GIFT

Weekly Poems from Poems for Free: An Independence Day Poem and More

IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Is this the beginning of the end?
Now is when we start to fall?
Debtors to both foe and friend,
Eventually obliged to all?
Perhaps we can pull out of this,
Electing leaders who will lead,
Not stuck in this paralysis,
Dreading most what we most need.
Each must give that all might gain,
Nor ought we shun the sacrifice.
Could we but bear the healing pain
Equally, we’d pay the price.
Dependence on another’s will
Assumes that we their coffers fill,
Yielding ever to their advice.

CHILDREN WHO DIE ARE NOT REALLY GONE

Children who die are not really gone,
But go to a place that is something like home,
Where they sleep the deep sleep, as quiet as stone,
Until we can join them when our lives are done.

Children who die are not really dead,
But just like good children tucked into bed,
Wait the long wait while we go ahead
Till our tales are all told and our tears are all shed.

Children who die feel no pleasure or pain
In the place where they wait till they see us again,
And all of us dance in a world washed with rain
Where the sun shines so brightly no sorrows remain.

AFTER YOU LEAVE, I WILL BECOME A TREE

After you leave, I will become a tree
Alone on a hillside, loving wind and sun,
Waiting for you to return home to me
Though centuries of lonely stars may run.

I’ll grow tall and give lots of shade,
Sheltering birds and other bright-eyed things.
Pleased with all the progress that I’ve made,
I’ll spread my leafy branches out like wings.

But oh! Every moment of every day
I’ll miss you with the passion of the wind,
Gazing endlessly upon the way
That without you must empty, empty wind.

YOU ARE THE MIRROR OF MY PAST

You are the mirror of my past,
The future of my dreams,
The hope for what in life may last,
The jewel that time redeems.

You are yourself, of course, no less,
But also you are mine,
The light of all my treasured days,
The gift for which I pine.

Long may we this closeness share,
This place where memories play,
And if our friendship needs repair,
May love reveal the way.

And now that you’re to be a wife
With loves and passions new,
May you find in your sweet life
The joy I have in you.

IDENTITY REQUIRES MEMORY

Identity requires memory.
No less than people, nations must recall
Days past, lest they wander witlessly,
Erased each moment, guided by the wind,
Pushed by lusts no wisdom can forestall.
Events are choices one cannot rescind,
Nor can forgetting consequence forego.
Despite one’s wish, the past is not behind:
Even now, the heroes work their will,
Not needing us, nor tamed by what we know.
Contain your cavils, then, and snide thoughts still,
Even as we celebrate our story,
Demanding all the clarity and skill
A scholar can sustain in heart and mind,
Yielding what for now is history.

HAPPY NINTH

Happy ninth! A time that gathers time
And hands it to you in a bright bouquet.
Perhaps not all is roses, but the flowers
Plucked from paradise, portray all love,
Yearning for the beauty it reveals.
Nor ought you wonder, for what time conceals
In time will bloom, and scatter seed, and prove
No little portion of your future powers,
The garden that no time can take away,
Herbs and blossoms, mint and eglantine.

PLEASE ACCEPT MY GRATITUDE

Please accept my gratitude
For being who you are.
You came along with my beloved,
The landscape of his life.

And yet I would have chosen you,
Were you not simply there.
For I twice blessed in love have proved –
As daughter and as wife.

About the Author

Nicholas Gordon is a poet and the webmaster of the popular poetry site, Poems for Free at http://www.poemsforfree.com. He holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Stanford University. For most of his working life, he taught English at New Jersey City University, in Jersey City, NJ.

Frank & Wanda 9th Anniversary (4)