My Poem “Survivors”

I feel like I have been torn to pieces
and put back together again...
I feel like I have loved so hard, for so long,
but now I am convinced that
all the love that I once felt is gone.

I have always been a dreamer
and an unwavering optimist;
but now I see only one path before me:
the same one as that of the sun,
and one day, too, I will have shined my last,
and I will finally be free of all pain.

I have felt many connections over my life,
but almost all of the people
with whom I have shared so much
have long since gone their own way
and anything once felt has been lost.

This is what happens,
this is what has happened,
this is what I never anticipated,
this is what I never could have predicted;
but as times change
so too are people remade -
especially when they find themselves
at a crossroads, scarred by life,
and not willing to repeat the same cycle
that they have been struggling to live through
over and over, seemingly without end.

What should we do,
What would we do,
What can we do to feel something,
anything, like we once felt before?

But there is no way back.
There is no way to start anew.
There is no way to know what
would have happened if different
choices had been made -
especially when each and every day
feels simultaneously like the first and the last.

There is no way other than to
reach for tomorrow,
and hope that what we find
will once again remind us of
where we came from
and why we are still alive.

There is always a way forward,
even after something akin to
the "End of the World" -
but, if you want to give the version
of you
who rises out of the ashes of what came before
something that they will keep with them
in the new world of the future that awaits them,
you could do no better
than to gift a thought of hope
and a promise that everything
will be OK as long as they
choose to embrace, and do not fear,
the burden that is sometimes felt
by those of us who would
class ourselves as survivors.

My Poem “No One Is Ever Alone”

It's scary how fast time goes by...
It's scary how fast things can change...
It's scary how many times in our lives
we have to say goodbye...
It's scary how many people
have found themselves staring into space
as they wonder what's next?

Everybody has a dream that they
hope and pray will become a reality someday...
Everybody has a nightmare that
they wish will never come to pass...
Everybody has an ideal life
that they always imagine, 
which within their mind can seem so real
and so tangible that they can almost
make themselves believe
that all they have to do is
simply to choose to
get out of their own way...
Everybody has lost someone
who has meant something to them -
and the best way to remember
and to honour someone, in my experience,
is to take the time to stop
what you are doing and realise
that every moment is like a page
being turned in a book,
which soon transitions from being the present into becoming the past,
which leaves an impression
but not always one that is meant to last.

Life, like the universe,
can seem so big for such a small word...
Life, especially when we are young,
can seem too incredible and sometimes too unfathomable
for our minds to handle...
Life is a question with an answer -
but you have to stay until the end
in order to find out...
Life is complicated and emotional...
Life is not always good
and life is not always bad...
Life is a riddle that some people
work out slowly but surely,
while others take a more direct approach
and miss the point of why
some things happen
and why some things don't.

A traveller of time and space once said that:
"Fear can be a superpower" -
and, if you think back over your life
and everything that you have been through,
you will realise that though things
might not have gone how you
might once have envisioned they would
things happened the way that they had to,
because life consists of each and every one of us
making a difference and leaping
into the unknown with a secret:
that "No One Is Ever Alone."

Happy World Mental Health Day 2023!

In this episode, Mark celebrates World Mental Health Day. World Mental Health Day (10 Oct) is a day to talk about mental health and show everyone that mental health matters. It’s also a day to let people know that it’s okay to ask for help, no matter what you’re going through. Mark talks about some of the personal experiences he has had during his life when his mental health suffered the most. For more information about World Mental Health Day, please check out: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/world-mental-health-day

‘Playing God’ by Mark Hastings (2018) – audio book: The Man in Red – “No One Is Ever Alone”

In this episode, Mark recites the seventh and final story of his 2018 short-story collection, Playing God: ‘The Man in Red’ – “No One Is Ever Alone”, “About Playing God”, and the poems “Always the Starman” and “Hermes”. ‘Playing God’ is a collection of “Seven stories… Seven perspectives… Seven experiences… about One Man in Black, one Man in White… Seven morality tales of one immortal Rebel, Hero, Friend, Fan, Father, Son, Playing, God”. You can read Mark’s poetry on his website http://MarkThePoet.Me, and you can purchase all of Mark’s books of poetry, short-story anthologies, and novellas on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HjAJMC

‘Playing God’ by Mark Hastings (2018) – audio book: The Man in Red – “Hermes”

In this episode, Mark recites the seventh and final story of his 2018 short-story collection, Playing God: ‘The Man in Red’ – “Hermes”. ‘Playing God’ is a collection of “Seven stories… Seven perspectives… Seven experiences… about One Man in Black, one Man in White… Seven morality tales of one immortal Rebel, Hero, Friend, Fan, Father, Son, Playing, God”. You can read Mark’s poetry on his website http://MarkThePoet.Me, and you can purchase all of Mark’s books of poetry, short-story anthologies, and novellas on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HjAJMC

‘Playing God’ by Mark Hastings (2018) – audio book: The Man in Red – “I Would Do Anything”

In this episode, Mark recites the seventh and final story of his 2018 short-story collection, Playing God: ‘The Man in Red’ – “I Would Do Anything”. ‘Playing God’ is a collection of “Seven stories… Seven perspectives… Seven experiences… about One Man in Black, one Man in White… Seven morality tales of one immortal Rebel, Hero, Friend, Fan, Father, Son, Playing, God”. You can read Mark’s poetry on his website http://MarkThePoet.Me, and you can purchase all of Mark’s books of poetry, short-story anthologies, and novellas on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HjAJMC

‘Playing God’ by Mark Hastings (2018) – audio book: The Man in Blue – “Jean”

In this episode, Mark recites the fifth story of his 2018 short-story collection, Playing God: ‘The Man in Blue’ – “Jean”. ‘Playing God’ is a collection of “Seven stories… Seven perspectives… Seven experiences… about One Man in Black, one Man in White… Seven morality tales of one immortal Rebel, Hero, Friend, Fan, Father, Son, Playing, God”. You can read Mark’s poetry on his website http://MarkThePoet.Me, and you can purchase all of Mark’s books of poetry, short-story anthologies, and novellas on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HjAJMC

A Poem A Day #627: A Light in the Dark

“A Light in the Dark” by Mark Hastings was taken from Mark’s poetry collection ‘The Comeback Kid’ which was published in 2023 by Zeloo Media. Check out more of Mark’s poetry online @ http://MarkThePoet.Me – all poems © Mark Hastings ● Buy Me a coffee @ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MarkThePoet ● Check out the merch store on Redbubble: https://rdbl.co/3xWa4Rw

A Poem A Day #619: The Horizon

“The Horizon” by Mark Hastings was taken from Mark’s poetry collection ‘The Comeback Kid’ which was published in 2023 by Zeloo Media. Check out more of Mark’s poetry online @ http://MarkThePoet.Me – all poems © Mark Hastings ● Buy Me a coffee @ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MarkThePoet ● Check out the merch store on Redbubble: https://rdbl.co/3xWa4Rw

A Poem A Day #617: The Candle

“The Candle” by Mark Hastings was taken from Mark’s poetry collection ‘The Comeback Kid’ which was published in 2023 by Zeloo Media. Check out more of Mark’s poetry online @ http://MarkThePoet.Me – all poems © Mark Hastings ● Buy Me a coffee @ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MarkThePoet ● Check out the merch store on Redbubble: https://rdbl.co/3xWa4Rw