Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

December 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which was celebrated yesterday, December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem to his or her family from someone who will miss the celebration:

Can anyone explain the glow of Christmas?

Holidays are candles in the night.

Rebirth comes from family and friends

In one bright blur of food and talk that ends

Still burning as a peaceful inner light.

There is no way to substitute for Christmas.

Miss it and no circumstance feels right.

All my heart's with you, yet I must miss this

Season thick with love and rich delight.

© 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/canany.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

12/26: Can Anyone Explain the Glow of Christmas

Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

December 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which is celebrated today, December 25^th.

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

A Christmas poem to a child about angel horses on Christmas Eve:

Angel horses flap their wings

High above the winter night.

Far below an angel sings

Of peace and joy, of love and light.

Down, down, down the horses fly,

Down through stars, across the moon,

Down through clouds and cold, dark sky

To where the angel sings her tune.

And there the angel horses wait,

Listening to her song of love,

Far from home and Heaven's gate,

Far from sweet green fields above,

Listening to the angel's song,

So beautiful it makes them weep,

Hovering over us all night long

While we are fast asleep.

© 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/angelh.html. For more Christmas poems, go to xmashttps://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

12/25: Angel Horses Flap Their Wings

If All Were Now as It Was When

December 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas, which will be celebrated tomorrow, on December 25^th. Tonight is Christmas Eve.

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

A Christmas poem questioning whether there is any difference between one’s fear of faith in Christ’s time and now:

If all were now as it was when

Christ came to save us all,

And Christmas Day were Christmas Day,

Not some day we recall;

And in the East we saw a star

Exceptionally bright,

And wondered what was going on

That ordinary night;

If God were walking in our midst,

Saying what He said,

And we were not His followers,

But trod where He would tread;

And we were witness to His word

And looked Him in the eye,

And found His message interesting

But too bizarre to buy;

If we were in Jerusalem

And watched Him bear the cross,

And suffered with His suffering

But feared to share His loss;

And saw Him die in agony,

And wondered at it all,

And this were something we ourselves,

Not printed books, recall:

What would be the difference,

Had we known Him that way,

Between the faith we feared to feel

And what we fear today?

© 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/ifallw.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas

12/24: If All Were Now as It Was When

Send a Little Sunshine to Your Heart

December 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about how the holidays are worth the effort required to sustain them, even to people who do not believe literally in their myths:

Send a little sunshine to your heart

Even as the gloomy days return.

A holiday's the work of will and art,

Sweet gift of time one nonetheless must earn.

Old memories and new combine to give

No little charm to your anticipation,

Singing of the love it takes to live

Gracefully, the light of all relation.

Reason sees the reason for the rite,

Even though the myth is mystical;

Even though a rational being might

Take exception to the miracle.

In full embrace of what the story means,

Not for what it says, but what it dreams,

Give voice to joy, and sing the festive song

Sung with such pure pleasure for so long.

© 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/sendal.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

12/21: Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

12/22: Some Would Sing a Melancholy Song

12/23: Send a Little Sunshine to Your Heart

Some Would Sing a Melancholy Song

December 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about the cold, gloomy winter being as necessary a part of the year as death is a necessary part of life:

Some would sing a melancholy song

Even at this festive time of year.

After all, the frigid nights are long,

Sinking into daylight, harsh and drear.

O Earth, why do you lean away from joy?

Night rules the North, nor does the South long savor

Sunlight, as its dreams will hearts destroy,

Granting only longing for their labor.

Remember, then, that winter is a gift,

Even at this nadir of its night,

Even as the cold, white whispers drift,

Tailing into long, thin wisps of light.

In every moment everything exists,

Nor ought the mind rail, though the heart resists.

Grace is one, as life and death are one.

So sing of beauty till the song is done.

© 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/somew8.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

12/21: Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

12/22: Some Would Sing a Melancholy Song

Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

December 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about how the holidays dress up the gloomy season:

Sing of simple pleasures of the season,

Each a gift to cherish and to savor!

Although we dread the winter, with good reason,

Still, we give its early days full flavor.

On every street we hear the festive music,

Never less than angels on the brass,

So beautiful that we are loath to lose it,

Given that the season soon must pass.

Radiance consumes the early night,

Each lawn ablaze, each storefront window burning,

Each main street strung with unrestrained delight,

The joyful counterpoint to year-end yearning.

In every gathering there's much to taste,

Nor do we have much toil or time to waste.

Grace comes and goes so quickly every year.

Sing, then, of gifts and love and winter cheer!

© 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/sing11.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

12/21: Sing of Simple Pleasures of the Season

Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings

December 20, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, as we approach Christmas and New Year’s, is Season’s Greetings.

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

A Season’s Greetings poem about all days as holy days:

Suppose there were no special times for greetings,

Each day equally a holy day.

All things are holy just because of being

Shards of Being, lightning wrapped in clay.

One might then be merry all the time,

Needing no occasion for good cheer,

Seeing in each moment the sublime,

God born in every child throughout the year.

Reasoning thus, one need not leave bereft

Each everyday not specialized for joy.

Eden is a place we never left,

Though smoke and smog our view of it destroy.

In paradise all time is time for glory,

Nor do the angels choose one sacred story.

God is in all things with grace to be,

Shining in all seasons equally.

© 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/suppos.html. For more Season’s Greetings poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/seasonsgreetingspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Season’s Greetings

12/17: Seasons Are like Seasonings

12/18: Secular Celebrations Seem So Spare

12/19: Short Days Augur Longer Ones

12/20: Suppose There Were No Special Times for Greetings