Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

October 2, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and ended yesterday evening.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about the distinction between repentance and regret:

Repentance is quite different from regret.

One can feel regret for many years,

Self-castigating to familiar tears,

Having just the grace not to forget.

However, to repent must mean to change.

After the regret must come the will,

So resolute it conquers every hill,

However much one would reduce its range.

Actions only can forgiveness gain.

No thought alone can treat the inner wound

And save the soul that would remain entombed,

Held hostage by its fear of healing 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/repent.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

10/2: Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

October 1, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and will end this evening.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about the communal nature of sin:

Remember as you scour your soul for sin,

Opening the doors behind your lies,

Searching every room with ruthless eyes,

However much you see, there's more within.

How might you else then but through faith atone,

Aware not every debt will be repaid,

Suspecting with good cause some were mislaid,

Harboring some that aren't yours alone?

All sins belong to all, as well to you,

Nor can you cleanse yourself in isolation.

All are good or evil in relation,

Having all to pay what debts accrue.

© 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/remem3.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

Reason Says, of Course, that There's No Book

September 30, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and will end at nightfall on October 1.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about how prayer can reshape fate even for those who do not believe in the Book of Life:

Reason says, of course, that there's no Book

Of Life in which one is, or not, inscribed.

Still, repentance can affect one's fate.

How well one loves, or not, can still reshape

How well the year turns out. The soul revived

Attends to what the wayward soul forsook.

So does the myth remake the everyday,

Holding out the hope that fervent prayer

Actually might make one's fortune better.

Nor ought one judge the legend by the letter,

As what is writ enriches what is there,

Having set forth well both will and way.

© 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/reaso6.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

Some Pass Silently Across the Stage

September 8, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Note: I will be away from 9/9 to 9/29. The next poem of the day will be posted on 9/30.

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is work in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 2.

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

A number poem about the vocation of an artist:

Some pass silently across the stage,

Exuberant, embittered, at peace, in pain.

Vividly, some make a different choice,

Ear to the window of their inner voice,

Necessary framers of their age.

They sing, dance, write, paint – every passion drain.

Yet no work of such love can be in vain.

© 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/somepa.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Work

9/2: Unions Are a Gift of Our Own Giving

9/3: Let Unions Bear Some Blame for Their Demise

9/4: Life for Most of Us Has Not Improved

9/5: For You, Who Do Such Good, There Should Be Joy

9/6: Just Think About Desire and Circumstance

9/7: For You There’ll Always Be the Gift of Beauty

9/8: Some Pass Silently Across the Stage

For You There'll Always Be the Gift of Beauty

September 7, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is work in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 2.

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

A number poem to an adolescent intending to become an artist:

For you there’ll always be the gift of beauty

In everything you hear or see or do --

Feelings captured in a word or scene,

The imagined face that seems to more than seem,

Each lucid sky that seems more blue than blue,

Each bit of grace you share, the artist’s duty,

Needing to give life to more than 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/fory10.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Work

9/2: Unions Are a Gift of Our Own Giving

9/3: Let Unions Bear Some Blame for Their Demise

9/4: Life for Most of Us Has Not Improved

9/5: For You, Who Do Such Good, There Should Be Joy

9/6: Just Think About Desire and Circumstance

9/7: For You There’ll Always Be the Gift of Beauty

Just Think About Desire and Circumstance

September 6, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is work in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 2.

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

A name poem to someone forced into retirement:

Just think about desire and circumstance:

One might make of fortune what one would.

However things turn out by choice or chance,

No devastation lacks some seeds of good.

Maybe one enjoyed one’s sense of power

Employed in the pursuit of some ideal,

Liking well one’s presence in each hour,

Engaged in matters more intensely real.

No doubt. But one has much that one might treasure,

Days of useful work and days of pleasure,

Enjoying children, grandchildren, and wife,

Zestful still, and full of vivid life.

© 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/justt2.html. For more poems about retirement, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/retirementpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Work

9/2: Unions Are a Gift of Our Own Giving

9/3: Let Unions Bear Some Blame for Their Demise

9/4: Life for Most of Us Has Not Improved

9/5: For You, Who Do Such Good, There Should Be Joy

9/6: Just Think About Desire and Circumstance

For You, Who Do Such Good, There Should Be Joy

September 5, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is work in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 2.

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

A number poem for a surgeon, wishing her joy commensurate with the good she does:

For you, who do such good, there should be joy.

Only joy, pure joy, should fill your heart.

Rendered rightly, all your days should dance,

Taking pleasure in your well-honed art,

Yielding grace that should your spirits buoy.

For you, who spend your days in love’s employ,

In healing those in pain through age or chance,

Vested in your unforgiving part,

Each longing should find all the joy life grants.

© 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/foryo9.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Work

9/2: Unions Are a Gift of Our Own Giving

9/3: Let Unions Bear Some Blame for Their Demise

9/4: Life for Most of Us Has Not Improved

9/5: For You, Who Do Such Good, There Should Be Joy