacrifice in honor of Eid al-Adha, which this year is celebrated on August 21-22.

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

A poem for Eid al-Adha about sacrifice as a gift:

Even as you sacrifice yourself,

In love with love and gratified to give,

Dancing 'cross the ancient inner gulf

Athwart the plain on which each soul must live,

Long-borne burdens lighten into prayer,

Acts of worship meant as acts of care,

Done freely out of gratitude and grace,

Hard - yes, hard - and far more than your share,

And still a gift no pleasure can replace.

© 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/evena3.html. For more poems about Eid al-Adha, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/eidaladhapoems.html .

This week’s theme: Sacrifice

8/20: Eric

8/21: Even as You Sacrifice Yourself