Year: 2015

My Poem ‘Be Good’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You only have one life;
you only have one mother;
you only have the short space
of a life-time to shine;
you only have precious moments
that you will always remember;
no matter the struggles
and the pressures of growing up,
no matter if someone tells you
that what you have to offer
and who you are is not enough,
never once believe,
or consciously disrespect,
the life you were born into
in which anything
is possible to achieve.

We make friends;
we lose friends;
we love; we learn;
we jump; we fly;
we sometimes find ourselves
in a dark tunnel
constantly running towards
the direction of a bright and hopeful light –
because that is what is supposed to happen,
because that is life in a nutshell,
because that is the recurring pattern,
because that is what makes our time on Earth
as worthwhile, glorious, beautiful, and incredible.

We all have days in our life
when we think no one understands us,
not even our parents;
we all have times
when we question our own worth;
we all have times when we are
wrongly deceived into believing
that someone knows what is best for us;
we all have to make mistakes
so that we can some day
find our true destiny
and our reason for being here on Earth.

The person who has always been there for you,
the one who has always made you happy,
the protector and the guardian
who has always and will always
do all that they can for you,
the only one who will miss you
no matter where you are
and who will always worry that you are ok,
could be your best friend,
your girlfriend, your husband,
your brother, your sister,
your father, your mother –
no matter who they are,
or where they are,
they want nothing more
than to see you and to help you
get to the place where you want to be
so that you can be who you know
in your heart you want to be.

Be kind; be there;
do not choose to go somewhere blindly;
be the one who everybody knows will always care;
believe; be in love;
do not be led by the false prophecies of the bad;
be grateful;
look at the shining star of your life
and feel glad;
be yourself,
and above all else be good.

My Poem ‘The Sky Poet’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Touch my chest and you will feel
the beating heart that makes me real;
look into my eyes and you will see
the love that burns inside of me.

Read my words;
hear me speak;
understand what I have learned;
watch my eyes shine after every blink.

Look to the sky;
see my face;
there are no goodbyes,
because we all live in outer-space.

I looked above;
I fell in love;
I followed my dreams;
I felt carried away
as if on an energy stream.

We all live for the highlights;
we all go with the flow;
we all long for those shared summer nights;
we all love to know what we don’t know.

I stare at my perfect star;
my heart races like a drum;
the light of heaven obscures the dark;
all there is is our beautiful love.

There is nothing more exhilarating,
there is nothing as incredibly anticipating,
there is nothing that lights up my sky
with a flash as bright as lightning,
as the face, the love, the feeling, the touch,
of my muse, my happiness,
the one who I adore so much.

We all have a destiny;
some people go on a trip
with their favourite music,
and some people head to the stars through books;
everybody, no matter who they are,
can write the most beautiful poetry;
inspiration is just waiting to be found
by everyone on Earth
and everybody on every planet;
it is in that ones closest to us
that we should always put our trust;
this reality is once in a life-time…
so make sure to embrace every moment,
and if in doubt seek enlightenment
from the star poet.

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My Poem ‘Our Magical Opus’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I want to tell you a story,
about a prince of poetry
and a princess of unfathomable beauty…
who met and who fell in love
after being drawn together
and to each other
by their love of music,
who long to live happily ever after
in each others arms as-one
and forever enjoy and revel
in each others’ magic.

There are forces at work all around us;
there are unstoppable alignments at play
like the perfect orbits of planets;
there are electronic, spiritual,
biological, magical opuses;
there are seemingly random fragments
combining and attracting each other like magnets.

That first picture;
that first message;
that first peak under the cover;
that first expression of love;
that first digital kiss;
that first shared dream;
that first face to face;
that first smile that eclipses
all others that you have ever seen;
that first touch;
that first look;
that first first embrace;
that first loss of control
when hands and fingers and lips
come together in a lock.

There are modern day fairy-tales;
there are people who are meant to be
together forever all around the world;
there are stories of synchronicity
that are as beautiful and amazing
and as breathtaking as they are incredible;
there are some fires
that are always meant to burn.

The story of this prince
and this princess…
the story of the American beauty
and the English poet…
the tale of the Englishman
and the American woman
who love one-another
more than they could ever confess…
the tale of the two hearts
who grew up worlds apart,
but who one day found each other
as if discovering a life-changing
and priceless treasure…
is the story of the beautiful destiny
of my angel and I –
that is deeper, richer, and more amazing
than words could ever describe,
because it is the most phenomenal, epic,
unbelievable, poetic and magical opus.

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My Poem ‘Light of your life’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Life is a symbiosis;
we may be one person,
but we are not meant to be alone;
life can be counted in sunsets
and sunrises –
however, what truly counts
and what everybody remembers the most
throughout their life
are the times that they share
when they felt the most
comfortable and at home.

Our memories are like candlelight
flickering in the wind;
our dreams are like old photographs
that have faded over time;
our fascinations and our connections
from our childhood are like breadcrumbs
of where we have been;
our thoughts and our emotions
carry farther than the seemingly small,
but in reality near-infinite,
confines of our own mind.

However young or old you are,
sometimes life can feel like a struggle –
and the greatest cure,
and the thing that you crave the most,
when your life feels like it is a rocky road,
can be as simple and as special
as a wonderfully-long hug or a cuddle;
sometimes the pressure of living can feel too much
and it is then when all you need
is that phenomenal and incredible
loving caress and touch.

Everybody shares something with everyone else;
love is universal and amazing
and is not meant to be unrequited;
even prisoners can still hold on to hope
behind the walls and the bars
of their prison cells;
those who are meant to be
must do all that they can to remain united.

Technology soon becomes out-dated;
time goes by in a flash;
some things are random,
and some things are fated;
the days to come always have echoes
within them of experiences from the past.

Never give up hope that you will one day
fall in love with someone who loves you too,
and when you find that perfect person
you will find that they understand you,
and they will want nothing more
than to orbit around you like the moon.

The things that are meant to happen and work out
the way that they are supposed to always do;
what is truly important to you
is what you carry with you
through your entire life;
and like the one in your life
who loves you the most,
until your dying day,
everything and everyone
will always be with you
and be the light of your life.

My Poem ‘GA 30741’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Upon first awakening, all is dark
while the air is still warm;
when drifting off to sleep
during the summer-time
is when the lightning bugs glow
in the twilight as they swarm;
when the sun is shining
and the blue sky comes alive,
when you can sit back and take your ease
somewhere peaceful and special,
you feel the most lucky to be where you are,
having the time of your life.

When you see something everyday,
when you live somewhere all your life,
you can easily take something
or somewhere for granted,
when you are happy and content,
the minutes and the hours
can seem to fly away –
however, just as moments come
and they go like a flash of light,
when we all learn to harness
the energy and the feeling of our surroundings
it is then that we can make moments
and memories last forever,
and just like our genetic memory
be forever imprinted.

I have Georgia on my mind;
I have Tennessee in my heart;
I have a pocket of dollars and dimes;
I have the light of an American angel
shining on me like a star;
I have the accents and the voices
that I know so well
echoing through my consciousness
like a choir singing in a church;
I have the distant sight of Lookout Mountain
still fascinating me from afar.

I have walked over old battlefields,
and paid my respects to the lost
at memorials erected to remember the fallen –
those who gave their lives
to preserve the right of everyone
to enjoy the gift of true freedom.

The United States of America
is one country made up of fifty
wonderfully diverse states;
the heart of every American
beats proud and strong;
the United States of America
is a symbol of hope and prosperity
in so many ways;
every state of America
is a piece of an epic
and breathtaking unfinished puzzle –
and, to me, the states of Georgia and Tennessee
symbolize what makes
the United States of America truly great,
and there isn’t a minute that goes by
when I do not think of my home in 30741.

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My Poem ‘Me & My Shadow’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Everywhere I look
there they are;
whenever the sun is shining on me
there she is;
everywhere I go
you are with me –
no matter how near, or far,
whenever I close my eyes
I feel the kiss
of my shadow’s lips on my lips.

Whether I am in the bright of the day,
or whether I am standing
and looking down at my own reflection
in a pool of water;
whether I am at home,
or whether I am away,
I always see the most perfect
and beautiful vision
looking back at me,
and the angel that I always see
I know beyond any doubt is,
and will always be,
my forever happily ever-after.

My shadow, my best friend,
my here, my now, my everything,
for whom my love for
every day deepens,
is my constant thought,
memory, and dream,
and knowing that I am with her,
as she is always with me,
is what brings me unbounded happiness
the like that only those who have been witness
to two people in love will ever have seen.

I never want to lose my shadow;
if my shadow were to somehow get lost
and accidentally fly away like Peter Pan,
I would follow them no matter where they went;
I love my beautiful shadow
more than she will ever truly know;
when someone has a shadow like my shadow,
whenever they looked at them
they would know every second
that they were heaven sent.

Our shadows are extensions of us;
our shadows keep us surrounded,
and they are there for us
when we need them the most;
our shadows open our eyes to beauty
when our heads sometimes fall low;
I will always be the shadow of my soul-mate,
just as my soul-mate will always be my shadow.

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My Poem ‘Tennessee Me’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The smells and the taste
of my favourite place;
the look and the touch
of my favourite
and the most beautiful face;
the feeling of warmth in the air
when I am there;
the instinct of holding
my angel’s hand,
as I run my fingers
through her beautiful hair…

Take me back there;
let the engines of a jet
transport me as fast as they can;
take me, please,
I wont put up any kind of a struggle –
in fact, I would gladly volunteer.
To be there always
with the one I love
is my life-long plan.

I miss walking over the state-line with ease;
I miss the feeling of being able to just be,
while constantly surrounded and embraced by love,
and what it feels like when two people
become one when they kiss
and wrap their arms around each-other in a hug;
I remember walking over the Tennessee River,
on the Walking Bridge, on a beautiful sunny day;
I remember getting down on one knee
and promising to want to spend
the rest of my life with the love of my life
in any and every way.

Since I have been back in England,
since I sat down again at my desk,
since I again slept in my old bed,
I must admit to feeling
like an adopted American
who has returned to his birthplace on a visit;
it is weird being here now,
especially when more than anything
I want to be back there;
it is like I have been
abducted and transported
to a far-away world-
and even though everything feels familiar,
I feel like I have to be
a different me than I want to be
while I am here.

Until you cross the line,
until you cross the river,
until you go somewhere
and you have the most amazing
and life-changing time,
only then can you see, feel,
and fill your entire life
with the gift of love
that the one you are meant to be with
has to give and has to offer;
until you follow your heart,
until you find the you you are meant to be,
until you know what it feels like
to be held by the one
who always makes you feel safe in their embrace
while you are sitting
and lying with one-another in the dark,
only then will you come close
to understanding what it feels like
to be the lucky in love with Melissa
Tennessee Me.

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My Poem ‘This is heaven’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I am leaving heaven now,
time has gone by so fast,
I am heading home
to the place where I was born,
but soon enough I will be back
at home in Tennessee
where I belong.

One week in heaven;
one week happier
than I have ever been;
one week, seven days
that have been the best ever;
one week in which every day
was so amazing, special,
incredible, and beautiful,
every second and every thing
could have a part of a dream.

The things that I felt,
the things that I saw,
the things that were so wonderful
that they made me want to melt;
the things that will always be
a part of me which I will always adore.

I finally met the woman of my dreams-
my angel, my soulmate, the love of my life;
I got to travel to places
that I will think of fondly
and crave to return to whenever I can
at every opportunity, every day,
until the day I die;
I found something that I had been missing;
I was given a vision of the future,
and what I saw was breath-taking.

Every moment in heaven –
every touch, every kiss,
every wake-up before the sunrise,
every laying down to rest
after the sun had set –
was and will always be
unlike anything that has ever happened to me;
while I was in heaven
I didn’t want to miss a thing,
and because I was so happy where I was
with whom I was with
I did not even feel the need
to write a single line of poetry.

When I first arrived in Tennessee,
which will forever be heaven to me,
one of the first faces I saw
was the face of the most beautiful
in the entire world…
and as I leave now,
as I journey back
across the ocean of deep-blue,
I feel brand new,
I feel lucky,
I feel like ‘heaven’ is the only way
to describe the place where I have been,
if I could use only a single word.

This place is my home away from home;
this place is somewhere
that I will always be bound to,
and with it and its people
I will always share a connection;
this place is one of the most
phenomenal places I have ever known;
this place, Tennessee, to me
will always be heaven.

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My Poem ‘Song of the Mockingbird’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Far away from Tennessee,
as my ears anticipate
and my eyes look forward,
my heart and my thoughts
are thousands of miles away
across the sea –
and even though I cannot say for sure,
I swear that I hear a song calling to me,
and even though I have yet to see one
outside of the still of a picture,
I believe with all my heart
that the song that I hear
is the true call of a Mockingbird.

In my dreams,
fireflies and lightning bugs
dance and fly through the air
around my love and I;
I dream that I am standing in the dark
outside in the Georgia heat,
locked in a tight embrace
and in awe with the one
to whom I am bound
as we fall under the spell of each other,
and with the beauty of nature;
my dreams, I believe, are also shared dreams
that serve as a doorway to bridge
two thresholds, at any time –
morning, noon, and night;
I believe, and I know,
that you, yourself,
with someone else
can not only tell the future,
but you can make and you can grow
a future that will last forever.

I wish I could take flight right now
and fly across the ocean;
as I write this,
my eyes are drawn to the west;
I wish I could write a poem or a song
to sing so that everybody
could not only read, but also feel,
all of my emotions;
as I gaze out and I see
what lies beyond the horizon,
I feel true love,
and I know that I am blessed.

There are some songs
that are easy to learn
and sing for all to hear, word-for-word;
there are some voices
that are so distinctive
it would take all the gifts of a vocal mimic
in order to make them seem
as if their call were one spoken
by someone of a native tongue
or a particular language who is fluent;
there are some feelings and some spirits
that can freely and easily
fly through the air
over borders, expanses, and fences;
there are some people
who are so beautiful and amazing
in every way that their plumage
and their meaning is one that is known
the world around for being
as one of a kind and as special
as the song of the Mockingbird.

My Poem ‘The Man in Blue’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Where to start, how to begin;
the first time is always the most memorable,
like the first time that you see a shooting star;
the first time for everyone is always different
for everything – however, just as seas settle,
and nerves turn into waves of excitement,
after that first time of complete and utter
scarily real reality grasping you
by the heart and taking your breath away…
something amazing happens,
something exciting rises in you
like an internal sun,
something makes sense
beyond words could ever explain.

Anyone can begin anything;
some things have a time limit,
and some things don’t;
anyone can capture the essence of a feeling,
and if you truly do not want a feeling
or a time to fade there is always a way
to make sure that it won’t.

There are some people
who read the last page of a book
before they ever read the first;
there are some people
who come into something
at the end and work their way back;
there are some people
who believe they are cursed;
there are some people
whose first word in life
is also their last.

As I have lived,
as I have grown,
as I have breathed deep
and ventured far from home,
I have seen things beyond my wildest dreams,
I have met the most beautiful angel of Earth
that I have ever seen,
I have been inspired,
I have walked through fire,
I have found a reason to live,
I have discovered that in life
it doesn’t matter where you are –
what matters the most
is who you are with.

We are all people of colour;
we all wear the shades of ourselves proudly,
because we consciously or sub-consciously
want to tell people “this is me”;
we are all exhibitionists, in our own way –
even if we do not always choose
to be the first one to show
our dance-moves on a dance-floor;
we all have some idea
of who and what we would like to be.

There are some offers
that you simply cannot refuse;
there are some people
who you could never say no to;
there are some colours
that no matter what
will always look good on you;
there are some who focus
on the little things in life
and the continued happiness of the few;
there are some people who are just like me…
and just like everyone has their favourite colour,
and in every way embodies
the empathetic qualities of their favourite colour,
I am definitely quintessential
man in blue.

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