Pleasures Poem by Shalom Freedman

PLEASURES

The pleasure of eating
The pleasure of drinking
The pleasure of looking
The pleasure of seeing
The pleasure of listening
The pleasure of hearing
The pleasure of friends
The pleasure of laughter
The pleasure of love
The pleasure of kindness
The pleasure of nature
The pleasure of trees and flowers
The pleasure of children
The pleasure of grandchildren
The pleasure of helping someone
The pleasure of walking
The pleasure of conversation
The pleasure of talking
The pleasure of praying
The pleasure of communal worship
The pleasure of working
The pleasure of searching
The pleasure of finding
The pleasure of reading
The pleasure of thinking
The pleasure of ‘finding out’
The pleasure of learning
The pleasure of dreaming
The pleasure of sleeping
The pleasure of waking
The pleasure of understanding
The pleasure of questioning
The pleasure of answering
The pleasure of just being alive
The pleasure of victory
The pleasure of meeting
The pleasure of departing
The pleasure of return home
The pleasure of struggling
The pleasure of being free of the struggle
The pleasure of persistence
The pleasure of defiance
The pleasure of love
The pleasure of romance
The pleasure of calm
The pleasure of excitement
The pleasure of remembering
The pleasure of considering
The pleasure of so much of life
That still remains with me
Though many powers and pleasures diminished or gone
The pleasure of knowing there is still pleasure in life
Though so much is already lost
And so much more will be lost
The pleasure of consolation
The pleasure of understanding
The pleasure of writing
The pleasure of a new morning a new poem
The pleasure of feeling pleasure again
After a long night when there was none
The pleasure of feeling well again after illness
The pleasure of feeling life begin again
The pleasure of being able to go on and continue
The pleasure that gives appetite for life
When so many pleasures diminished or lost.