Time After Time They Come to Destroy Us

March 23, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Passover, which this year begins on the evening of March 27.

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

A Passover poem about national survival:

Time after time they come to destroy us,
Day after day we live;
In love that flows from parents to children
We find the strength to give,
In love that flows beneath all memory
We find the strength to give.

Under the earth we lay our sorrows,
Life keeps them fresh and green;
In growth that springs from sunshine and rain
We find the strength to dream,
In hope that springs from the wounds of the earth
We find the strength to dream.

Come with me and fill my heart,
Come fill me with your song;
In the beauty of your smiling face
I know I will be strong,
In the beauty of your grieving face
I know I will be strong.

Tenderness lies enwrapped in darkness,
Music fills the night;
In love we feel for those who have loved us
There is eternal light,
In love we feel for one another
There is eternal light.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/timeaf.html. For more Passover poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/passoverpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Passover.
March 22: Praised Be Those Who Don’t Believe the Tale
March 23: Time After Time They Come to Destroy Us

Praised Be Those Who Don't Believe the Tale

March 22, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Passover, which this year begins on the evening of March 27.

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

A Passover poem about continuing the tradition of the Seder even without faith in God:

Praised be those who don't believe the tale,
Although they will recite it every year
So as to pass on rather than pass over
Symbols that retain their ancient power.
Old myths survive because they don't go stale,
Vivid founding fables long held dear,
Epics binding epochs time would sever,
Restoring richness to each passing hour.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/prais3.html. For more Passover poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/passoverpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Passover.
March 22: Praised Be Those Who Don’t Believe the Tale

Sing of Ireland, That Salad Bowl

March 21, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17.

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

A St. Patrick’s Day poem about the inevitable passing of the Ireland of old:

Sing of Ireland, that salad bowl!
The greens are tossed with bits of yellow and brown.
Perhaps the tossing might make some folks frown,
Although the taste be tangy to the soul.
There is no past for which the bells don't toll,
Regardless how its ways are handed down.
In time its heroes, once of great renown,
Come faded to the fun house of the whole.
Know, then, that the Ireland of old
'Ere long will be what none alive remember,
Save for remnants treasured by a few.
Deep within the heartache that takes hold,
An ancient ecstasy becomes an ember,
Yielding over years to Irelands new.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/singo5.html. For more St. Patrick’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 15: Going Home to a Place You’ve Never Been
March 16: So I’m the Patron Saint of Ireland
March 17: So Let It Go, That Mythic Ireland
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children
March 19: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served
March 20: Selves Are Quite the Opposite of Souls
March 21: Sing of Ireland, That Salad Bowl

Selves Are Quite the Opposite of Souls

March 20, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17.

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

A St. Patrick’s Day poem about the difference between one’s self and one’s soul:

Selves are quite the opposite of souls,
As what might change is never what must be.
In one we find pure light; the other, coals,
Now burning, now burned out, now memory.
The self is something that can grow and change,
Perhaps love virtue, perhaps descend to sin,
Alive to faith or innerly estranged,
The lonely witness to what one has been.
Remember that the soul is also you,
Is what is, which is eternal love,
Called to love by love you know is true,
Knowing what sheer grace might through you move.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/selves.html. For more St. Patrick’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 15: Going Home to a Place You’ve Never Been
March 16: So I’m the Patron Saint of Ireland
March 17: So Let It Go, That Mythic Ireland
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children
March 19: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served
March 20: Selves Are Quite the Opposite of Souls

Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

March 19, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17.

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

A philosophical St. Patrick’s Day poem about the self as part of a greater whole:

Self becomes less self the more self-served,
As who one is arrives from parts unknown.
Identity is never one's alone,
Nor can one learn unchanged a single word.
Thus the self by nature is a part,
Present in the body of the whole.
A healthy arm or leg is not a goal
That one pursues regardless of the heart.
Remember, then, that one is more or less
In common with the boundaries one draws,
Choosing or not the love that sings and soars,
Knowing or not what brings one happiness.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/selfbe.html. For more St. Patrick’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 15: Going Home to a Place You’ve Never Been
March 16: So I’m the Patron Saint of Ireland
March 17: So Let It Go, That Mythic Ireland
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children
March 19: Self Becomes Less Self the More Self-Served

So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children

March 18, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17.

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

A St. Patrick’s Day poem about the greater guilt of those in charge of abusive priests:

So let them be, who have had sex with children!
And turn Your rage on those who turned their eyes,
Intending to defend Your church with lies!
Nor were they ever fit for Your dominion!
These hypocrites are far worse than the poor
Polluted souls they moved from place to place,
Avid to avoid undue disgrace,
Trafficking in silence to be sure.
Remember them when You return! For they,
Instead of proper penance, yet remain
Cardinals, bishops, princes in Your name,
Knowing well what price they ought to pay!

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/solett.html. For more St. Patrick’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 15: Going Home to a Place You’ve Never Been
March 16: So I’m the Patron Saint of Ireland
March 17: So Let It Go, That Mythic Ireland
March 18: So Let Them Be, Who Have Had Sex with Children

So Let It Go, That Mythic Ireland

March 17, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated on March 17.

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

A St. Patrick’s Day poem about the changing ethnic composition of Ireland:

So let it go, that mythic Ireland!
Treasure the past, but let it, let it go!
Perhaps it was at one time wholly our land --
All of it -- but that was long ago.
The time when states were nations is now ending.
Races know no borders; people move
In search of life, their clothes and colors blending
Cultures that must now their presence prove.
Know, then, that not politics, but art,
'Mid neighbors various in faith and race,
Sustains a people's history and heart,
Dependent more on ritual than place.
As on St. Patrick's Day we march in green,
Yet we must let go the blood-drenched dream.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/soleti.html. For more St. Patrick’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/stpatricksdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: St. Patrick’s Day.
March 15: Going Home to a Place You’ve Never Been
March 16: So I’m the Patron Saint of Ireland
March 17: So Let It Go, That Mythic Ireland