To My Grandchild, with Overwhelming Love

August 7, 2020

 Dear Subscriber:

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

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

 A poem to a grandchild full of wishes for his or her future:

To my grandchild, with overwhelming love:
On you may fortune smile with ample blessings.
May your happiness persistent prove.
Yet may you, in your angry inner wrestlings,
Grant others the compassion you'd be given,
Restoring not their sunlight, but your own.
All your life may what you do be driven
Not by others' ends, but yours alone.
Days of awe and wonder may you cherish,
Clarity and mystery the same:
Hymns antiphonal that never perish,
Imitating truths you cannot name.
Let love of life make your life ever new,
Deep and rich as is my love for 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/tomygr.html. For more poems about a variety of family members, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

 This week’s theme: Family
August 3: We Once Lived in Israel,You and I
August 4: Cousins Are Our Siblings Once Removed
August 5: In-Laws Aren’t Always Good as You Are
August 6: Nieces Are the Children That We Borrow
August 7: To My Grandchild, with Overwhelming Love

Nieces Are the Children That We Borrow

August 6, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about relationships with nieces:

Nieces are the children that we borrow,

Intending not to raise but merely love,

Ever watchful from our open window,

Caring deeply at a slight remove.

Everywhere you go, my love will follow,

Still part of you wherever you may live.

© 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/nieces.html. For more poems about a variety of family members, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Family

August 3: We Once Lived in Israel,You and I

August 4: Cousins Are Our Siblings Once Removed

August 5: In-Laws Aren’t Always Good as You Are

August 6: Nieces Are the Children That We Borrow

In-Laws Aren't Always Good as You Are

August 5, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem thanking in-laws for their love:

In-laws aren't always good as you are.

They're dragged along, the unasked friends of love,

Just outside the universe that two are,

Unsure of where to stay or when to move.

But you have treated me as if your own;

Quietly, you took your rightful place

As parents of us both, and we have known

The pleasure of a mutual embrace.

Our relationship is like an unplanned child:

The fruit of choices made for other ends.

Yet once the strange, unwanted one has smiled,

Love quickly rushes in to make amends.

Unchosen, you are nonetheless my choice.

So may we have a retroactive voice.

© 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/inlaws.html. For more poems about a variety of family members, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Family

August 3: We Once Lived in Israel,You and I

August 4: Cousins Are Our Siblings Once Removed

August 5: In-Laws Aren’t Always Good as You Are

Cousins Are Our Siblings Once Removed

August 4, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem about the beauty of relationships with cousins:

Cousins are our siblings once removed,

Our relatives without the complications.

Unsatisfying as some friends may prove,

Sweet cousins are the purest of relations.

In cousins there's a friendship of the blood.

No friends can share such deeply shared sensations,

So long-lasting, honest, rich, and good.

© 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/cousin.html. For more poems about a variety of family members, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Family

August 3: We Once Lived in Israel,You and I

August 4: Cousins Are Our Siblings Once Removed

We Once Lived in Israel, You and I

August 3, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem to a grandchild about shared ancestors and descendants:

We once lived in Israel, you and I,

And prayed within the precincts of the temple,

Spoke the holy language every day,

And tilled the soil of the holy land.

We both went into exile, you and I,

Two thousand years of living among strangers,

Came to America, grew up in Brooklyn,

And settled in this gracious golden land.

We share our lives with those before and after.

Our sojourn here is brief, but not alone.

Love and memory bind us together,

Traveling through time from home to home.

I cannot wait to see who you will be

And where your life will take you. I’ll be there,

With you in the sunshine of your morning

And in the sweet air of your starlit night.

And then, where will we go, you and I?

What fields that roll like waves towards distant mountains

Will we cross over with our generations,

Together in a world we’ll never know?

© 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/weonce.html. For more poems about a variety of family members, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/familypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Family

August 3: We Once Lived in Israel, You and I

Blessed Are Those Whose Joy Is to Give Joy

August 2, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is service, in honor of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice, which this year is celebrated on July 31.

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

A psychological poem about the motives of those who would serve others:

Blessed are those whose joy is to give joy,

Who would find pleasure in assuaging pain,

Whose love of life would cloud-bound spirits buoy

And be the gold that would base thoughts alloy,

The music that would silent souls sustain.

Blessed are those whose joy is to give joy,

Who would, in times of need, their hours employ

In cheerful labor for another’s gain,

Whose love of life would cloud-bound spirits buoy

And hearty sun black thunderheads destroy,

Giving flooded fields relief from rain.

Blessed are those whose joy is to give joy.

Yet some would denigrate such souls with coy

Hints of poor self-image and self-blame,

Saying they would cloud-bound spirits buoy

To buy their love. Such goodness is a ploy

To garner the self-love they seek in vain.

But can’t you feel the joy in giving joy

And bless the love of life that spirits buoy?

© 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/bless9.html. For more psychological poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Service

July 27: Let There Be Joy, Always Joy in Giving

July 28: Alain Is an Absolute Delight

July 29: Nine-Year-Olds Have Dreams That Dance and Sing

July 30: Thirty-Nine Is Often Full of Wonder

July 31: Each of Us Must Sacrifice Our Selves

August 1: For You There Is No Greater Good than Beauty

August 2: Blessed Are Those Whose Joy Is to Give Joy

For You There Is No Greater Good than Beauty

August 1, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is service, in honor of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice, which this year is celebrated on July 31.

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

A number poem for a director who has devoted his life to the creation of redemptive beauty:

For you there is no greater good than beauty,

In which you have invested your whole life,

Finding in your ecstasy your duty,

The daily grind for an ethereal booty,

Yielding grace for grit and joy for strife.

For you know well the wisdom of your longing,

Into which you pour your hopes and dreams,

Vested in the most profound belonging,

Each breath of which some sacred soul redeems.

© 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/fory13.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Service

July 27: Let There Be Joy, Always Joy in Giving

July 28: Alain Is an Absolute Delight

July 29: Nine-Year-Olds Have Dreams That Dance and Sing

July 30: Thirty-Nine Is Often Full of Wonder

July 31: Each of Us Must Sacrifice Our Selves

August 1: For You There Is No Greater Good than Beauty