Giving gifts is a vital part of life... receiving gifts is something that no one should take for granted... giving gifts is something that always fills me with delight... receiving gifts is a gift, in and of itself - especially to those people who say that love and happiness is the thing that they have always wanted and all that anyone in life truly needs. Giving a gift should be easy - which, for the most part, it is; the hardest thing is always the selecting of what to buy, for whom, and why... receiving a gift should be second nature; however, for some people, for some reason, receiving gifts can make them feel uncomfortable, because they feel as if they cannot reciprocate the same value of gift that they have been given. A gift given and received can range from something as simple and yet meaningful as a ring, or a CD, to a car, or a plane-ticket to somewhere with a beach; but the important gift that anyone on Earth give is of course the gift of their time - which is gift that is free and one which that will last a lifetime. The act and the art of giving a gift should be painless; however, unfortunately, some people can be incredibly particular about what they want to be given, when, why, and how - and sometimes meeting someone's high-expectations can be a struggle; however, as people get older, the value of the gift that they are given, and what it is, is outweighed by the magic of gesture of someone doing something for someone else and being a part of someone's thoughts. A gift that is given is supposed to be a token of someone's affection, not a chore that someone felt forced to do... a gift received from someone special to you should be accepted and welcomed as a memento of a relationship worth remembering. A gift may not always be something that you can take with you - but whatever we choose to give, and whatever we are given, is a gift of the present, as well as a memory that can bridge the gulf of time; and, in my opinion, there is nothing on Earth that could ever compare to the gift of giving. Happy Thanksgiving!
gifts
My Poem “Revelation”
Life in the cities feels like
it is slowly restarting…
life on the streets feels like it is
in some way restoring…
the sunlight that falls upon
the windows of the tall buildings
reflects back upon everything
and everybody and makes the world
shimmer and glisten…
the beautiful weather beckons
to the young and the old –
and even in the slightest of sunbeams
there are sights and there sounds
to be found that could be thought of
as gifts of personal perfection.
There are moments of silence…
there are moments of laughter…
there are moments of stillness…
there are moments of drama…
there are moments of childhood…
there are moments of exploration…
there are moments of love…
there are moments of deep,
peaceful and necessary
meditation and contemplation.
Everybody’s life is slightly
different from one day to the next…
the weather of our planet
has been teaching us for centuries
that there will always be
some things in this world
that we will never be able to control
no matter how hard we try
or how much we are blessed…
everything is governed
by a clockwork cycle of universal
laws and proportions that are so
inherent to what makes life
what it is that it’s signature
can be seen time and again within
so many examples of nature…
the more that you believe
that there is no more to know,
that there are no other places to go,
and that life can no longer surprise you
is naturally when something or someone
will challenge that view
and deliver to you a revelation
that will make you question your past,
that will make you look at your present,
and influence the course of your future.
My Poem “Be Thrifty”
There are times of the year,
especially around Christmas time,
when you have got to think about
the likes, the needs, the wishes,
and the feelings of
more than one person simultaneously,
when you have to think about
what would be the perfect gift
to buy somebody in order to demonstrate
how much someone means to you,
when you have got to take advantage
of every given situation and offer
in order to be shrewd with what you
have to spend –
which is why so many people
flock out the door on days
like “Black Friday” and they go
from store to store in order
to find something that is being
advertised at being sold
at a fraction of the price
that they normally are.
The stores around Christmas time
are always full of people trying
to see, to pick up, and to purchase
what they have in mind,
what is on the list that they may have made,
or what they subliminally feel
compelled to buy in some way.
Christmas shopping is never easy –
in fact it gets harder to do every year;
however, I personally have always
enjoyed the process of putting
a great deal of thought
into who I am going to buy a gift for,
but sometimes I find new things
that I have not seen before
and when I do I have learned
the hard way that if you see something
that you have never seen before
which fits perfectly into
the mold in your mind
that pertains to someone that you know
you need to get it while you can
because their is always someone
right behind you who will
not hesitate to make the most
of the opportunity to walk away
with your original find and thought.
When Christmas shopping
you really do need to start early,
you need to take your time,
and you steadily need to
build up an instinct and a biography
about what a particular person
whom you know may have mentioned
in passing, subconsciously hoping
that someone would take note –
so my advice for anybody like me
who is currently in the process
of buying presents for family members,
less than a month before Christmas,
is to start now, to make a physical
or a mental lists before hand
that you can refer back to,
and of course to be quick,
to be thoughtful, to be calm,
and when possible to be thrifty.
My Poem “Never Stop Reaching”
Most dreamers, most writers,
most artists, like me,
often reach beyond what they know
in order to imagine, to see,
and to understand things
that they do not know,
have never experienced,
and have never seen –
sometimes you just have to,
sometimes you just have to
take a leap of imagination
into another world
equipped with as much knowledge
and first-hand accounts from people
who have been through
what you want to say
and let what you have heard
play out throughout your mind
and be interpreted with your own
internal voice and your artistic echo chamber,
and then share with your own
artistic license in the way
that a poet does…
no two people will have
the exact same thing to say about the same something –
unless they are experiencing a moment
of true and unfiltered synchronicity –
because, most of the time,
our memories and our experiences
have their own unique and predetermined
say on how we will personally
react to a given situation…
everybody finds their own truth
in their own time…
everybody finds their own gifts
in their own way…
everybody finds their own identity
in the mirror the more that they
find people who inspire them
and give them an answer to
what and why they are who they are
and how they should be living their life…
everybody finds their own discipline to practice,
their own doctrine to follow,
their own natural medicine to heal their own
unseen scars, the more that they
make strides down paths
that they do not know the end of…
everybody who is adventurous
is like a child – no matter how old they are –
because they know that sometimes
you have to reach the edge of something,
sometimes you have to leap
into the unknown without thinking,
and no matter what you are doing
you should never stop reaching.
My Poem “The Modern Mythology”
Every mythology has stories of heroes and villains…
every tale ever told that has survived through the ages
lives on because they have a moral truth at their heart…
every religion that has attracted followers to its teachings
has fundamental rules that are expected to be adhered to by,
and which are staples in the life of,
any person with faith in what their
religion’s holy texts tell them is essential…
every mythology is filled with individuals
with super-human abilities that allow them
to change the world around them…
every mythology has an origin story
that explains where the world
and everything in it came from…
every mythology has a creator as its figure-head
who is prayed to and worshiped so that they
might bless their believers
with miracles and gifts of good fortune…
every country has their own cultures
who have their own individual mythologies…
every era of history has intertwined with it
modern interpretations of old tales
that fit into the events playing out
all around the world that are documented
in so many modern ways…
even in this day and age,
there are stories being documented –
on T.V., in films, in newspapers, in literature –
in the posts that people share on social media –
of people endowed with power who don’t know
how to wield the influence at their fingertips,
as well as tales of heroism
and rebellion against oppression…
creators create mythologies every day –
in comic books, in novels, in urban legends,
in technology, on television, in art,
in architecture, in structures built
with a specific purpose that are meant
to be draw people to them so that they can admire them –
that slowly enter the lexicon of our society…
our world was built upon, and continues to thrive,
because of the stories that combine together
to make the tapestry of life
that is our modern mythology.
My Poem “Hidden Talents”
Everybody has a hidden talent, or two…
everybody has a gift
to make all their dreams come true…
everybody is an undercover creator…
everybody is an observer,
a sharer, a communicator…
everybody has a secret identity…
everybody has a secret personality…
everybody has a secret story…
everybody has a secret destiny
that is theirs and theirs alone
that has a hidden meaning at its centre
which is constantly speaking to them
and guiding them to the person
who they are meant to be…
most of the time it is only when we are alone
that we fully express our inner voices…
most of the time it is only when we allow our mind to wander
that we show the truest versions of our inner creativity…
most of the time it is only when we are dreaming
that we find ourselves truly embracing a spotlight
under which we can sing to our hearts content –
however, there are those who are lucky enough
to be able to make theirs dreams come true
and every day show in everything that they do
why it is important to believe in yourself
and make the most of every one of your
miraculous hidden talents.
My Poem “Some Gifts”
Some gifts we are born with…
some gifts we slowly find
as we look, listen, think, breathe,
and as we feel the song of the world
synchronize with our heart beats…
some gifts come to us in our dreams…
some gifts are such a part of us
that every day is a journey of discovery
to discover what our gifts mean…
some gifts leave us for a short time
before rising to the surface again
to take a breath and to take a look around
so that they can restart their fire of desire
like a phoenix’s flaming tail that never stops burning…
some gifts just need time to go to new places
in order for them to express themselves like never before.
Every gift has the power to renew itself –
as long as there is solid ground beneath them
to take off from and a sky of infinite possibilities
above them to keep the constellations of stars turning…
all gifts are doorways, however some gifts
are able to create things that nobody has ever experienced,
heard, felt, nor seen before.
Some days ideas come like a trickle of interconnected thoughts
and some days some gifts manifest themselves
like a tidal wave of inspiration,
or like a storm that ultimately reaches its climax
when ideas rise and fall
like the raindrops of a downpour.
My Poem ‘A Mother’s Nature’
Every son and every daughter
needs a hero to look up to
while growing up…
every child deserves the best
that their parents can give them –
but the gift of a mother’s love
is so unparreleled and so pure,
and without the gifts
that only a mother can give
no child would know
what the power of love truly means…
mothers go through a rollercoaster of emotions
as they put the needs and the feelings
and the future of their child before their own…
mothers and fathers are both responsible
for the life, the caring, the well-being,
and the building of the nest
that is at the centre of their childs’ world –
however, a child will want for nothing
as long as they always have a place
to call their home.
So much of life is about sacrifice –
but there is nothing more important to a child,
and nothing else that they will remember more,
than those moments of true happiness and innocence
when they were a small child
just before they drifted off to sleep
and they stared into their parents’ smiling face
as they wished them good-night.
Every form of nature has seasons,
and sometimes both fathers and mothers
have to weather more than their children could ever know…
sometimes both fathers and mothers
have to go through indescribable hurt and heart-break
just so that their children might not have
to suffer the same fate of falling
to the depths to where life
sometimes makes people go.
As with most things in life,
there is no perfect blue-print,
nor is there anybody who could honestly proport
to being all-knowing when it comes
to what is best for their child –
but the most important thing
is to always be there for your child
with open-arms, to not judge your child
for who they are, and no matter what
be the one who will always nurture.
The life of a Mom can be hard sometimes,
and it can be filled with just as many tears
as there are smiles –
however, there is nobody who has never
needed and not wanted to be loved
and understood by their parents,
and at the heart of a true mother of children
there lies a pure and eternal love,
and among everything that can sustain a child
throughout their life, truly and in every way,
there is nothing more beautiful,
nor more wonderful to see,
than the gifts of love of a mother’s nature.
My Poem ‘Cornucopia’
Different voices appeal to different people…
different values can be found
within the heart of members of the same family…
different songs and different styles of music
strike different tones depending on
who is listening to them…
different minds and different lives
contain different thoughts, feelings,
and drives, that need the right elixir
to elicit a reaction to break the shell
of their outside facade to set them free.
We are all different – nobody is a robot…
we are all looking for what makes sense –
but sometimes life is a melting-pot
from which we have to put the time
and the effort into molding the molten-soup
that we find into exactly what we want.
Humanity is a choir
of many different accents,
that at times sing harmoniously
as-one with the same message…
our entire planet and every form of life
is an opera with an infinite number
of parts and characters…
some people can be kind,
some people can be savage –
and yet everyone is a vital instrument
in life’s interstellar-orchestra,
even though some people may not think
that what they say actually matters.
I have always championed diversity,
differences, and variety…
I have always thought that it was both
healthy and necessary to make-believe,
to find something that you love doing,
and to never feel too self-conscious
about doing what makes you happy…
some people listen to music,
some people make music,
some people express their gifts
through art that can be easily shared –
me, I write poetry…
but one thing is for sure:
everybody is meant to be different,
and the world is meant to be
a diverse cornucopia.
Mark The Poet 