Ritual Recalls the Revelation

October 5, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and ended on the evening of October 1.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about the need for ritual music to sustain revelation:

Ritual recalls the revelation.

Once the eternal enters time, it fades.

So might we sustain it through sensation,

Having melodies to serve as aids.

Hear, O Israel, the ancient words

As song, and savor both the sense and music!

Sing with the bright cadences of birds,

Holiness so sweet you can't refuse it!

A synagogue is sanctified by song,

Nor ought familiar prayers be simply read.

All one's heart is where it must belong,

Here singing with the living and the dead.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/ritual.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

10/2: Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

10/3: Revelation Strikes You as Absurd

10/4: Revenge Is Often Taken in the Mind

10/5: Ritual Recalls the Revelation

Revenge Is Often Taken in the Mind

October 4, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and ended on the evening of October 1.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about the need for forgive others if one is to ask for forgiveness for oneself:

Revenge is often taken in the mind.

Open wounds untreated tend to bleed.

Some who else would be both good and kind

Hate others in the thought, if not the deed.

Have mercy, then, upon yourself, and clear

Away the anger twisting you inside,

Sanctifying for the coming year

Heart and spirit, cleansed of pain and pride.

As you ask forgiveness, so forgive,

Nor need you lose your honor with your fury.

All find their just reward in how they live,

Held to account by a less partial jury.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/reveng.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

10/2: Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

10/3: Revelation Strikes You as Absurd

10/4: Revenge Is Often Taken in the Mind

Revelation Strikes You as Absurd

October 3, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and ended on the evening of October 1.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about someone who has no faith but still sees value in the Rosh Hashanah service:

Revelation strikes you as absurd,

Out of whack with what you think you know.

Still, you love the beauty of the words,

However much you mind the undertow.

How might you participate in prayer

Absent faith in God? It makes no sense.

Still, the urge to cleanse the soul is there,

However unappealing the pretense.

A world of unsolved mysteries surrounds you,

Nor can you shake the spirit that confounds you,

Aware of truths that cannot be expressed,

Here so beautifully in scripture dressed.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/revel2.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

10/2: Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

10/3: Revelation Strikes You as Absurd

Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

October 2, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and ended yesterday evening.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about the distinction between repentance and regret:

Repentance is quite different from regret.

One can feel regret for many years,

Self-castigating to familiar tears,

Having just the grace not to forget.

However, to repent must mean to change.

After the regret must come the will,

So resolute it conquers every hill,

However much one would reduce its range.

Actions only can forgiveness gain.

No thought alone can treat the inner wound

And save the soul that would remain entombed,

Held hostage by its fear of healing pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/repent.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

10/2: Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

October 1, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and will end this evening.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about the communal nature of sin:

Remember as you scour your soul for sin,

Opening the doors behind your lies,

Searching every room with ruthless eyes,

However much you see, there's more within.

How might you else then but through faith atone,

Aware not every debt will be repaid,

Suspecting with good cause some were mislaid,

Harboring some that aren't yours alone?

All sins belong to all, as well to you,

Nor can you cleanse yourself in isolation.

All are good or evil in relation,

Having all to pay what debts accrue.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/remem3.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

Reason Says, of Course, that There's No Book

September 30, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and will end at nightfall on October 1.

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

A poem for Rosh Hashanah about how prayer can reshape fate even for those who do not believe in the Book of Life:

Reason says, of course, that there's no Book

Of Life in which one is, or not, inscribed.

Still, repentance can affect one's fate.

How well one loves, or not, can still reshape

How well the year turns out. The soul revived

Attends to what the wayward soul forsook.

So does the myth remake the everyday,

Holding out the hope that fervent prayer

Actually might make one's fortune better.

Nor ought one judge the legend by the letter,

As what is writ enriches what is there,

Having set forth well both will and way.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/reaso6.html. For more poems for the Jewish High Holy Days, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/yomkippurpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

Some Pass Silently Across the Stage

September 8, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Note: I will be away from 9/9 to 9/29. The next poem of the day will be posted on 9/30.

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is work in honor of Labor Day, which was celebrated on September 2.

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

A number poem about the vocation of an artist:

Some pass silently across the stage,

Exuberant, embittered, at peace, in pain.

Vividly, some make a different choice,

Ear to the window of their inner voice,

Necessary framers of their age.

They sing, dance, write, paint – every passion drain.

Yet no work of such love can be in vain.

© by Nicholas Gordon

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/somepa.html. For more poems about professions, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/professionspoems.html .

This week’s theme: Work

9/2: Unions Are a Gift of Our Own Giving

9/3: Let Unions Bear Some Blame for Their Demise

9/4: Life for Most of Us Has Not Improved

9/5: For You, Who Do Such Good, There Should Be Joy

9/6: Just Think About Desire and Circumstance

9/7: For You There’ll Always Be the Gift of Beauty

9/8: Some Pass Silently Across the Stage