Blood Canticle

Weekly Poetry from Poems for Free: A Poem for Spring and More   by Nicholas Gordon

SPRING SPRINGS OUT SINGING FROM THE WOMB

Spring springs out singing from the womb,
Passionate and prodigal,
Returning in a blaze of bliss,
Improvident, impetuous,
Neighbor’s backyard canticle,
Grace bursting grandly into bloom!

OLD AND GOOD FRIENDS SHARE A PIECE

Old and good friends share a piece
Of passion, pain, and pleasure
That no one else, no family can
Begin to know or treasure.

It’s as if a secret room
Held their private store,
And every time they met, they could
Go through some special door.

It doesn’t matter if they see
Each other every day,
Or years and years go by before
They come and go away:

The moment that they meet it all
Is there–the memories of
Fierce loyalty and times of need
And gratitude and love.

I MISS YOU THOUGH I HAVE YOU HERE BESIDE ME

I miss you though I have you here beside me.
Blood can flow before the wound appears.
Imagination, painful now, will guide me
Through the coming hard and lonely years.
I find it hard to face our separation,
Feeling in advance the wrenching pain,
Imagining the years of desolation
Until we are together once again.
Yet that same imaginary power
Will bring to us beforehand all the joy
That, dreamed of in some isolated hour,
Our sad and lonely weariness will buoy.
Thus though I suffer more while You Are near,
I’ll suffer less when you’re no longer here.

GLENDA

Glenda gives far more than she receives;
Losses swell, like lakes from dammed-up streams.
Even she deserves life’s deeper pleasures:
Nights of love, days with those she treasures …
Despite some setbacks, Glenda has her dreams –
A time for which she longs, and hopes, and grieves.

EIGHTEEN

Eighteen has no answers but her own,
Intent on yielding nothing to despair.
Glad tidings, if they come, must come alone,
Having crossed the desert, bleak and bare.
There is no heaven suitable for hope,
Even in the ecstasy of dreams.
Each moment is more limited in scope,
Not one ounce more transcendent than it seems.

HAPPY SECOND ANNIVERSARY

Happy second anniversary!
Adjustments have been made, and time moves on.
Pleasure becomes more than you and me;
Paradise is just another dawn.
Yet there is yet a bloom upon the rose
So long as there is charity and will.
Even as the passion comes and goes,
Caring is the best seducer still.
Of time and love there is much to be learned;
No happiness can last unless it’s earned,
Depending on your need, desire, and skill.

HAVING WALKED THE TIGHT-LIPPED JERSEY STREETS

Having walked the tight-lipped Jersey streets,
A house to every inward-turning love,
Peaceful, neat, above all else secure,
Pausing, I am ravished by their beauty.
Years will tell the stories of these streets;
Each house, the joy of its secluded love,
As children come and go, indulged, secure,
Singed or not by life’s most awesome beauty.
There is no quarter on these death-strewn streets,
Each house the scene of terror, pain, and love,
Redeemed alone by the passion of its beauty.

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.
Blood Canticle