Though I Chose Death Instead of Pointless Pain

May 31, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem to loved ones from someone who has committed suicide to avoid a painful death:

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

Please forgive the manner of my leaving.

My love and need for all of you remain.

I could not long such suffering sustain,

Nor would it long have held you from your grieving.

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

I hope that choice will not my memory stain,

Nor lead you to be wroth at my deceiving.

My love and need for all of you remain.

For only in you do I live again,

Woven like a wind into your weaving.

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

I put to you the plea of the self-slain:

To comprehend an anguish past conceiving.

My love and need for all of you remain

That all that I have been not be in vain,

But blend into the earth of your believing.

Though I chose death instead of pointless pain,

My love and need for all of you remain.

© 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/thoug4.html. For more poems about suicide, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/suicidepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 29: Frosty Died Last December

May 30: Thank You for Leaving Us Your Son

May 31: Though I Chose Death Instead of Pointless Pain

Thank You for Leaving Us Your Son

May 30, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A thank-you poem to deceased parents from the couple to whom they have left their son:

Thank you for leaving us your son.

He gives us the gift you gave to him.

Although we cannot hope to salve his grief,

Nor fill his cup of joy back to the brim,

Know your flame of love has been passed on.

Your love for him will help our love along,

Out of pain his happiness to win

Upon the sweet green fields of our belief.

© 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/than15.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 29: Frosty Died Last December

May 30: Thank You for Leaving Us Your Son

Frosty Died Last December

May 29, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem about grief at the death of a much-loved pet:

Frosty died last December,

My closest friend for fifteen years.

We were born the same November;

Now I can't put down my tears.

It's not fair that dogs should live

Just a short piece of our lives;

They give us the love we give

To parents, children, husbands, wives.

More loyal than a human love,

More passionate and all-consuming:

No spat would Frosty's love remove,

So fixed on me, so unassuming.

My grief is real, my pain is strong,

Though not all would be so moved;

But I can't think how I'll go on

Without this creature I so loved.

© 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/frosty.html. For more poems about animals, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/animalpetpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 29: Frosty Died Last December

When Death Must Come at Christmastime

May 28, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem about the special kind of grief when a loved one dies at Christmastime:

When death must come at Christmastime,

There is a special grief,

A mourning that must mix with joy,

A pain that must be brief.

There is an anguish underneath

The labyrinth of light

That longs for simple emptiness

To contemplate the night.

But life must bubble on its way

And pleasure be put on,

For neither sorrow nor delight

Is ever left alone.

And, like the Virgin, we must smile

With enigmatic grace

As we receive the fragile gift

That nothing can replace.

© 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/whende.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

May 28: When Death Must Come at Christmastime

You Were for Us Not only Love, but Bread

May 27, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A poem about what happens to grief when the deceased loved one was the only breadwinner of the family:

You were for us not only love, but bread,

Our source of sustenance as well as joy.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

We must content ourselves with what we beg,

The bitter gifts no kindness can alloy.

You were for us not only love, but bread.

We miss you, but our hearts have turned to lead.

We cannot one sweet pang of pain enjoy.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

Nor have we any tears that we might shed

For you, nor thoughts that might grief buoy.

You were for us not only love, but bread,

And so there are no dreams of you in bed,

Nor memories with which my mind might toy.

Now not grief but hunger mourns the dead.

No room, no room, but emptiness instead,

A need that does all other need destroy.

You were for us not only love, but bread.

Now not grief but hunger mourns 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/youwe2.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 27: You Were for Us Not Only Love, but Bread

Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

May 26, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A name poem about the relationship between the beauty of love and grief:

Matthew is gone and will never be back.

Although we all loved him, we'll see him no more.

The beauty of love leads to anguish at death,

The fear and the hunger the price of each breath,

Held like a gift that has loss at its core.

Each day without Matthew is filled with our lack,

Winds from the sea that make grief sing and soar.

© 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/matth2.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret

May 26: Matthew Is Gone and Will Never Be Back

Early On, There's a Point to Regret

May 25, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is grief in honor of those who have died of Covid-19 and of Memorial Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on May 25^th.

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

A number poem about grief and regret:

Early on, there's a point to regret:

In creative pain, one can make changes.

Grief is a wild, foolish, helpless rebellion,

Heart against stone, desire smashing against

The locked fact, the impenetrable event,

Yielding nothing but the wash back into life.

For one who grieves, there's no point to regret:

One lives through pain, it's not a time for changes,

Undoing in one's heart what one must accept in life,

Repositioning the precise stones one smashes and smashes against.

© 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/early.html. For more poems about death, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/deathpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Grief

May 25: Early On, There’s a Point to Regret