February Knows His Fortune Well

 

A calendar poem for February:

 

February knows his fortune well,
Even in the bitterness of dawn
Breaking in the coldest hour of hell,
Revealing but the worst that must be borne.
Underneath the ice the passions sleep
Ablaze with all the beauty of their burning,
Rendering a richness that will keep
Yet warm within the cavern of his yearning.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Allégro. By Emmit Fenn. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/februa.html. For more calendar poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/calendarpoems.html .

Holocausts Are Sui Generis

 

A poem for Holocaust Remembrance Day:

 

Holocausts are sui generis.
One sees in all the same totality.
Lest one think they're not so numerous,
One finds some in Deuteronomy.
Can the annihilation of Sihon,
An utterly explicit genocide,
Under God's command to overrun
Some lands where only Jews might now reside,
Thus stated be aught else? How can a Jew
So soon, so soon, such nightmares still pursue?

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Parzival. By William Rosati. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/holoca.html. For more poems about Jewish history and culture, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/jewishpoems.html .

Hatred Has No Color, Creed, or Race

 

A poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday about the ubiquity of hatred:

 

Hatred has no color, creed, or race.
All hate, more or less, and thus destroy
The fragile ecosystem of the heart,
Restoring which requires faith and grace.
Each must love for any hope of joy,
Disciplining hate with well-honed art.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Don’t Look Inside. By Biz Baz Studio. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hatred.html. For more poems for MLK’s birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/martinlutherkingpoems.html .

January Waits, Unsentimental

 A calendar poem for January:

 

January waits, unsentimental,
Again born into beauty, cruel and kind.
Nor cold nor darkness fools the wily child,
Unweeping in a brutal wind and wild,
As the Earth turns passionless and blind.
Rejoicing in her birth, she dons the mantle,
Yearning to recall what lies behind.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: A Revelation. By Jeremy Blake. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/januar.html. For more calendar poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/calendarpoems.html .

Every Moment Is a Revelation

 

A poem for Epiphany about the revelation that waits behind the scrim of every moment:

 

Every moment is a revelation
Placed behind the scrim of what one sees.
In every unremarkable sensation,
Poised to dance, some truth awaits a breeze.
How might one then step behind the veil,
Alive in ways one was not meant to live?
None can bear such beauty long, nor fail,
Yet yearning, to revere what grace might give.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Falling Snow. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/every6.html. For more poems for Epiphany, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epiphanypoems.html .

Hell Is Not a Prison, but a Room

 A Happy New Year poem about the ability to escape from a self-imposed Hell:

 

Hell is not a prison, but a room,

And you can walk out anytime you choose.

Perhaps you think your treasure is your tomb;

Perhaps you fear you have too much to lose.

Year's end's an opportune time to take stock,

Needing such inducements for reflection,

Embracing change quite literally by the clock

While thumbing through the usual selection.

Yet escaping Hell's a yes or no --

Embrace the life you have or let it go.

And if it's no, then leave, but if it's yes,

Remember that you chose it, more or less.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Renaissance Castle. By Doug Maxwell. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/hellis.html. For more New Year’s poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

Christmas and Hanukkah on the Same Night

 

A Christmas poem about Hanukkah and Christmas being on the same night:

 

Christmas and Hanukkah on the same night!

How is that for double delight?

Reason says neither could ever have been.

Imagination says Reason can't win.

Sing of the beauty whose truth would be lost!

The gain in precision is not worth the cost.

Minimal worlds get the minimum right.

A world without faith's moral suasion is slight.

Souls require what selves can't requite.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Holiday Brass Ensemble. By Doug Maxwell. Music free to use at YouTube. Photo Credit: AI

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmasan.html. For more Christmas poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html .