Poem of the Week

October 13, 2011 #655

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a congratulations poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Congratulations on your retirement!
One makes a virtue of necessity.
Nor can one argue with reality,
Given its regard for sentiment.
Remember that one cannot judge one's fortune,
As what else might have been, one cannot know.
To choose what is remains the only option,
Unless one would be strangled by one's woe.
Let there be ironic celebration!
A moment of nostalgia and release,
The swift goodbye to long-sustained relation,
In which there is an element of peace.
Open doors await, to who knows where?
Now is ever, ever wholly there,
Singing with a grace that does not cease.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 6, 2011 #654

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Yom Kippur.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

You pray to be included in the book
Of life before your yearly doom is sealed,
Making sure no sin is left concealed,
Knowing that there'll be no second look.
In words that are sincere, with guilt unfurled,
Perhaps you pray with some uncertainty,
Poised between belief and poetry,
Unwilling now to take it literally,
Remnant of a strange and ancient world.

© by Nicholas Gordon

September 29, 2011 #653

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Rosh Hashanah.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Revenge is often taken in the mind.
Open wounds untreated tend to bleed.
Some who else would be both good and kind
Hate others in the thought, if not the deed.
Have mercy, then, upon yourself, and clear
Away the anger twisting you inside,
Sanctifying for the coming year
Heart and spirit, cleansed of pain and pride.
As you ask forgiveness, so forgive,
Nor need you lose your honor with your fury.
All find their just reward in how they live,
Held to account by a less partial jury.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 29, 2011 #653

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Rosh Hashanah.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Revenge is often taken in the mind.
Open wounds untreated tend to bleed.
Some who else would be both good and kind
Hate others in the thought, if not the deed.
Have mercy, then, upon yourself, and clear
Away the anger twisting you inside,
Sanctifying for the coming year
Heart and spirit, cleansed of pain and pride.
As you ask forgiveness, so forgive,
Nor need you lose your honor with your fury.
All find their just reward in how they live,
Held to account by a less partial jury.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 22, 2011 #652

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for autumn.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Autumn sheds its brilliant tears,
Undone by darkness, wind, and cold,
Then turns the tears to leafmeal so
Ultimately trees can grow.
Meanwhile, in naked wood and wold,
None can hide as winter nears.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 15, 2011 #651

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Agafya is plain, old-fashioned good --
Giving, caring, loving, generous, kind.
A person doesn't get that way by chance.
Fortune isn't merely circumstance.
Years are fields on which the play of mind
And will create what character one would.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 8, 2011 #650

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical love poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fools desire flesh; the wise love souls.
Friendship, kindness, generosity,
Humor, wit, a harbor free of shoals --
These bring far more joy than ecstasy.
Yet there are those who, bored by harmony,
Prefer an edgy dissonance that holds
The prospect of a life near duty free,
Adventure unconstrained as time unfolds.
There is, of course, no choice without its cost.
One must be this or that or in between.
And what one isn't stays within the heart.
Wisdom lies in knowing what is lost.
The self's less self less selfless, and more mean,
While loving is a rich yet ruthless art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 1, 2011 #649

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Labor Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Long may you labor at something you love,
Awakening daily to passion and pleasure,
Blessed to find joy both in work and in leisure,
Obliged to move mountains you most want to move.
Remember that work is defined by the heart,
Delightful or not as the laborer chooses.
All life is a game that one wins or one loses,
Yielding what one would with will and with art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 25, 2011 #648

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Eid al-Fitr.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Evening, and at last the fast is over!
It remains a gift we celebrate,
Delighting in our prayers as in a lover,
Abstaining with a joy no meal could sate.
Let us gather now with food and drink,
For now we turn again to mortal Earth,
Intended to desire, and love, and think,
To savor what is ours 'twixt death and birth,
Reminded by our faith what things are worth.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 18, 2011 #647

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical number poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com/week.html .

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Time passes like music, a tangle of voices
Harmonious, dissonant, yearning, resolved.
In turn it is passionate, calm, poignant, tearful,
Rhapsodic, despondent, a tumultuous earful,
The score of which leaves one with chances and choices,
Yet gives form and function to all those involved.

Sing, then, with love, as harmony dictates
Each note in a melody wholly your own.
Voices find freedom in shaping their own fates,
Even as each would sound poorly alone,
Needing the chords to make sense of each tone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 11, 2011 #646

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about love.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Lest your love lie undisclosed,
Simply say what's in your heart,
With neither eloquence nor art,
Unafraid to be exposed.

Some fear their love might be accepted,
Inspiring an expectation;
Others fear humiliation,
Too restrained to be rejected.

Either way, you're sure to lose
By hiding what you know is true.
The love you feel is merely you
Rendered up to whom you choose.

So say it, let your love be known,
And be more fully who you are!
The fear of pain ought never bar
The joy that else might be your own.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

August 4, 2011 #645

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a congratulations poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Clearly, there could be no better news!
Of life and love, now there will be more.
Nor can we guess what grace we have in store,
Granted but imaginary views.
Rejoice in the creation of a soul,
A universe again emerged from darkness,
There being nothing, then a veiled vastness,
Unknowable, infinite, and whole.
Let there be again that bolt of light,
Again the wonder and the mystery,
The being that no cause could cause to be,
Incandescent day from utter night!
O children of desire, what have you done?
New-made a universe, another one,
Shard of One too luminous to see.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 28, 2011 #644

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Ramadan.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Roam anywhere you wish, and then return.
All you want to know, you ought to know.
Maybe you're afraid that what you learn
Apart from holy things will turn your head.
Delight in Allah everywhere you go,
And feed your hungry mind till it's well fed.
Nor need you for your faith one insight spurn.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 21, 2011 #643

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Seven years! Is that the famous itch?
Each marriage tells a story all its own.
Very few can hitch without a hitch.
Enduring love, however, needs a home.
Nor can a couple couple long without
Yearning for some token of the heart.
Ecstasy is not what love's about.
A passion is made permanent by art.
Rejoice, then, in what heart and mind decree!
Seven is good luck – so may it be!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 14, 2011 #642

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Bastille Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Base your life on reason, only reason,
And watch your heart go crazy on the spot!
Some would vary judgment with the season,
Though some would say it is, or it is not.
In politics, one should be politic,
Lest change change what one needs to stay alive.
Logic cannot tell what makes things tick;
Each thought remains a creature of the hive.
Despite the power of reason, please take heed:
An amputated cranium tends to bleed.
Yet nations healed holistically will thrive.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 7, 2011 #641

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical number poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The world's a notebook full of scenes and stories.
What characters must wander through your days!
Each bit of dialogue should serve you well --
Not now, perhaps, but given time to jell,
The databank will yield the perfect phrase.
Your art runs slow, even as life scurries.

Forget, then, all your youthful woes and worries!
Out of what you are will come your grace,
Unconcerned with fortune, time, or place,
Rising from your sea with much to tell.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 30, 2011 #640

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Independence Day (USA).

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Just think of how it was that hot July
Under threat of being hanged for treason.
Let yourself have faith enough to die,
Yet let that faith be in the power of reason.
Feel the heady fear of rash rebellion,
Of chaos, blood, death, vengeance, mayhem, blight.
Unleash with noble words that ancient hellion
Reigning cruelly over years of night.
They turned out to be right, those bold, brave men.
However, think what terrors faced them then.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 23, 2011 #639

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Summer.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Summer lies luxuriant
Underneath a brutal sun.
Mayhem rules the tranquil scene,
Murder nothing can redeem,
Even as days slowly run,
Rich, well-favored, indolent.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 16, 2011 #638

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Father's Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Happy first Father's Day!
All is as planned:
Passion, then parenthood --
Pipsqueak in hand!
Yet now there are burdens,
Far more than before,
And hours devoted
To one much-loved chore.
How beautiful! One is
Entangled in life,
Rendered to love
'Twixt child and wife.
So beautiful! One learns
Delight is a choice,
A part long-since written
Yet heeding your voice.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 9, 2011 #637

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a graduation poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There'll never be a better time than now,
When all the world's before us, yet unseen.
We haven't made the choices that define us,
But we are grown and ready to begin.

Nostalgic in advance, we know well how
We'll miss this place, our friends, and all that's been
Precious to us here, when time will find us
Far away, with much that's changed within.

Can we stop to realize just how good
A time this is, as it's about to end?
Despite our troubles, heartaches, fears, and hungers,
It is a moment most of us will treasure.

But nothing can be fully understood
Except in hindsight, which will comprehend
The beauty that now runs between our fingers,
And savor it with longing and with pleasure.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

June 2, 2011 #636

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a wedding poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

A vow is both a promise and a sign
That I am sure enough that this is true
To say it publicly, not just to you,
But to all of those whose lives we here combine.
And so I vow to love you all my life,
To give you joy, for that is joy to me,
To be for you what I would have you be:
Each a home for each as man and wife.
I vow to give myself to that one self
Engendered by our mystical embrace,
And to nurture it through years of love and will.
For only thus we cross the inner gulf
That lies between our consciousness and grace,
Blessed by love, that makes good of all ill.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 26, 2011 #635

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Memorial Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Maybe it was worth it, maybe not.
Each life is priceless, yet we paid the price.
Maybe that was something we forgot.
Or maybe it was something we'd do twice.
Reason would not choose to let them die
If all the reasons on all sides could be
Against one life forced one whole night to lie,
Letting love run through them honestly.

Deep beneath the normal calculation,
A life is far more precious than a nation.
Yet war survives, and will till all agree.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 19, 2011 #634

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Alistair exudes sophistication,
Leaning on his learning as though lame.
Intelligence in him is like a curtain,
Shutting off the windows to his heart.
There is with him no chance for conversation,
As though each point were counted in some game.
Intent on winning, prepped and always certain,
Rest assured he'll flaunt his range and art.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 12, 2011 #633

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for graduation.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Glad to see you've finally reached the end!
Remember: This is only the beginning.
Although at times you felt your wheels just spinning,
Days are worth precisely what you spend.
Ultimately, everything you learn
Adorns you with the beauty of its being,
Teaches you anew the thrill of seeing,
Invites you to be charmed at every turn,
Opening your mind and heart to things.
Nor would you know, except the knowledge sings.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

May 5, 2011 #632

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Mother's Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Hinder not the happiness
Alive within the heart.
Perhaps it's only natural,
Perhaps it is an art.
Yet many rarely feel it,
Many do not know
Of the eternal music
That makes the moment flow.
How might one listen to it
Except to sing and dance,
Reveling in beauty
'Mid clarity and trance?
Singing to the mothers,
Dear vessels of the soul,
As Mary was to Jesus,
Yielding glory whole.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 28, 2011 #631

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical number poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Fortune is the child of will and chance.
In seeking cause, one finds a mute regression.
For some, life is an incandescent dance,
Though others tend to look at it askance,
Yearning for what's not in their possession.

Nor can one ever know what would have been.
In judging fortune, there is no reward.
Now is what one has to choose or spin,
Ever of one's will the sovereign lord.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 21, 2011 #630

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Easter.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Enduring does not lead to happiness.
A person ought not suffer out of duty.
Some choose to sacrifice under duress,
Taking as cruel chance what could be beauty.
Each ought to give for love, as did the Lord,
Reckoning the grace as the reward.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week Correction

Dear Subscriber:

Sorry! The last poem of the week had a typo in line 6. "What" should have been "that."

The correct version of the poem is as follows:

Perhaps a meal ought not bear so much weight.
A dining room is not a synagogue.
Sometimes, however, food's a pedagogue.
Sometimes one's best text is what one ate.
One finds in food the sense in many senses,
Vested in a symbol that will last.
Even as a people needs its past,
Ritual foods dismantle time's defenses.

Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours,
Nick Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 14, 2011 #629

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Passover.
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You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Perhaps a meal ought not bear so much weight.
A dining room is not a synagogue.
Sometimes, however, food's a pedagogue.
Sometimes one's best text is what one ate.
One finds in food the sense in many senses,
Vested in a symbol what will last.
Even as a people needs its past,
Ritual foods dismantle time's defenses.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 7, 2011 #628

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Adelaide is gracious to a fault,
Desiring harmony more than desire.
Each disagreement threatens to turn dire.
Likes and dislikes never leave the vault.
A child of war becomes adept at peace.
Intuitively, she skirts the hidden mines,
Determined not to cross long-vanished lines,
Eluding rage long after her release.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 31, 2011 #627

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Mothering Sunday (British Mother's Day).
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You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Melodies, like people, have a home.
Otherwise, they'd wander aimlessly.
They modulate and mutate as they roam,
Having held their own quite painlessly,
Eventually returning to the heart
Reserved for them by nature or by art,
Savoring that long-sought tonic tone.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 24, 2011 #626

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Spring.
.
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Spring springs out singing from the womb,
Passionate and prodigal,
Returning in a blaze of bliss,
Improvident, impetuous,
Neighbor's backyard canticle,
Grace bursting grandly into bloom!

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 17, 2011 #625

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for St. Patrick's Day.
.
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sing of the home that you have never seen,
The place your ancestors once called their own!
Play the music of that island green,
And dance the dances dear to those long gone!
Time again to fill their dancing shoes,
Reawakening the ghosts within,
In touch with some incendiary muse,
Channeling the beauty that had been.
Knowledge is not merely of the mind:
'Tis of the arms and legs, the throat, the heart.
Sing, that you not lose your soul to time!
Dance, that you might nurture it through art!
As all your passions quickly become past,
Yet you may give life to things that last.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 10, 2011 #624

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a thank you for a birthday poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Thank you all for coming here
To celebrate my life.
But most of all I'd like to thank
My lovely, loving wife.

One gives up a lot for love
In freedom, time, and tears,
And makes commitments that must last
For lifetimes, not just years.

What one gets I can see here –
A world one can call home,
A space that's safe for innocence,
A common comfort zone.

And so I'm glad that you have come,
All gathered in this place
To share this bit of birthday joy,
To share this glimpse of grace;

To share this meal with me as I
Another year accrue,
That I might know the happiness
I wish for all of you.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 3, 2011 #623

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is an anniversary poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Four years? No, it cannot be that long!
Only yesterday you two were married!
Unplug the sundial! The shadow must be wrong!
Rotating somethings somewhere have miscarried!
Yet so it is – four years have passed already,
Even as the moment is still here.
As time moves on, the miracle holds steady --
Real life, real love, far more than one can bear,
Simply, truly, beautifully there.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 24, 2011 #622

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a philosophical number poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no better time of life than now.
Whatever age you are, this time is best.
Ever in the prime of life, the soul
Needs no source of joy more than the whole,
The One, in whom contingent souls are blessed.
Yet one finds joy as time and change allow.

So may you know the pleasures of your years
Even as they pass, for others come,
Vivid in the moments of their being.
Each lives in both the datum and the sum.
Nor can one separate delight from tears.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 17, 2011 #621

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Presidents' Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

President's Day? Presidents' Day? Or Presidents Day?
Regarding spelling, what's the difference?
Even apostrophes must have their say,
Subtly shading each rendition's sense.
In the first, Washington alone
Deserves the day, the only president
Every state has honored on its own.
Nor does the change of date change what is meant.
The second rendition suggests that Lincoln, too,
Should share the honor, combining holidays
'Tween their birthdays, giving both their due,
Depending on which state such honor pays.
All presidents, too, the second could convey,
Yet the third one must be read that way.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 10, 2011 #620

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Valentine's Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Vintners know the value of the soil.
A wine's taste is determined from below.
Love, like wine, takes sun and rain and toil.
Each may vary; the soil remains just so.
Nor can lovers choose the soil their roots
Take hold in. That lies deeper than the will:
In dreams, in loves long past, in lies and truths
None knows, but from the taste that lives distill.
Even so, the toil and the care --
'Twixt sun and rain, 'twixt seasons bad and good --
Sustain the passion, beautiful to share,
Destined to bring forth what joys it would.
All loves bear fruit, that take the time to grow,
Yielding most to those who patience know.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 3, 2011 #619

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for the Lunar, or Chinese New Year (The Year of the Rabbit).

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There are those who shy away from being,
However smart or talented, the leader,
Each eagerly behind the scenes, agreeing
Yet again to serve all those who need her.
Everyone is wary of such tension
As being in the spotlight must entail,
Reigning over chaos and dissension,
One who takes the blame when others fail.
For me it is impossible to think
That I for just one moment might be there --
Head of something headed for some brink,
Etched frozen in the flashbulb's frigid glare.
Rabbits tend to run – that's what they do,
Acting well only when well hidden.
Best if you know best what's best for you --
Better off the bidder or the bidden.
I know myself, and so can satisfy
The one backstage, on whom all else rely.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 27, 2011 #618

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a name poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Aisha is a model Muslim woman:
Intelligent, loving, faithful, modest, kind;
Serving selflessly the words of Islam,
Having held them long in heart and mind;
A soul that seeks, yet knows what it will find.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 20, 2011 #617

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Winter.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Winter is the world's long sleep,
In which the soil gets its rest,
Naked 'neath its blanket white,
Tucked in for the frigid night,
Earth by bitter north wind blessed,
Restored to life by slumber deep.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

January 13, 2011 #616

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

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

Poem of the Week

January 6, 2011 #615

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Epiphany.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each year again the gifts are given gladly,
Perhaps because one wants to be a gift.
In goods there can be good, yet sometimes, sadly,
People get the thing but not the drift.
How could the wise men come without some token,
A gift to give the child, new born a king?
Nor could their words speak as their gifts had spoken,
Yielding love incarnate in a thing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 30, 2010 #614
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a New Year's Day poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Hints of Heaven, hints of Hell,
As the year turns again.
Perhaps with you all is well,
Perhaps you are in constant pain.
Years come and go, millennia --
Nothing changes in the heart.
Each revolution's trivia;
We play new clad the same old part.
Years come and go, each as bad,
Each as good as those before,
As full of joy, as cruel, as sad,
Returning as we hope once more. 
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 23, 2010 #613
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Christmas poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Merely being is a miracle.
Each is both aware and unaware.
Running underneath one's thoughts, a canticle
Repeats one's silent gratitude as prayer.
Yet life does not allow for much devotion,
Claustrophobic in its constant need.
Hunger puts the mind in constant motion,
Reckoning the harvest from the seed.
In ritual and art one finds a moment
Still enough to peer into the deep,
To see beneath the will the wonderment,
Music of such joy that one must weep.
As angels sing, so sing that you might hear
Silence that no mortal long can bear.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 16, 2010 #612
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Season's Greetings poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Say what you will about the winter gloom!
Each year the turn towards light's a celebration.
And so it is with life: the darkest doom
Succeeds in summoning its own salvation.
Open, then, your heart to what may come,
Nor should you fear the advent of the night.
Selves are far more than their selfish sum,
Graced within with everlasting light.
Revels move indoors as darkness falls
Early, lit by laughter, songs, and love.
Even as the cold wind wailing calls,
The lilt of life and longing stronger proves.
In this season of good will and cheer,
Night and frost undo the dying year.
Gifts pour in; the joyful music plays --
Signs of hope and slowly lengthening days.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 9, 2010 #611
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Happy Holidays poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Hardiness is kin to heartiness.
A full-sized laugh can fill an empty heart.
Perhaps there is a play in playfulness,
Passion honed by skilled and patient art.
Yet what one wills will never lack for longing.
Happiness is just another role,
Of which the main attraction is belonging,
Linking one to some well-rendered whole.
In holidays one finds a time for joy
Dependent on a script that is well known,
A time to play the reveler and buoy
Yet again what fortune would destroy,
Sunshine singing on the silent stone.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

December 2, 2010 #610
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Chanukah poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Clearly there were Jews and there were Jews --
Hellenized, not Hellenized, not caring.
Assimilation let one pick and choose,
Not wedded to the faith that one was wearing.
Until a king sought Judaism's end,
Kindling a flame that burned inside,
A miracle that would the faith defend --
Here for us, a faith that else had died.

© by Nicholas Gordon