Poem of the Week

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

5/26: Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

5/27: Thank You for Your Love Throughout theYears

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

May 26, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about what might make one’s education meaningful:

Give a little thought to what comes next.

Remember: education isn't training.

A person needs to struggle with a text,

Delving into truths beyond explaining.

Understanding means you must go under,

And make your own the ground on which you stand.

The urge to learn comes from a sense of wonder

Ill-served in those who like their knowledge canned.

Open up your mind so that your soul

Not be confined to one small, shallow bowl.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/giveal.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

5/26: Give a Little Thought to What Comes Next

Thursday, May 24, 2018

The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

May 25, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem for two friends, both graduating, who share their pride and pleasure:

The happiness I feel at your achievements

Reflects the happiness you feel at mine.

Friends expand the pleasure of such moments,

As mine in yours, and yours in mine, combine.

The same when we look forward to our futures:

So much more unfolds when there are two!

Populating your proposed adventures

Gives me a joy that mine must give to you.

We've been through much, and will be through much more,

But traveling together is more fun.

Whatever life and love may have in store,

Two is always preferable to one.

Your graduation thus becomes for me

Far more sweet than mine alone would be.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happi3.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

5/25: The Happiness I Feel at Your Achievements

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

How Many Times You Almost Lost Your Way

May 24, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem comparing a student to a rat in a maze:

How many times you almost lost your way,

About to leave the maze in pure frustration,

Indignant at extrinsic motivation,

Learning not enough to want to stay …

The rat must sometimes hate the proffered cheese,

Open to the eye but not the tongue,

The prize that makes him learn which colored rung

Has the power his torturers to please.

Even so, so much that you have learned

(Granted not the whole, but some good part)

Resonates within the mind and heart,

A legacy that now you've fully earned.

Drab though some of life may yet still prove,

Unbind those restive dreams that you employ!

All roads, no matter whither, lead to joy,

Though none will take you there unless you love.

Each maze becomes a garden when you love.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/howman.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Happiness Does Not Depend on Weather

May 23, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about joy through good and bad weather:

Happiness does not depend on weather,

Although it sometimes helps to see the sun.

Perhaps one finds one’s best landscape within,

Precisely where one's labor is one's joy.

Yearning finds fulfillment in compassion.

Given the uncertainties of weather,

Rain and night in league against the sun,

All must find their happiness within,

Depending on their love of life for joy,

United by the bonds of their compassion.

And all should value knowledge, regardless whether

Their learning gives them more sweet days of sun.

In knowledge there’s a brighter sun within,

Opening one’s heart and mind to joy,

Necessary cradle of compassion.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/happ22.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Monday, May 21, 2018

Graduates Are People with Degrees

May 22, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about the real value of an education:

Graduates are people with degrees,

Rewarded with some letters by their names.

An education must be more than these.

Doubtful bosses aren't playing games.

Unless you know the things you need to know,

And have a mind honed well by what you've learned,

The piece of paper might as well be snow –

It is the least of what you here have earned.

Of what value have these hard years been?

Now that depends on how much you put in.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/grad10.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation

Congratulations on Your Doctorate

May 21, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week in honor of the many college graduations taking place this month is graduation.

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

A graduation poem about the difficulties and rewards of earning a doctorate:

Congratulations on your doctorate!

One must not only dare, but persevere,

Not giving in to stress, fatigue, or fear,

Grinding out the hours obdurate.

Rewards, we hope, will be commensurate:

A passionate and interesting career;

The joy of making truth a bit more clear,

Unafraid to speak your mind on it.

Let your happiness for now take wing

As you rest on the mountaintop awhile,

The victor in your struggle with yourself.

In time, of course, the world will cease to sing.

One must at length that piece of paper file,

No less basking in one’s inner smile,

Still savoring one’s well-earned inner wealth.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/congr5.html. For more graduation poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/graduationpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Graduation