He had been hurt... He had been cursed... He had learned the hard way that some things are not meant to last - but people who truly knew Him always believed and expected that He would one day make a comeback... He had felt turned inside-out... He had felt used and worn-out... He had been attacked on every side, He had been thought to have been defeated, He had been left wounded and scarred from His experiences - but the people who had thought Him easily destroyed always got a shock when He rose again like the sun and found a way to close the distances... some people would rather discount fate and mistakenly believe that life is all a series of coincidences, but His interactions had taught Him otherwise - which is why He always trusted His senses... He had been deceived... He had been non-believed... He had been thrown to the side like a piece of litter from a car window - but what some people do not know or realise is that He never forgets and He always remembers every thing and every face that He has been shown... He has spoken; He has listened... He has been broken; He has been awakened to the good and the bad of what others and He himself did... He has felt burned - physically, as well as in effigy; but, do you know what? He does not regret the fact that He has lived... He is many things - but one thing that He likes about himself, and what some people have said that they admire about Him, is that no matter what happens He will always be The Comeback Kid.
hope
My Poem “Taken”
Over the years I have taken people on a journey with me... over the years I have literally held the hand of people and guided them to places and to things that are important to me... over the years I have told people things that only they would know about me... over the years I have opened the mind of people to what is impossible, and I too have been fascinated by what happens when there is a coming together of many feelings, emotions, colours, and expressions of what makes a difference to the way that people live, love, think, and believe. Over the years I have always been someone who goes that extra mile... over the years I have always been someone who would rather leave a lasting impression in the form of a smile... over the years I have always been someone who would spend time doing something that I knew in the long run would be worthwhile... over the years I have always been someone who knew that there was always more to be known about the substance of something or someone rather than their style. Over the years I have felt drawn to things, to places, to people from the moment that I have awoken... over the years I have felt as if I am only able to keep ahold of some things for a short amount of time before they are forsaken... over the years I have felt found, abondoned, made whole, and then broken... over the years I have felt and I have seen change happen right in front of me, I have experienced the arrival of hope and joy before my eyes, I have made the most of every moment that I have been given and I always try to return the favour of whatever or whomever I meet wherever I find myself being taken.
A Poem A Day #293: The Shard of Hope
My Poem “The Switch”
When I first began writing poetry it was like a light had been switch on... when I first began writing poetry it was at the same time that I fell in love... when I first began writing poetry it was like walking outdoors and feeling the touch of the sun... when I first began writing poetry it was like I already knew that I was a poet for life and not just for the moment. Some things you think you know for sure and forever - but then they change... some people you think you know as well as you know your own face - but then they take a hard left down an unexpected alley... some things look perfect with the right lighting - but their flaws become apparent when seen in the light of day... some people look idealistic from far away - but up-close everybody's cracks are exposed like the shadows of monuments in a valley. I didn't know what was inside of me until I found the right person with the right key to unlock the door of my library of internal poetry... I didn't know what would happen after I started walking down this road that I have been on now for years - but I knew that would never be truly alone and that there would always be something and someone with me... I didn't know what it meant to have been found until I felt my eyes, my mind, my heart, my ears, my soul open wide and never want to miss a thing about anything and everything ever again... I didn't know what lay beyond the horizon, in outer space, or in the dark, until I saw that there is always a way and a gift for me to turn to and to turn on whenever I want to like a switch.
My Poem “Nice”
It's nice when the sun is shining... it's nice when people are able to be free, instead of hiding... it's nice when nature calls and people answer... it's nice when the air is filled with golden light, when children can be seen and heard enjoying the gift of their innocence and you can feel the palpable joy in every wave of every echo of laughter. It's nice to be able to just sit and listen... it's nice to be able to just close your eyes and experience your thoughts drift away like a gentle breeze... it's nice to be able to just do "nothing" while at the same time doing something profoundly rejuvenating... it's nice to be able to have no expectations upon you so that you can focus on the constant stream of energy from your soul within that so often we feel as if we have to filter the flow of, because sometimes dreams feel like memories - however, dreams are even more powerful and integral than we might think, because even though we often do not always remember what we experience while we are sleeping, the amount of processing of our daily thoughts that we do and the importance that that process not be disrupted in any way cannot be estimated. It's nice, sometimes, to not know the conclusion of something... it's nice, sometimes, to invest your time in something that is only temporary and fleeting... it's nice, sometimes, to be a rebel and to follow your instincts - and sometimes it is nice to be cautious and to listen to the valuable wisdom of somebody's advice... sometimes it is good to free yourself of any preconceptions, any pessimism, any pressure that you may have been putting on yourself - and sometimes the simplest act of making a connection by not even trying to do so is the best and the most nice.
My Poem “The Burning Bulb”
This is what I remember... this is how it used to be... this is what I and many others like me have been unable to do for almost a year... this is how I have spent so many mornings as a writer, as a poet, and as an observer of human nature: sitting in my favourite café, as the bells of a nearby clock ring out, and feel like I am where and when I need to be to take out my notebook and write some new poetry. It hasn't been the same experience, it hasn't been the same magic - even though I have not stopped writing, nor creating new things, over the last twelve months I, like everybody, has had to adapt to living in a world divided in so many ways... even though I have not been lacking in ideas, inspiration, drive, nor passion to let my poetic side express itself - now that I am back, sitting inside and enjoying the ambience and the atmosphere around me that I know so well, which for years has fuelled my creativity, I honestly feel as if I am able to spread the wings of my intrinsically poetic and artistic spirit. I have learned over the years to embrace every moment, because things can very easily be put on pause, beyond our control, or can even be brought to an abrupt end - which is why I often dwell upon memories of where I have been, of what I have seen and of what I have felt throughout my life... I am someone who has always looked to the distant horizon and to the future - but when anybody goes through a period of being within something, or away from someone who matters to them, everybody undoubtedly feels this need to somehow go back, to recapture and to relive all that to them for so long has always felt like a constant burning bulb of energizing inspiration, light, and hope.
My Poem “Miraculous and Extraordinary”
All around the world,
today is the holy day of Easter Sunday…
today is the day which is remembered,
revered, and is considered remarkable by many,
because it is said that on the same day
two thousand years ago
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was resurrected
and is said to have ascended;
and Easter Sunday is also the day
when those in the Northern Hemisphere
celebrate the beginning of spring,
and for centuries people have
gathered together and feasted
in honour of the Germanic
goddess of the dawn Ēostre –
and it is the symbols associated
with her worship where we get
our modern customs of owning rabbits
as well as the buying and the giving
of chocolate eggs to one another.
Today is an Easter and a Sunday
that many of us will remember
for many years, for many reasons –
just as people will always remember the Easter
that we all had to endure
at this same time last year,
when the vast majority of the population
of humanity had to start living
seemingly in bubbles of isolation
away from family, friends, and co-workers;
and a year on, the world is still trying
to find a way through to the other side
of this pandemonious world wide disaster –
but everywhere that I look
around the world there are
reasons to be hopeful and optimistic
that by this time next year
we will have found a way to adapt to,
get past, and resist the worst of
what is left of what we may
always have to live with.
Today is Easter Sunday
and to be honest I can think of
no better day to be truly grateful
for what each of us have
and who each of us have in our lives –
because each of us over the past year
have had to witness people
from all walks of life having to make
sacrifices
and changes to their life from which
there will never be a way back;
but what we never change for some people
is their ability to never stop believing
that with patience and time
the restrictions on livelihoods will end
and all people who are able
will once again be free –
and if there is anything that daily
impresses me about humanity it would have to be
how some people can keep going,
how some people can keep believing,
how some people can keep
keeping the faith, no matter what –
which, to me, is a supernatural power
that is both miraculous and extraordinary.
My Poem “That which matters most”
Out of sight does not always mean out of mind…
sometimes it can be those people
who we do not get to see all the time,
because they live so far away,
who can be everything that we think about
and dream about every minute of every day…
sometimes it can be the people
who we do not talk to for days, weeks, months,
or even years who regularly to show up
in our thoughts like a reflection in a mirror –
and even though things may no longer
be as they were the history of everybody
is filled with moments when we all
learn what comes naturally
and what in life we sometimes need to earn.
It is so easy to lose things in life…
it is so easy to lose people in life…
it is so easy to lose perspective –
which is why sometimes we all need
to fight to understand what went wrong
as well as what went right…
it is so easy for us all to lose time –
which is why we all need to make
every second count and make every word
that we speak last like the legacy
of a light that we may only see
when the sky is as dark as night.
Things can sometimes be hard to handle…
situations can at times be hard to deal with…
feelings and emotions can often
be hard to carry around with you
while you are still attempting to act
as if everything is fine –
because the light that you live by
can at times feel as temporary
as that of the flame of a candle.
Life is my favourite thing about the universe,
because as someone once said:
“where there is life there is hope” –
and while I live and breathe I will always believe
that having the gift to wake up
and gaze at the beauty of the world
and wonder about who and what
makes it work, and why,
is what gives every day its meaning –
because the truth is that meaning
is what gives everything and everyone
that which matters most.
My Poem “Every New Someone”
Holding a newborn baby in your arms
always brings home how precious,
how fragile, and how utterly unique
each of us truly are…
looking into a newborn baby’s
big blue eyes reminds us all
that everybody who arrives into this world
has the right to be given the best life
and to be protected by their new family
from coming to any harm…
seeing how dependent every new
gift to the world is to who they are
born to reminds us all that
even though every child born is a miracle
no child can grow and develop independently
of the energy and the influences
that constantly surround them…
being in the presence of a couple
who are the parents of a newborn
and seeing how through trial and error
they learn how to work together
to be there for their child when
they need them really brings home
the message and the meaning of life
that reminds all of us to be in awe
at the arrival of every new someone.
Mark The Poet 