Roam Anywhere You Wish and Then Return

May 25, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem urging the faithful not to fear secular knowledge.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://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

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

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 22: Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 24: Return to the Sweet Discipline of Faith

May 25: Roam Anywhere You Wish, and Then Return

Return to the Sweet Discipline of Faith

May 24, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the beauty of following religious ritual.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Return to the sweet discipline of faith!

A ritual is rich in grace and feeling.

Make yourself a servant that you might

Attend with less of will and more of sight,

Doing what is asked, not what's appealing,

Alive with light, free of want and hate.

Nor does one moment pass that is not healing.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/retur2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 22: Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 24: Return to the Sweet Discipline of Faith

Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

May 23, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the role of faith in every moment of life.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Religion must touch more than mind and heart.

A living faith must be a way of life.

Mundane tasks done righteously are prayer,

As outer harmony heals inner strife.

Devotion must not be a thing apart,

Applied when turned towards Mecca. Everywhere

Needs passionate delight and humble care.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 22: Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness

May 23: Religion Must Touch More than Mind and Heart

Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness

May 22, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims which begins on May 27.

Today’s poem is a Ramadan poem about the distinction between righteousness and self-righteousness.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Righteousness is not self-righteousness,

As it requires a humble, loving heart.

Maybe one is proud that one is faithful

And slowly turns more arrogant than grateful,

Delighting in oneself. But faith is tearful,

Alight with longing and joyful tenderness,

Never whole but as an indigent part.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/right2.html. For more Ramadan poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/ramadanpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Ramadan

May 22: Righteousness Is Not Self-Righteousness

How Can Hope Become a Way of Life

May 21, 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 the wisdom of deferred gratification.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

How can hope become a way of life,

A principle determining one's ends,

Putting what might be before what is,

Postponing pleasure till the sacrifice

Yields the dream--contorted, yes, but real?

Granted, one might choose to live one's life

Removed from all pursuit of distant ends,

Avid for the ecstasy of is,

Desiring neither change nor sacrifice,

Undone by the immediately real.

A moment cannot help but move one’s life

To serve by will or chance enduring ends.

In time one sees will be and was in is,

Opening one's heart to sacrifice,

Needing larger nows to hold what's real.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/howc15.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

May 15: To the Graduate Whose Life I Share

May 16: Graduation Shouldn’t Be Too Easy

May 17: Graduation Ought Not Be an End

May 18: Graduation’s Reason to Rejoice

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

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.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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 15: To the Graduate Whose Life I Share

May 16: Graduation Shouldn’t Be Too Easy

May 17: Graduation Ought Not Be an End

May 18: Graduation’s Reason to Rejoice

May 19: Sometimes a Sacrifice or Two Comes Easy

May 20: We Are Upward Bound

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.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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 15: To the Graduate Whose Life I Share

May 16: Graduation Shouldn’t Be Too Easy

May 17: Graduation Ought Not Be an End

May 18: Graduation’s Reason to Rejoice

May 19: Sometimes a Sacrifice or Two Comes Easy