Isabella Loves the Sound of Music

January 27, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A philosophical name poem about the music that makes a soul rise to its sacred space:

Isabella loves the sound of music,
Standing as she does beside her self.
A song might offer words, were she to choose it,
But word are curtains to the little elf.
Each note is like a bell that's struck in heaven,
Lining all the boulevards with grace.
Let none be more or less, but all be leaven,
As her soul rises to its sacred space.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/isabel.html. For more name poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty
January 27: Isabella Loves the Sound of Music

Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty

January 26, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem about the rewards of a career in music:

Thirty-seven is immersed in beauty,
Having served it since he was quite young.
If such a choice demands some sacrifice,
Refusing with regret the merely nice,
To live with the sublime cannot be wrong,
Yearning for it with a sense of duty.

So the moment flows, nor plain nor pretty,
Even as the time, nor short nor long,
Vale of voices passionate, precise,
Eases into clarity, a song
Nor more nor less than perfect, priceless, plenty.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/37f.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz
January 26: Thirty-Seven Is Immersed in Beauty

Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz

January 25, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A number poem for a ninety-five-year-old jazz critic and aficionado:

Now is just the time for non-stop jazz,
Is just the perfect time to bop one's beep!
Ninety-five's the time for razzmatazz,
Enduring syncopation, life offbeat,
The music wailing, as it always has,
Years and years more life on old Beale Street.

Forget the rap, the punk, the rock and roll!
If the legs give way, the mind still swings,
Vividly in sync with funky soul,
Easing on down songs the moment sings.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/nowisj.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz

Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

January 24, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A political epitaph for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday comparing political movements to ceaseless waves:

Movements are like waves upon the shore
As they break across the yielding sand,
Rushing ravenously up, and then withdraw,
Though not before remodeling the land.
If change awaits high tide, so let it be.
Nor will waves cease to break when tides are low.
Let us fight for justice ceaselessly,
Uplifted by the seaward undertow.
There is no disappointment in my song,
However much injustice still remains.
Each generation needs to come on strong,
Reckoning the incremental gains.
Know that I am proud of what we've won
In spite of all the lives and labor lost.
No cause well worth one's love is ever done.
Good is good regardless of the cost.
Justice is a wave that breaks, and then
Returns, returns, again, again, again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/moveme.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2
January 22: Meaning Is a Morning Song
January 23: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land
January 24: Movements Are like Waves upon the Shore

Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

January 23, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

An epitaph for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about the usefulness of an unrealizable dream:

Moses never reached the promised land,
And I, too, died upon that distant mountain,
Resting on the laurels of my dream.
There is no end to struggle, no safe refuge
In which one can say, yes, I have arrived,
No longer feel the guilt of privilege,
Let go the fierce anxiety for justice,
Untie the knots of conscience in one's soul.
The promised land's a vision, not a place,
Held within the unrelenting heart.
Each generation must behold its beauty,
Reach for its uncompromising goodness,
Know that its long looked-for realization
Is in a time zone one will never see.
No matter. There's a joy in going forward
Greater than the joy of going home.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mosesn.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2
January 22: Meaning Is a Morning Song
January 23: Moses Never Reached the Promised Land

Meaning Is a Morning Song

January 22, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A philosophical name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about the need for hope and love to bring about change:

Meaning is a morning song,
A dawn, a dance of light.
Reason merely sings along
To get the lyrics right.
In what you know is what you are,
Not what you'll become.
Let not sight your vision bar,
Undone by what is done.
To love must be to hope, for love
Has far too much to lose.
Embrace the good you're wary of,
Refusing to refuse.
Knowledge is as knowledge does.
It so quickly turns to was.
Now is ever when
Grace will come again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/meani3.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2
January 22: Meaning Is a Morning Song

Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2

January 21, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated this year on January 18th.

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

A philosophical name poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday about living for more than oneself:

Maybe there is more to life than living.
A person is a ripple in a stream,
Roiling the waters with a dream,
The revelation that makes life worth giving.
In love one finds a reason for believing,
Needing love to make life more than seem,
Love that makes the mundane moment gleam,
Undoing fate with faith, and death with grieving.
There is no love but at the risk of death,
Having valued something more than self,
Embracing what gives life to life, and grace,
Replacing fear of death or loss with joy.
Know then that the dreaded end of breath
Is not the end one ought to aim for, else
None would speak to fortune face to face,
Granted life no bullet can destroy.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/maybe6.html. For more poems for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 18: Make of Me a Hero
January 19: Maybe More than Love Was Needed
January 20: Maybe It’s a Little Strange that I
January 21: Maybe There Is More to Life than Living2