Fearing for My Sanity

August 28, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological and philosophical poem about the whys and wherefores of doing as you please:

Fearing for my sanity,
I shed my shirt and tie,
Walked out on my rectitude
And waved myself goodbye.

I did precisely as I pleased,
Said only what was true;
Cared not a whit whom I might hurt
Or what debts might be due;

Chose my orbit on my own
And lived by my own light,
Hurtling through the gravities
That rule the lidless night;

Unknowing in my innocence
The iron laws that be,
And that the more I worked my will,
The less I would be free.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fearin.html. For more psychological poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Psychology
August 24: To Know Another, One Must Be Insane
August 25: Tonight, There Are No Stars
August 26: Depression Comes with the Territory
August 27: Why Am I the Mirror of Your Heart
August 28: Fearing for My Sanity

Why Am I the Mirror of Your Heart

August 27, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological poem about the mystery of empathy:

Why am I the mirror of your heart,
Reflecting without depth your deepest pain,
Revisiting your hell again, again,
As though you were a well-wrought work of art?
Why do I vicariously take part
In suffering you barely can sustain,
Witnessing your agony in vain,
Tracing chaos too profound to chart?
Each night obsessively I come to you,
Eager to devour your bitter fruit,
Uneasy through the doldrums of my day.
Watching is, alas, what I can do,
As though my gaze were contribution mute,
Sharing your unease in some small way.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/whyami.html. For more psychological poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/psychologicalpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Psychology
August 24: To Know Another, One Must Be Insane
August 25: Tonight, There Are No Stars
August 26: Depression Comes with the Territory
August 27: Why Am I the Mirror of Your Heart

Depression Comes with the Territory

August 26, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological poem about a normal dose of depression:

Depression comes with the territory.
Evenings, one savors the fading light.
Perhaps one fears the coming night,
Recoiling from its mystery.
Even so, life still has grace.
Sunlight bursts into the room,
Singing like a thrush in June,
In passionate love with time and place.
One faces illness, pain, and death;
Nor would one leave this house of breath.

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

This week’s theme: Psychology
August 24: To Know Another, One Must Be Insane
August 25: Tonight, There Are No Stars
August 26: Depression Comes with the Territory

Tonight There Are No Stars

August 25, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological number poem about the angst of youth:

Tonight there are no stars. The air seems
Wild with hunger. All night it remains
Evening. Desire seems almost like regret.
Not even ecstasy will calm us. Let
The singers fill the darkness. Our games
Yield only hours. We wait. Time redeems.

To dream's the calling of a youth, yet
Who dares call together all those dreams,
Or touch the ones selected for the flames?

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

This week’s theme: Psychology
August 24: To Know Another, One Must Be Insane
August 25: Tonight There Are No Stars

To Know Another, One Must Be Insane

August 24, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A psychological number poem about how to escape one’s personal black hole:

To know another, one must be insane.
Words whisper songs we've heard a thousand times.
Even silence babbles like the moon.
No light escapes one's personal black hole,
Though in its massive grip all light is bent.
Yet there remains love for these leaves in the wind.

One’s love is like a deep, saltwater pool
No thought will ever bathe in. Come rest with us
Easy in this wordless, selfless sea.

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

This week’s theme: Psychology
August 24: To Know Another, One Must Be Insane

You Live in the World You Choose

August 23, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical poem about how one’s choices shape one’s world:

You live in the world you choose.
Each act is a creation.
The evil and the good
Result in just proportion.

The things you see and know,
What you think and feel,
What you are and do --
Your world is by your choice.

Choose love, and you'll be loved.
Choose hate, and you'll be hated.
Everything you choose,
You'll see in others' eyes.

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

This week’s theme: Free Will
August 17: Freedom Isn’t Simply: Do Your Will
August 18: Fortune Is the Child of Will and Chance
August 19: Fortune Comes in Many Shapes and Guises
August 20: Fortune Is a Favor to Be Earned
August 21: Freedom Is Imprisoned in the Flesh
August 22: There Is No Jail for the Soul
August 23: You Live in the World You Choose

There Is No Jail for the Soul

August 22, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical poem about the freedom of the soul:

There is no jail for the soul,
Which everywhere is free.
One might as well secure the sky
Or chain the open sea.

The body may in bondage sit
Or on a golden throne.
It matters little to the soul,
Whose fate is all its own.

The soul is sovereign in the self,
And ever free to choose.
Without, one may be forced to crawl;
Within, one can refuse.

Without, one can be flayed alive,
But none can touch the soul
That willing only what is good
Emerges sane and whole.

© 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/ther21.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Free Will
August 17: Freedom Isn’t Simply: Do Your Will
August 18: Fortune Is the Child of Will and Chance
August 19: Fortune Comes in Many Shapes and Guises
August 20: Fortune Is a Favor to Be Earned
August 21: Freedom Is Imprisoned in the Flesh
August 22: There Is No Jail for the Soul