From the moment that I
open my eyes every morning,
my mind, my heart,
my extra-sensory perception
of the world is well and truly ON…
From the moment that I am awoken
and I am in full control
of my actions and my decisions,
the light of my soul rises
and again starts to shine like the sun…
From the moment that I step
off of the dream path that I have been walking
all throughout the night,
I slowly feel fully reintegrated
and reconnected to the physical world…
From the moment that I feel
the air of the morning upon my skin,
I feel something within me reach out
and grasp the energy of the new day
that instantly breathes new life into me –
and that reinvigoration of spirit
does not end until the stars above
shine again and the light of the day is done…
From the moment that I fall asleep
another part of me takes over
and goes to the places that can only be reached
when the light of the world of true,
unfiltered, and pure imagination
has been switched from OFF to ON.
light
My Poem “The Golden Season”
Golden light beams down from above…
A feeling of comfort floods the air…
Brown leaves tumble and are carried by the gentle breeze…
Change is everywhere…
The ground is wet, making it slippery under foot…
Things look the same – but, as with every new day,
differences surround and reveal themselves to me…
It is a magical time of the year…
New stories are being written,
as Old tales are being retold…
The cycle of nature continues
and now it is the season of Autumn’s turn
to fall upon everyone like a flurry of red leaves…
This season of transition will herald the arrival
of one of our world’s greatest natural wonders…
This season will be when all the instruments
and when all the notes and the chords will be played
by the ever-present players of nature’s orchestra,
whose music will crescendo higher and higher
until the last leaves have danced and fallen
in time with the golden season’s symphony
until it’s last breath.
My Poem “The Old Mark”
There is a man looking at me
before my eyes…
there is a man looking at me
who I do not recognize…
there is a man looking at me
who has my memories…
there is a man looking back at me
as I look at them who has been
growing within me for years…
there is a man who has lived
every day with me, and I realize
now that we are eye to eye who they are…
there is a man who is as close
as can be to me
who used to be nothing more
than a shadowy figure on the horizon…
there is a man who looks like a man,
but who also seems so alien to me
that for all I know
he could have come from Mars…
there is a man who was once young
and unscarred by life, by people, and by himself,
but who is who I see now in X-ray
and for all his faults…
I see myself as I once was, and as I am now –
one and the same, a man of light and a man of dark…
I see the young dreamer,
and the old Mark.
My Poem “Siren of the Stars”
When I look above
my attention is instantly captured…
when I listen to the hum of the night
the barrier between reality
and my dreams becomes fractured…
within the same moment
I see light and dark –
a bright sun and a full-moon…
among the stars
I see a pattern, a play,
a dance of light –
and then I see the sparkling eyes
and the perfect smile of my muse,
and my mind feels as if
it has left my body,
and I feel as if I am
floating through space and seeing
the multiple dimensions of the universe
one after the other…
I could be anywhere, at anytime,
at any age, at any moment of my life,
and all that I have to do
is look up to the sky and open my soul
and see, hear, and feel with all my senses
the siren of the stars.
My Poem “Corona”
Did you see the ring of fire?
Did you see the aura of the sun?
Did you see the halo of our star?
Did you see the moon turn day into night?
Where you there when the sky darkened
and people were overwhelmed with emotion?
Where were you when you saw your first eclipse?
Were you frightened, or were you hypnotised,
when you saw the moon obscure the sun’s light?
I remember, and I will never forget,
how I felt when I first saw the moon
come between the Earth and the sun:
I felt lost for words,
because I knew that what I was seeing
was synchronicity in all its perfection,
and also poetry in motion
that would stay with me forever…
I can still remember where I was
when I saw light explode,
as the sun was revealed again
from behind the moon –
and even now, within my mind,
I can still see the sun’s crown
that is its beautiful
and mesmerising corona.
My Poem “Night into Day”
Nobody knows
why some people do what they do…
some people live a life
influenced by the words
and the actions of a Rock Star,
while others live
by the cycle of the moon…
nobody knows what to do
at every moment of every day…
some people need others to tell them
that where they are going is the wrong way…
nobody knows what somebody else’s
version of perfection is…
some people find happiness and truth in music,
while others find heaven-sent bliss
within the instant of a kiss…
nobody knows what shadows continue to live
within the consciousness of some people
after a regrettable time in their lives…
I just wish that more people
would talk to somebody else
about what is on their mind
and about how they are feeling,
because talking to the right person,
at the right time, in the right way,
can turn the darkest of nights
into the brightest of days.
My Poem ‘Back down to Earth’
I’m back now…
my second home is now
4000 miles away again…
I’m back below the clouds…
I feel like I am a man of two minds:
one, a proud Englishman;
and another, someone who feels at home
in Georgia, in the United States of America,
where there is more opportunity
to do anything, at any time of the day,
and at any given moment
as there are lanes on a highway.
I’m back where everybody drives on the left,
instead of on the right…
I’m back where I was born –
however, there isn’t a moment
when I do not miss the light of my day,
the light of my night,
the light of my life,
back there where you can see
fireflies flying and glowing
against the stars of a twilight sky.
I’m back wearing jeans –
however, only days before
and for two weeks-straight,
I had been wearing shorts
morning, noon, and night,
and getting touched on the skin
by the heat and the light of the sun…
I’m back walking down familiar paths
and sitting in the same chairs
in the same places that I know every inch of –
however, though I am awake and writing
here in England, I am also projecting myself
back to Georgia with Melissa
and dreaming along with her
and surrounded by the scent of a burning candle
that smells like coffee
when its wick burns and its wax melts.
I’m back where there are not as many drive-throughs
as there are in the US;
here in the UK, for example,
if we want to withdraw some money from our bank-account,
or if we want to pick up a prescription from a pharmacy,
we have to actually walk to somewhere –
however, in the US you can get money,
you can pick up your prescription,
as easily and as speedily
as you can order take-out food,
and you don’t even have to leave
the comfort of the driving-seat of your car.
Both the US and the UK share many things in common,
but there are many wonderful differences
that set them apart…
we have different names for the same things:
in the US, people seem to find more time
to celebrate and remember the liberty
and the freedoms that they are
constitutionally entitled to…
both the US and the UK even have
different forms of humour
and things that they find funny,
but both the US and the UK know
the true joy that comes with sharing experiences
together as friends and as a family,
and why it is important to smile and to laugh.
Both the US and the UK have for centuries now
shared a “special-relationship” with one-another,
and from my perspective and from my experience
our commonalities have no limit
to their importance and worth…
to me, both the US and the UK
are two sides of the same coin,
they are two halves of the same heart,
and I feel and I know with all my soul
that the US and the UK are bound to each-other
in more ways than could ever be described –
and when I am away from both the UK and the US
there are things and there are people
that I miss more than others,
but it is my knowledge
of what makes both the US and the UK
so special that always makes me smile
and always brings me back down to Earth.
My Poem ‘To the sun and back’
The light of the sun is so alluring…
the heat from the sun is so energizing…
the rays of the sun can sometimes
be so intense that can be burning…
what the sun has in abundance
and we sometimes take for granted and forget
is that it has more power
over our world-wide destiny –
and just as we have learned to harness
a fraction of our sun’s potential,
over time the star that shines
every hour that our planet is turning
will allow us to rise and realize
our own collective-potential –
but, as with every thing of power,
for every blessing there is also a warning
to not spend too much time
looking too intensely
and too longingly at the sun,
because too much of something can be damaging.
Our planet orbits the sun at the perfect distance
for life to exist, to thrive, and to evolve…
it is the gravity of our primary-star
that lies at the centre of our solar-system
that has made it possible for wonders of creation
to blossom and speckle the lands and the skies
of humanities planetary-family…
we do not own the sun and we never will,
our closest star will always have dominion over us –
and all it asks of us for what is gives so freely
is to have the foresight to know
when enough is enough…
the sun was and still is a source
of both worship and energy for many.
I have always considered the light
and the heat from the sun as a blessing,
and when I am being shined upon by its sunshine
I always feel as energized as a fully-charged battery…
the sun will always be both the fuel
and the engine of our planet
that will inform many of our choices in the future,
just as it has been in the past…
getting close to a fire can be dangerous
and it can be destructive –
but you can capture more than enough magic
from a single spark to fill your life
if you know and if you keep to a safe limit…
I have been as close as can be to a fire,
and I have on occasion been burned –
but I know what you can find
if you truly look around
at where you are and when you are
when you bask in the light, the heat,
and the inspiration of our world’s star,
and there is no telling what amazing things
each of us can find in the light and in the energy
that can be found when we travel
with our eyes and with our mind and our imagination
to the sun and back.
My Poem ‘Don’t be afraid of the dark’
Don’t be afraid of the dark –
because it is in the dark
where we find the brightest lights
and the most beautiful sights
in the universe…
don’t afraid to close your eyes –
because when we close our eyes
we dream and we see
our internal hopes looking back at us…
don’t be afraid to believe
what you want to believe –
because it is in the act
and in the art of belief
that we learn to see
the beauty of things and people…
don’t be afraid to remember
where you have been and what you have seen –
because remembering is like time-traveling
into the past, and it can help you
to make sense of what you see
and where you find yourself in the world.
When I was a child I was afraid of the dark –
but then I found out what had been waiting
for me all my life, one night while I was staring
up at a sky full of stars…
it was like one of the stars has descended to Earth
from the heavens and had indelibly left its mark…
while growing up I discovered
that even silent nights are filled with music,
and even seemingly blank pages
are secretly emanating inspiration…
the more that I have lived
the more that I have been bitten
repeatedly by the bug of universal fascination.
I used to be afraid of dark rooms –
however, now I find them fascinating places…
I used to be scared of walking dark streets at night…
I used to have this fear about people
forgetting my name and my face –
but now I know that there is more to see
than what can be seen with our eyes…
there is so much more that contributes
to the answer that we all give when we die,
when we are asked: what was the meaning of your life?
Hold on to no fear…
don’t miss what you do not need…
hold onto what and who you love –
even if doing so sometimes brings you to tears…
don’t be afraid to ask for help –
because there is always someone
who can hear you and will listen…
letting go of something makes you realize
why it is important to hold on to something
for as long as you can –
but sometimes life can go by so fast
that when you look back on everything you have done
it can seem like the still image
of a picture-postcard photograph…
sometimes it is where and when
you do not expect to find things
that you come face to face with miracles –
so, if you have children do not forget
to teach them, and remind everyone else,
that is against the blackest of backgrounds
that we see the brightest of sparks…
and it is ok to open and close your eyes
and to not be afraid of the dark.
My Poem ‘Trailblazer’
Very few of us are the first
to do something…
most of us are following
in the footsteps of other people…
there are some people who can see things
that are beyond what they have always been taught
to believe in…
sometimes a one of a kind idea
can be enough to light
the touch-paper of consciousness
and reveal something so powerful
that in the wrong hands
could be truly lethal.
We are all the still pulsating and emanating light
of an epic spark – the moment of miracle
that began reality, a long time ago,
somewhere far-away…
orbs of fire, light, energy, and hope
shine every second in a dark-sky
all around us…
there are always signs,
there are always recommendations,
steering and influencing us all
to follow a certain path –
however, sometimes those paths
can be shrouded with the shadow of uncertainty…
the stars of the universe tell their own stories,
they have a life, and they burn brightly,
and they are secret keepers and teachers of all life –
and the most important lesson that they teach us is:
when life is as good as can possibly get,
then why would you rush any moment of it?
We follow others, others will follow us…
some roads are long and a clear-run
to a specific destination,
while others are bumpy and rough…
I have always wanted to be a pathfinder –
someone who knows how amazing
and intoxicating it can be
to be the discoverer of a thing
or a place of wonder…
it is always hard for anyone
to come up with a truly original idea –
however, I believe that in our own way,
and in our own fields of exploration,
with each step that we take
we become one of life’s true trailblazers.
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