Because All Things Are Made of Light

December 24, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas and Hanukkah. The first night of Hanukkah was Dec. 22, and Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25.

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

A name and Hanukkah poem about the beauty of all Creation, in which everything is made of love and light:

Because all things are made of light –

One’s flesh, one’s thoughts, one’s self, one’s sight –

No candle need hold off the night,

Nor faith uncouple wrong from right.

Ill and good are equally bright.

Each being is with love bedight.

Let all things be with love bedight --

Instant oatmeal, Yoplait lite,

Lizards, snakes, sharks, snowflakes, bright

Immensities beyond our sight,

The drawing that one gets just right,

Hanukkah, a sleepless night.

Shall one love both day and night?

Each moment is with love bedight –

Times of wrong and times of right,

Hours of darkness, hours of light,

Ends unseen, an end in sight –

Love makes every moment bright.

In love with life, one’s tears are bright,

Zeal and zest survive the night,

All things grace the gift of sight –

Blessings with bad breath bedight,

Emails, entrails, Facebook lite,

Those who think wrongs make a right,

Hells, hawks, hymns, a holy rite.

Each stain, each star, each stone, each bright

Limpet equally of light,

Loved equally both day and night,

Each miracle with love bedight,

Nothing without love in sight.

Given all the gifts in sight –

A Christian prayer, a Jewish rite,

Bedbugs with one’s blood bedight,

Ecstasy, a brass blare bright,

Kisses in the sheltering night,

Eels, ants, aches, first morning light –

No thing in sight not made of light,

Nor is what’s right more wrong by night.

All things are bright, with love bedight.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/becau4.html. For more Hanukkah poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Christmas and Hanukkah

12/23: Isn’t It Nice to Celebrate Twice

12/24: Because All Things Are Made of Light

Isn't It Nice to Celebrate Twice

December 23, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Christmas and Hanukkah. The first night of Hanukkah was last night, Dec. 22, and Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25.

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

A combined Christmas and Hanukkah poem for a child of a mixed marriage who celebrates both:

Isn’t it nice to celebrate twice –

Christmas and Hanukkah?

To follow the ways of both holidays,

Lucky to be who you are?

On each of eight nights a candle to light,

Till all of them are aglow,

A moment of love in memory of

A light that was lit long ago.

And then there’s a tree to trim lovingly,

And presents beneath it to leave,

An evergreen tree for a life that will be

Eternal, at least some believe.

So celebrate twice ‘mid the cold rain and ice

Two holidays often apart.

But put together, despite the harsh weather,

They bring twice the warmth to the heart.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/isntit.html. For more poems about Christmas and Hanukkah, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/xmaschristmaspoems.html and https://www.poemsforfree.com/chanukahpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Christmas and Hanukkah

12/23: Isn’t It Nice to Celebrate Twice

To Mrs. Quinn, the Queen of Poetry

December 22, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A thank-you poem to an English teacher on her retirement:

To Mrs. Quinn, the Queen of Poetry:

Having held for twenty years your teas

And given to us all the gift of beauty,

Now you may at last enjoy your ease,

Knowing the sweet ending of your duty.

You've walked among the loveliest of trees,

Out gathering the harvest, rich and fruity,

Undying words that feed the will to be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/tomrsq.html. For more thank-you poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thankyoupoems.html .

This week’s theme: Saying Thank You

12/16: Maybe There’s No Way That I Can Thank You

12/17: Thank You All for Coming Here

12/18: Thank You for Your Letters, Cards, and Calls

12/19: The Greatest Gifts Are Those That Cost Us Least

12/20: Thank You for the Things You’ve Done for Me

12/21: Thank You for Being the Heart of My Life

12/22: To Mrs. Quinn, the Queen of Poetry

Thank You for Being the Heart of My Life

December 21, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A thank-you poem for love:

Thank you for being the heart of my life,

Harboring me in the arms of your love,

Anchoring me in the rock of your faith,

Needing me, that I not be in vain,

Knowing me well, yet loving me still.

You are the island I've found in my sea,

Ocean I dwell in and deep where I dive,

Unfailing heaven and passionate earth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/than17.html. For more thank-you poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thankyoupoems.html .

This week’s theme: Saying Thank You

12/16: Maybe There’s No Way That I Can Thank You

12/17: Thank You All for Coming Here

12/18: Thank You for Your Letters, Cards, and Calls

12/19: The Greatest Gifts Are Those That Cost Us Least

12/20: Thank You for the Things You’ve Done for Me

12/21: Thank You for Being the Heart of My Life

Thank You for the Things You've Done for Me

December 20, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A thank-you poem thanking a friend for help through a difficult time:

Thank you for the things you've done for me.

Happiness walks slowly, with a cane.

Although inside I'm dancing to the moon,

Nearby many obstacles remain.

Kind help like yours those thorny thickets prune.

You are my willing ear, the peaceful sea

On which I sail my thoughts, the quiet tune

Underneath my laughter and my pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thank7.html. For more thank-you poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thankyoupoems.html .

This week’s theme: Saying Thank You

12/16: Maybe There’s No Way That I Can Thank You

12/17: Thank You All for Coming Here

12/18: Thank You for Your Letters, Cards, and Calls

12/19: The Greatest Gifts Are Those That Cost Us Least

12/20: Thank You for the Things You’ve Done for Me

The Greatest Gifts Are Those That Cost Us Least

December 19, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A thank-you poem for the greatest gift:

The greatest gifts are those that cost us least:

Price varies inversely with true worth.

Life itself's a free gift of the earth

Born of ecstatic joy in plant and beast.

What more exquisite present than a bower

Of wild roses in adolescent bloom?

Yet all that vivid color and perfume

Exist to serve the interests of the flower.

Love is such a gift. One trusts its treasure,

Free as the strange bright outbursts of a bird,

Equally uncanny and absurd,

Comes not from sweat or sacrifice, but pleasure.

I'm grateful for the gift you bought. But do

Remember that the greatest gift is you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/gifcos.html. For more thank-you poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thankyoupoems.html .

This week’s theme: Saying Thank You

12/16: Maybe There’s No Way That I Can Thank You

12/17: Thank You All for Coming Here

12/18: Thank You for Your Letters, Cards, and Calls

12/19: The Greatest Gifts Are Those That Cost Us Least

Thank You for Your Letters, Cards, and Calls

December 18, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

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

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

A thank-you poem for get-well letters, cards, and calls:

Thank you for your letters, cards, and calls,

Heartfelt prayers, and thoughts while I was ill,

A wind that bears us on when courage stalls,

Needed to sustain a weakened will.

Kindness is a balm that works on wounds

Yet unhealed by reasoning alone.

Our suffering abated, life resumes,

Undergirt by strength more than our own.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/than33.html. For more thank-you poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/thankyoupoems.html .

This week’s theme: Saying Thank You

12/16: Maybe There’s No Way That I Can Thank You

12/17: Thank You All for Coming Here

12/18: Thank You for Your Letters, Cards, and Calls