Poem of the Week

May 19: Sometimes a Sacrifice or Two Comes Easy

May 20: We Are Upward Bound

May 21: How Can Hope Become a Way of Life

Friday, May 19, 2017

We Are Upward Bound

May 20, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since this is a week when many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies, the theme for this week is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem from the graduates to their teachers.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

We are upward bound, the world's bright future,

The generation that will not betray

Its noblest dreams, the things that we've been taught here,

The ways of peace and brotherhood and love.

So as we make this final farewell gesture

And take our leave on graduation day,

Let us thank the teachers that we've found here,

Who must each day be what they hope to prove.

What a gift you've given us -- yourselves!

The best in you, that you might be a sign

To us of what the best in us can be:

Loving, smart, hardworking, fair, and kind.

Your temperament's the well-wrought text that tells

Us more than any lesson you assign.

We become the people that we see

And treasure long the good we leave behind.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/weareu.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 19: Sometimes a Sacrifice or Two Comes Easy

May 20: We Are Upward Bound

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Sometimes a Sacrifice or Two Comes Easy

May 19, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since this is a week when many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies, the theme for this week is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem from someone who has sacrificed to enable his or her spouse to graduate.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Sometimes a sacrifice or two comes easy:

Love's a very generous reward.

Two people are in equal need quite rarely,

So one becomes the tune and one the chord.

Today I feel immeasurably lucky

To celebrate with you this milestone.

The music in my heart is very lovely.

I watch you from below, but not alone.

I'll always be exactly where you want me,

As I have faith that you will be for me.

No missing paradise will ever haunt me,

For you and I will share our melody.

I'm proud of what you've done and what you'll do.

No one could be more blessed than I with you.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/somet2.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 19: Sometimes a Sacrifice or Two Comes Easy

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Graduation's Reason to Rejoice

May 18, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since this is a week when many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies, the theme for this week is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem for a close friend.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation's reason to rejoice,

Realizing at last a long-sought end.

And so yours gives occasion to my voice,

Delighting in the gift of being friends.

Underneath your pleasure is my pride,

As yours remains the rock on which I stand.

The window through which I can see inside

Is hung upon the mirror in your hand.

One cannot be one without the other,

Nor can we be ourselves without another.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/grad8.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Graduation Ought Not Be an End

May 17, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since this is a week when many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies, the theme for this week is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem about how what one learns is more important than the degree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation ought not be an end,

Replacing what within we might achieve.

After all, the good that we intend

Does much to serve the good that we receive.

Underneath the mask of a degree

A person must perform with just the skill,

The knowledge and the art that he or she

Internalized through pluck, hard work, and will.

On what we are will rest what we become,

Nor do we have much else to draw upon.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/grad7.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Monday, May 15, 2017

Graduation Shouldn't Be Too Easy

May 16, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since this is a week when many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies, the theme for this week is graduation.

Today’s poem encourages students to take demanding courses on their way to a degree.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Graduation shouldn’t be too easy,

Reducing the repute of the degree.

Although some courses might make you feel queasy,

Dreams need stairs to reach reality.

Ultimately, what matters is what you

Are capable of, your knowledge and your skill.

These years are only worth what you can do;

If you can’t, no piece of paper will.

On you is laid the burden of your fate.

Now’s your chance to learn to bear the weight.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/grad13.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Sunday, May 14, 2017

To the Graduate Whose Life I Share

May 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. Since this is a week when many colleges and universities have their graduation ceremonies, the theme for this week is graduation.

Today’s poem is a graduation poem to a spouse.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To the graduate whose life I share,

On whose success I’ve laid the weight of mine:

The love and gratitude are always there;

However, on such special days they shine.

Enjoy your well-earned pomp and circumstance!

Graduations ought to be bejeweled,

Richly robed, as choreographed as dance,

A paean to a world by wisdom ruled.

Dearest soul, I find my joy in yours.

Underneath my pleasure is your smile.

As you shift your tassel*, my heart soars,

There is no inch of me that’s not applause,

Embracing you in spirit all the while.

*Graduates shift the tassel on their mortar boards, or special graduation hats, from right to left at the moment they are granted their degrees.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/totheg.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation