Poem of the Week

Friday, September 15, 2017

Morphed to Somalia

September 15, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is about our fears of terrorism engulfing our country as it has Somalia, Syria, or Libya.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Morphed to Somalia

Quick as a dream,

We are unsettled

More than we seem.

Moses lies wrapped

In fast-melting ice

While mourners avenge

Mohammed and Christ.

Here in the desert

We fear for our flesh.

We wait for our pain,

Meat, more or less.

The earth is afoot

With zealots in chains,

But of what we hunger for

Little remains.

The murderers mangle,

The wounded bulls gore.

We sleep in the shadows

And wake by the shore.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/morphe.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

September 14: To Our Loved One Far Away

September 15: Morphed to Somalia

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

To Our Loved One Far Away

September 14, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is a love poem to a soldier fighting terrorism far away.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

To our loved one far away,

Whose strength and years this war devours,

Whose sacrifice is also ours,

For whose return we daily pray:

Rest assured your home awaits,

Your cheering squad, your loyal fans,

The mouseketeers who share your plans,

Your dreams, your tears, your gifts, your fate.

We are the circle of your love,

The wagons 'round your willing heart

That keep despair and faith apart

And move in spirit where you move.

There is no limit to our pride

In who you are and what you do.

All our fortunes rest with you

Across a desert bleak and wide.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/toourl.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

September 14: To Our Loved One Far Away

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

There Is No Armor We Can Wear

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is about the impossibility of stopping every terrorist bent on destruction.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

There is no armor we can wear,

No wall or fortress we can build,

No force of arms, no shield of fear

To equal what the heart has willed.

No wall or fortress we can build

Can stop a soul on vengeance bent,

Can equal what the heart has willed,

A purpose pure, of dark intent.

Can stop a soul on vengeance bent,

Death for death and pain for pain,

A purpose pure, of dark intent

To kill for grace and not for gain.

Death for death and pain for pain:

The lust to purge oneself of grief,

To kill for grace and not for gain

That anguish might find some relief.

The lust to purge oneself of grief

Must yield in turn an answering lust.

That anguish might find some relief,

We'd turn an Eden into dust.

Must yield in turn an answering lust,

Hate to hate set groove on groove.

We'd turn an Eden into dust

To defeat the love that terror moves.

Hate to hate set groove on groove,

No force of arms, no shield of fear:

To defeat the love that terror moves

There is no armor we can wear.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/ther19.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 13: There Is No Armor We Can Wear

Monday, September 11, 2017

Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

September 12, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is for the soldiers who must fight terrorism.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Soldiers kill, for that is their profession,

Or die, for those are soldiers that they face.

Let us honor, then, the unmarked grace

Death bestows on those in its possession.

If the cause is just, soldiers will

Embody what the nation holds most dear,

Rendering our peril in their fear,

Serving our survival when they kill.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/soldie.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

September 12: Soldiers Kill, for That Is Their Profession

Sunday, September 10, 2017

So Did You Die of History

September 11, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is terrorism in memory of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Today’s poem is a poem for the victims of terrorism on 9/11.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So did you die of history,

Each innocent of dogma dead,

Purloined to play in some fool's head

The drama of his destiny.

Even in your hapless herds,

Miracles to men unmoved,

Being loved as you were loved,

Even thus, you were but words.

Reason seeks what reason knows.

Each alone must bridge the gulf,

Loving all as if oneself,

Else blood with reason endless flows.

Vanquished, you must still live on,

Each murdered soul a monument,

Nor what you mean be what you meant,

The private to the public gone,

Held long as letters carved in stone.

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at https://www.poemsforfree.com/sodidy.html. For more poems about terrorism and 911, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/terrorism911poems.html .

This week’s theme: Terrorism

September 11: So Did You Die of History

Librarians Are Those We Trust with Treasures

September 10, 2017

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is professions in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 4.

Today’s poem is about the profession of librarian.

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

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Librarians are those we trust with treasures

Incalculable, for they are of the mind,

Bringing to our leisure greater pleasures,

Read for read, than any other kind.

All our legacy is in their keeping,

Ready to enrich each avid self,

In which one finds some past soul’s subtle meaning

Alive as well-wrought words upon a shelf.