Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul

May 12, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A poem for Eid al-Fitr about the benefits of religious fasting:

Each fast is like a cleansing of the soul
In which one's thoughts are purified by prayer,
Deepened by connection to the whole
As one becomes somehow more simply there.
Leaving the sweet holiday behind,
Families feast to bid it fond farewell.
If Ramadan rewards the heart and mind,
The feast rewards the long-neglected shell
Returning to the palace of the wind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/eachfa.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot
May 12: Each Fast Is like a Cleansing of the Soul

Note: Google has decided to discontinue Feedburner, the free service that sends you this daily email. At the age of 80, I have decided that this would be a good time for me to discontinue the Poem of the Day. The last Poem of the Day email will be sent out on May 23rd.

I will still be posting a new Poem of the Week each week at my Web site (https://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html), as well as regularly adding new poems, drama, and fiction to the site. And you are welcome to follow me on:
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PoemsbyNicholasGordon)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/poems_for_free)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyixnna5SPO5EIe4IAKkXQ)
and Twitter (https://twitter.com/poemsforfree).

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

How Might One Untie the Knot

May 11, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A religious poem about how the awareness of God’s love leaves one no alternative to the vicissitudes of faith:

How might one untie the knot
That binds one to God's love?
For love imposes innocence,
And innocence, remorse.

The tenderness that time forgot
No caustic can remove:
The laws of cause and consequence
Are cut off at the source.

Love comes simply as one is,
Condemning one to hope,
Restoring culpability,
Awakening one's pain.

So loved, one cannot be but His,
Though one be moved to grope
Towards some amoral liberty
That seeks the void in vain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howmi6.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within
May11: How Might One Untie the Knot

Note: Google has decided to discontinue Feedburner, the free service that sends you this daily email. At the age of 80, I have decided that this would be a good time for me to discontinue the Poem of the Day. The last Poem of the Day email will be sent out on May 23rd.

I will still be posting a new Poem of the Week each week at my Web site (https://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html), as well as regularly adding new poems, drama, and fiction to the site. And you are welcome to follow me on:
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PoemsbyNicholasGordon)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/poems_for_free)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyixnna5SPO5EIe4IAKkXQ)
and Twitter (https://twitter.com/poemsforfree).

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within

May 10, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A religious poem about how the devastating tsunami of 2004 might cause some to lose their faith:

The wave without becomes a wave within,
Semblance of a transcendental self
Unmoved by the cool carnage of its motion.
Nor ought we fail to calm this inner ocean
And build once more upon its nameless gulf.
May our love be at the heart of being,
In which all loved ones lost might rise again.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thewav.html. For more poems about religion, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/religiouspoems.html.

This week’s theme: Religion.
May 10: The Wave Without Becomes a Wave Within

Note: Google has decided to discontinue Feedburner, the free service that sends you this daily email. At the age of 80, I have decided that this would be a good time for me to discontinue the Poem of the Day. The last Poem of the Day email will be sent out on May 23rd.

I will still be posting a new Poem of the Week each week at my Web site (https://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html), as well as regularly adding new poems, drama, and fiction to the site. And you are welcome to follow me on:
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PoemsbyNicholasGordon)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/poems_for_free)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyyixnna5SPO5EIe4IAKkXQ)
and Twitter (https://twitter.com/poemsforfree).

It has been a pleasure sending out, first, the Poem of the Week and later the Poem of the Day for nearly a quarter century. Thank you for being a subscriber and best wishes to you all,

Nick

A Mother's Love Determines How

May 9, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about the importance of a mother’s love to one’s ability to love oneself and others:

A mother's love determines how
We love ourselves and others.
There is no sky we'll ever see
Not lit by that first love.

Stripped of love, the universe
Would drive us mad with pain,
But we are born into a world
That greets our cries with joy.

How much I owe you for the kiss
That told me who I was!
The greatest gift--a love of life--
Lay laughing in your eyes.

Because of you my world still has
The soft grace of your smile,
And every wind of fortune bears
The scent of your caress.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/molove.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate
May 5: Mothers Are as Mothers Do
May 6: Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes
May 7: Godmothers Aren’t Fairies in a Tale
May 8: Although Consumed by Fury, You Still Loved Us
May 9: A Mother’s Love Determines How

Although Consumed by Fury, You Still Loved Us

May 8, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem to a deceased mother from her abused child:

Although consumed by fury, you still loved us.
At least that is the knowledge of my heart.
Screaming like a child, you would beat us
Until you snapped, and then the tears would start.
"You know I love you," you would cry, demanding
More of us through tears than with your fist.
And we, through tears, would nod our understanding,
Too bullied in our pain to dare resist.
Yet now that you've been dead for many years,
And I have wandered through my own vast hell,
I see the desperate anguish in your tears
And hope at last that I can love you well.
For only in my love can your love be
The love that once, I think, you had for me.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/altho4.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate
May 5: Mothers Are as Mothers Do
May 6: Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes
May 7: Godmothers Aren’t Fairies in a Tale
May 8: Although Consumed by Fury, You Still Loved Us

Godmothers Aren't Fairies in a Tale

May 7, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem for godmothers:

Godmothers aren't fairies in a tale,
Offering a world that cannot be.
Demand of them glass slippers and they fail,
More likely to do favors naturally.
On them you can depend for a relation:
They offer gifts and guidance with a kiss.
Having taken on the obligation,
Each freely out of love gives what she is.
Real godmothers have no wands or wings,
So they must work with wisdom, love, and things.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/godmot.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate
May 5: Mothers Are as Mothers Do
May 6: Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes
May 7: Godmothers Aren’t Fairies in a Tale

Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes

May 6, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Mother’s Day.

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

A Mother’s Day poem about recognizing each child as a miracle:

Miracles wear ordinary clothes.
One rarely sees them naked on the street,
Taking outdoor showers in the rain,
Hushing crowds with sheer full-frontal grace.
Each is wont, at times, to pick her nose,
Refuse to keep her room or person neat,
'Mid daily chaos, daily wars sustain,
Swaddled in the fleece of time and place.
Deep within the moment there is beauty,
A radiance that lights with love one's duty,
Yielding one quick searing face-to-face.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mirac3.html. For more Mother’s Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/mothersdaypoems.html.

This week’s theme: Mother’s Day.
May 3: Mothers Never Mind a Little Cuddling
May 4: How Might One Find the Strength to Will One’s Fate
May 5: Mothers Are as Mothers Do
May 6: Miracles Wear Ordinary Clothes