Rights Are Not Equivalent to Freedom

April 17, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about how the individual shapes and is shaped by society:

Rights are not equivalent to freedom.
All have claims upon the lives of all.
Make yourself a servant of the kingdom,
Acting in the interests of the whole.
Deeds are sermons preached upon the plain
As each from each has much to lose or gain;
Nor is faith the free choice of one soul.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/rights.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within
April 14: Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep
April 15: Reason Is No Cause for Revelation
April 16: Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith
April 17: Rights Are Not Equivalent to Freedom

Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

April 16, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about the need for righteous behavior to sustain faith:

Righteousness remains the rock of faith,
As what one does sustains what one believes.
Mere hypocrites might pray, the Prophet saith;
Actions must be words the heart conceives.
Do, then, what acts and rituals are due,
As faith becomes a flame that feeds on you,
No less than as a fire consumes dry leaves.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/righte.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within
April 14: Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep
April 15: Reason Is No Cause for Revelation
April 16: Righteousness Remains the Rock of Faith

Reason Is No Cause for Revelation

April 15, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about the need for revelation:

Reason is no cause for revelation.
A moment comes and goes; a word endures.
More than sense must underlie sensation.
A holy mind and heart such faith secures.
Depend, then, on your fasting to awaken
A love of Allah easily forsaken.
Nor is there mooring where one's reason moors.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/reason.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within
April 14: Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep
April 15: Reason Is No Cause for Revelation

Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep

April 14, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about appreciating not just the wisdom but also the beauty of the Koran:

Read the Holy Book as though asleep,
And in a dream awaken to its beauty,
Making it the music of your moment
And weaving it like gold throughout your day.
Do not journey through it just to reap,
Avid for the kernels of your duty,
Neglecting the thick flowers in your way.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/readth.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within
April 14: Read the Holy Book as Though Asleep

Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

April 13, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan on the need for discipline to free oneself for prayer:

Rapture comes most easily within
A discipline that divvies up the day,
Making time for timelessness, and space,
A rolled-up rectangle holy anyplace,
Dear temple of delight where one might pray,
Assigned some sweet-tongued verses to begin
Now hallowing this hollow cask of clay.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/raptur.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World
April 13: Rapture Comes Most Easily Within

Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

April 12, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, which begins on April 13.

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

A poem for Ramadan about the role of the holiday in reminding us of the the evanescence of our earthly existence:

Ramadan reminds us that the world
Around us is a temporary place
Made for an equivocal embrace
As we ride this rock through vastness hurled.
Dance upon the Earth with joy and laughter
As long as you remember what comes after.
Nor will you find your home in time and space.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramad2.html. For more poems about Ramadan, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Ramadan.
April 12: Ramadan Reminds Us that the World

We Went Too Far Too Fast, and Yet

April 11, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A love poem from someone who wants to step back without breaking off:

We went too far too fast, and yet
I don't want this to end.
How do I step back from love
And keep you as a friend?

How do I feel affection and
Refrain from undue touch?
How do I tell you how I feel
And still not say too much?

I know I led you to expect
Far more than I should give
Before I have the strength to know
Just how I want to live.

The fault is mine, all mine, and so
I now must ask of you
Forgiveness, and the simple space
To do what I must do.

Please don't draw away from me
In anger or in pain,
For in our mutual respect
We both have much to gain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wewent.html. For more love poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/lovepoems.html.

This week’s theme: Troubled Loves.
April 5: Although We’re No Longer Together, I Still Love You
April 6: Love So Often Must Depend on Timing
April 7: There Has to Be a Way Across These Mountains
April 8: There Is a Dark and Gloomy Place
April 9: This Will Not Work if You Don’t Want to Try
April 10: We’ve Been Dating Now More than a Year
April 11: We Went Too Far Too Fast, and Yet