Zecharia

January 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a name poem about the difficulty of being a modern prophet, whose epiphanies must be of the natural world.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Zechariah wanders in his longing
Even as he cherishes his state.
Choosing reason rather than belonging,
He feels the pathos of his complex fate.
A modern prophet must be only human,
Relinquishing the myths of god and tribe.
In visions passionate, he must illumine
A glory that needs neither faith nor bribe,
Having a domain he can describe.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/zechar.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino
Jan. 8: There Is No Greater Paradise
Jan. 9: Zecharia

January 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem proclaiming that every moment is an epiphany.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no greater paradise
Than simply being here.
The proof is in the agony
That willingly we bear.

A moment is beatitude;
A year, eternal grace;
A life, a window wide upon
The transcendental face.

Our gratitude's ubiquitous,
The stuff of every day,
The ground bass of an ecstasy
That never goes away.

And yet . . . and yet this wonder lies
Like grass beneath the snow:
Above we fear the brutal wind,
Eternal spring below.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/ther11.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino
Jan. 8: There Is No Greater Paradise

Agostino

January 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a name poem for a man who has had a revelation and been touched by grace.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Agostino has been touched by grace,
Giving him the gifts of faith and love.
Of him it can be said he lives in joy,
Singing thanks and praise beneath each breath.
To see him is to be in his embrace.
In him there is a love no loss can move,
Nor passion still, nor evidence destroy,
Only peace along the edge of death.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/agosti.html . For more name poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/namepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star
Jan. 7: Agostino

Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star

January 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem for Epiphany about the dangers of attempting to impose a personal epiphany on society.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Each of us might follow a bright star,
Perhaps to a redemptive revelation,
Intending, then, to change the way things are,
Passionate to socialize salvation.
However, please beware of what you do:
Ambition, even selfless, can turn sour.
No truth fits all, though burning inside you,
Yearning less for paradise than power.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/eacho4.html . For more Epiphany poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epiphanypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point
Jan. 6: Each of Us Might Follow a Bright Star

Rare Is the Thing That Makes a Point

January 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a poem about the sudden epiphany that occurs in those rare and precious moments when we encounter things directly, free from the words in which they are clothed.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com . The most efficient way to receive the poem of the day is to follow my blog by email by entering your email in the FOLLOW BY EMAIL box at the top right.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Rare is the thing that makes a point
Of its integrity.
Most lie swaddled in our words,
Indifferent to ideas.

But every once in a while one
Insists on our surprise,
Penetrates our cinema,
Reveals to us its silence.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/rareis.html . For more philosophical poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation
Jan. 5: Rare Is the Thing that Makes a Point

Every Moment Is a Revelation

January 4, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is epiphanies, in honor of the Christian holiday of Epiphany, which falls on January 6.

In Christianity, Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, celebrates the coming of the Magi to see the infant Christ in Bethlehem. But the word epiphany refers to any sudden insight or realization. This week’s poems will relate to epiphany in both of its meanings.

Today’s poem is a poem for Epiphany about the yearning for revelation yet the difficulty of bearing too great a truth.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

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

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/every6.html . For more Epiphany poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/epiphanypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Epiphanies.
Jan. 4: Every Moment Is a Revelation

How Sad, the Year Just Passed

January 3, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Today’s poem is a New Year poem for 2001, which was the year of 9/11.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How sad, the year just passed! A year the past
Arose like smoke from deep beneath the rubble,
Pouring up through fissures in the heart,
Perhaps our own as much as those of others.
Year of hatred writhing in raw pain,
Near mad with certainty arrayed in faith,
Each aggrieved alight with righteous anger,
Whirlwinds swirling through their swathes of rage.
Yet let us in the new year look for justice,
Ever the rock on which to live in peace,
Administered with love for every soul,
Regarding every evil as our own.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite the poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/howsad.html . For more New Year’s poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/newyearsdaypoems.html .

This three-day week’s theme: New Year Poems.
Jan. 1: Here Again We Have a New Beginning
Jan 2: New Year’s Falls at Just the Darkest Hours
Jan 3: How Sad, the Year Just Passed