Every year, every month, every week,
every day, I proceed forward
at the same time that I reflect back upon my life -
including the things that I have done,
the experiences that I have had,
and, most importantly, the people whom I have known -
and time and time again I am staggered by
the how much I, and the world around me,
has changed, and I also wonder how
and why I am still here and still doing what I have
been doing for as long as I can remember…
there must be a reason, there has to be an explanation,
there must be an answer to why things happened
and happen the way that they always have, and always will -
that is what I tell myself, and I have been telling myself,
for years, since I came to the realisation
that I have a purpose beyond comprehension…
as the tidal waves of the tsunami of change -
often caused by an unseen, and yet powerful,
reality explosive influence spread and engulf us all,
we are given a choice because of which we must
immediately reach within ourselves
a response, a decision, as well as solution
to the situation that we must face,
and sometimes the most important thing to do
in such a situation is to simply take a breath
and go with the first instinct that comes afterwards.
Everyone, everywhere, seeks guidance
every time everything seems to be going
not as they expected and envisioned it would -
because confusion and chaos is always waiting in the wings
to consume us with fear, anxiety, pain, anger,
and drag us down into a darkness of our own making…
within darkness there will always be light -
even if that light is only but an echo and an afterimage -
and where there is light there is hope,
where there is light there is life,
and where there is the potential for finding
that which you have been unable to obtain,
it is essential to understand that sometimes
we always must journey into the unknown
and follow the path of our own destiny;
and sometimes it is only the fleeting gift of time
that we get to realise and receive the best insight
there could ever be of why what we do matters
and how what we believe and feel
can impact us and others around us,
as well as far away, and far into the future -
because we are all connected
and travelling together through time,
and each of us, everywhere, every minute,
every hour, every day, every month, every year,
are all leaping from one reality of possibilities to another -
and that thought, to me, is what makes life
worth living, embracing, continuing,
promising, and maintaining,
generation after generation.
generation
My Poem “Always”
My heart goes out to everybody
who is having to adapt to doing things
and to living their life as best as they can
in a vastly different way than they had
previously known how to
since all of the restrictions put upon
their interactions, the way that they shop,
how they work, and how they learn
were introduced in order
to combat against an unseen
and an easily transmissible enemy
that has seemingly brought
the modern world to a stand still.
My heart goes out to parents,
because most of them have had
to adapt to becoming not only
their child’s guardian and around
the clock source of entertainment,
but they have also had to become
their child’s tutor and home school teacher –
and in most cases parents are struggling
to be all the things that their child
needs them to be all of the time,
while perhaps also simultaneously
having to juggle the responsibility
of being a supportive partner.
My heart goes out to the children
of this generation who want to learn
and who dream of becoming something
and someone with a calling
and a purpose in life to be fulfilled…
my heart goes out to those families
who are having to share their one
and only means of accessing the Internet
and those who are having to take it in turns
to seek out some kind of escapism
from the stark reality of world events
in any way that they can.
One thing that is undeniable
is that life is hard for people right now,
and the world, unfortunately,
seems more fragmented than ever;
however, whenever I see new art being created,
whenever I hear of new music being shared,
whenever I find out about new
innovations that are being made,
whenever I look beyond the shores
of my island home,
I am reminded of how resilient the human spirit is –
which is why I do not stop myself
from believing that with a little time,
patience, and perseverance
the human race will one day
collectively come out from
the shadow of this dark era
more resolute than ever,
stronger than ever,
consistently riding the waves of change,
because we have always been a species
who no matter what has always found a way.
My Poem ‘The Hummingbird House’
Standing in a room
surrounded in every direction
by flying hummingbirds;
the childhood dream
of a little girl walking
through a vast field of yellow daises
beneath a cloudless bright-blue sky;
standing on a green hilltop
looking down at your home below;
the adventure of a not-yet
grown up boy’s life-time,
and a return to a place
that he knows so well
it is almost as indelibly under his skin
it could almost be a tattoo;
on a cold winter’s day
the light shines differently
than it does at the same time of day
during the summer;
people change just as much as the seasons do;
a simple act of kindness can be something
that some people hold on to for luck
like a four-leafed clover;
when you become intoxicated by a moment
time goes wonderfully slow.
Dreams are our life’s internal movie-theatre;
our dreams are like the software
that runs the most powerful super-computer;
emotions are our way of interpreting
the meaning of what we see,
what we hear, what we feel,
and what we think;
all of our memories share and are
connected to an infinite number of mutual links.
Two different people
can look up at the same cloudy sky
and see two radically different formations;
a hundred people can be in the same place
at the same time for many different reasons;
a thousand people could each give you
a thousand and one different answers
to the same question;
all of human-kind begins anew
a different cycle every time
there is the rise of a new generation.
A house made of glass tells no lies,
but at the same time is precious to the touch
because of what it is;
a rose is one of the most beautiful gifts of nature,
but it also has the means to protect itself;
to me, someone with a thousand books to read
is richer than someone with a thousand dollars to spend;
a dream that has come true for you
is also known by another name: happiness;
heaven is a story that has no end;
everybody and anybody who has ever stopped
and stood, and who has ever looked
at a beautiful sight with an open mouth,
knows intimately what it is like
to have been inside a hummingbird house.
Mark The Poet 