Poem of the Week

2/20: The President Was Without Precedent

2/21: Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

2/22: Sixty-Six Is Now in Full Career

Friday, February 21, 2020

Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

February 21, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A political number poem about passing on progressive politics to later generations:

Seventy-six has sown the sacred seed,

Ensuring that another generation,

Vested in the cause of liberation,

Engages in the politics of justice.

Nor after centuries is there less need.

The archetypal rulers are relentless.

Yet one can pit one's love against their greed.

Sing, then, of an inherited vocation,

Identities along a chain that's endless,

Xeroxing the dream that marks the breed.

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/76b.html. For more political poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/politicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

2/20: The President Was Without Precedent

2/21: Seventy-Six Has Sown the Sacred Seed

Thursday, February 20, 2020

The President Was Without Precedent

February 20, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A poem for Presidents Day about the roles of Washington and Lincoln in keeping the United States united:

The President was without precedent

At the time that he took on the post.

Equally homespun and elegant,

He struck the precisely right note.

Refusing the power of kings,

He yet understood that the State

Required what reverence brings:

A loyalty one can create.

And so he became The Great Leader,

The focus of wide adulation.

Yet only a one-time repeater,

He served not the man, but the nation.

He gave to the State what the states

Could only recopy writ small:

The sense of a Center the fates

Must bless for the good of us all.

He played well the hero who held

The Union together those years,

Until the still-thin mixture jelled,

And fact was more forceful than fears;

Till the other great president we

Now jam into one day for two

Kept the Union together and free,

His own blood the ultimate glue.

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/thepre.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

2/20: The President Was Without Precedent

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Greatness Is the Child of Choice and Chance

February 19, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A poem for George Washington’s Birthday in which he reflects upon the role of fate in achieving greatness:

Greatness is the child of choice and chance,

Even when one's character is right.

One must fit the urgent circumstance,

Requiring wrongs that one's gifts can requite.

Greatness needs a time that calls for greatness,

Embracing an entire generation,

When some grave danger, failure, or injustice

Awaits a leader to unite the nation.

So might the mantle fall upon a soul

Having just the qualities to be

In mien and temper suited to the role.

Nor ought one, chosen, turn down history.

Greatness waits upon one like a bride

That knows well one's humility and pride,

On which she plays to keep one by her side.

Nor, after, will one care how much she lied.

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/great2.html. For more poems for George Washington’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Greatness Is Effect Far More than Cause

February 18, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which this year was celebrated on February 17.

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

A poem for George Washington’s Birthday in which Washington reflects on the effects of leadership on his life:

Greatness is effect far more than cause.

Each hero is the servant of his fate,

On whom is laid the sacrificial weight

Reserved for those who would heed higher laws.

Given peace, I would have shunned applause,

Electing to remain a farmer, great

With long-gestating plans for my estate,

A much-loved labor lost to much-loathed wars.

So was I the father of a nation,

Having given over life and love,

Instrument of some far greater hand,

Not by choice but of necessity.

Glory was the means by which to fashion

The myth that would a king's replacement prove:

Only I would do, and that demand

Narrowed, deepened, scoured, chastened me.

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/greatn.html. For more poems for George Washington’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics

Monday, February 17, 2020

Great Ends Require Great Sacrifice

February 17, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is politics, in honor of Presidents Day, which is this year celebrated today, February 17.

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

A poem for George Washington’s Birthday about the need for sacrifice in both leaders and followers:

Great ends demand great sacrifice,

Else the dream becomes a debt.

Open hearts will pay the price,

Redeeming loss without regret.

Great leaders also make demands,

Else the mandate turns to dust.

Willing minds find willing hands,

As courage shared engenders trust.

So a nation moves ahead,

Having found its avatar,

In hard times hungry to be led,

Navigating by its star.

Great followers must take great care

To choose a leader who will be

Out of love and duty there,

Not shy, but still reluctantly.

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/greate.html. For more poems for George Washington’s Birthday, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Politics