love

My Poem ‘Two for Joy’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Trust and connection,
familiarity and intimacy,
understanding and love,
that incredible and amazing feeling
that makes you so happy.

A look, a smile, a sound, a laugh,
a shared energy of meaning and identity,
that stimulates a feeling
of fluttering butterflies within your heart;
a shared song, a duet, a pairing and an enlightening
of the best of each other that you yearn to feel
and want to show and share with everyone
watching both near and far away;
a poem inspired to be written
in the same way that the melody of a song
needs to be played.

Glances, kisses, touch,
timeless love that makes you feel lost;
when you know that you have found your One,
nothing and no one else matters,
because to you what they mean to you
is as precious and as phenomenal
as interstellar dust;
they are your world,
they are your life,
they are a part of your soul,
they are your light.

I have always believed
that true love is like a force of nature;
while gravity pulls you down,
love lifts you up;
I have never wanted
and I have never been able to keep
my feelings from bubbling over;
while you are worrying about what may
or what may not happen,
there is a divine dance
and a biological transition taking place –
that is quietly magnifying
and setting into motion
the opening of a stream
and a waterfall of extreme emotional expression,
that will make every part of you
feel even more addicted, obsessed, and in love.

When you are one,
you can feel sorrow;
when you are one of two,
there are things about you
that you only want the One you love to know;
when you are up at night,
or waking up first thing in the morning,
when you are in love
there is only one face and one voice
who you want to see and hear
with your eyes, with your ears, in your mind –
because they always have the rejuvenating power
to sustain and keep you alive
and protected from ever being destroyed;
when you see two people together as a couple,
or when you see a male and a female bird,
or any pairing of two animals
who adore each other
and who want to be with each other,
think of the one that you love
who means the most to you,
and remember the first line
of that memorable rhyme:
“One for sorrow, two for joy…”

My Poem ‘Venti’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My heart is big;
my imagination is vast;
my inner voice regularly
becomes audible when I write or sing;
my vision is a constant bridge
to the future and the past;
my cup is always full;
my love is for the most beautiful;
my reason for being
does not have one meaning;
my life has been blessed
by the truly amazing;
I feel deeper than the deepest well;
every poem that I write
I like to think of as both
a seed and a fully-fledged tree;
when I see things that inspire me
I just cannot wait to capture,
show, and share all through my poetry –
because every thought that I have
is always the same size
as my favourite cup of coffee…

My Poem ‘From the top’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My time, my days,
often see me surrounded by people
on an infinite, overwhelming,
incalculable, unfathomable scale;
there are days when the thought
of how many billions of people
there are in the world
literally boggles my mind;
the obsessive observer in me
wants to see everything,
and wants to meet everyone,
and sit down with them,
so that they can tell me their tale;
the dominant writer in me
wants to discover and convey
the meaning of the entire universe
and the meaning of life
and wrap it all up in a story,
or a poem, and leave a message
to live and to love life by
for all of mankind.

I cannot help but look out and see more;
I cannot help but listen and hear
a symphonic opus;
I cannot help by feel drawn
in multiple directions,
while still keeping my feet
firmly on the ground –
like a rocket of potential
waiting to launch;
I cannot tell you how much love means to me,
and to me the meaning and the feeling of love
is the most important thing in and of my heart
that I wholly trust.

Most things occur and are where they are
according to a plan;
everyone is defined by their own unique chemistry
that, to some degree, dictate the things in life
they can’t have and the things that,
if they want to, they can have;
knowing what to do and when
is one of the key indefinable instincts
in attaining your dreams;
some things, no matter how simple
they are on the outside,
are not what they seem.

Trillions of stars,
billions of planets,
millions of galaxies,
thousands of possibilities,
hundreds of variations,
tens of directions –
but only one of each of us;
each of us bound,
each of us free,
each of us still connected
genetically to ancestors
and to distant family members
who once spent a great deal of time
thinking, adapting, understanding,
and swinging from the branches of trees.

The farther back in time we go
into the history of Earth,
and the more we read of humanities
relationship with the planet
we are blessed to live on,
we can tell and we can see
the direct effect that we as a species
have had on our environment,
on life, on ourselves,
and the most fundamental fingerprint
of humanity is the ability
to deliver change globally –
both quickly, and slowly,
quietly, and sometimes boldly –
and because change is in our nature,
we sometimes do not know when
or how to stop.

One thing that I have learned about life
is that nothing is predetermined in stone –
but a prosperous and a hopeful future for all
can happen if people work together,
and if hope can be promised, assured,
and delivered every time it is spoken,
or shown by those who in the pyramid of the world
lead from the front as well as from the top.

My Poem ‘The First Impression’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The first impression
is always the most important;
the way that you present yourself
speaks volumes about how important
something is to you;
the first word that you speak
echoes and forever stands out;
the old saying that you can tell a lot
about someone just by watching
and noticing how someone walks in their shoes,
and what someone’s choice of footwear
can tell you about someone,
is absolutely true;
the first of anything
sets the standard for everything to follow;
the first expression can have as much impact
as a burst of light from the sun;
the first message is often forgotten –
however, if and when reread,
that same first chain of words,
at the end of everything,
always resurfaces and means the most;
the first signs, the first icons,
can imprint more meaning, more feeling,
and they can be a source of constant hope,
like the always recognizable symbol of love.

Meeting someone you love,
meeting someone you care for and adore,
meeting someone you have never met before for the first time,
meeting and greeting someone at your front door,
is one of the best things that will ever happen to you –
especially, because the more instant
and unexpected that first meeting is
it can speed up your thoughts
and your heart-rate so fast that
that first view can change you.

Love at first sight is true,
it exists, and it is not simply a myth
invented by romantics;
the first exposure to anything,
especially at a young age,
will inform a great many
of your important life-decisions;
the first reaction that you have to something
can sometimes be deceptive –
but the look that someone gives you with their eyes
can be as rhythmic as a song-lyric;
and just as everybody follows one kind
and one type of a fashion,
so too does everything grow
from that very important first impression.

My Poem ‘One of a kind father’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The real and true super-man of my childhood;
the one man while growing up
who could make anything and everything happen;
the hero of great strength,
whose greatest super-power makes us who we are,
because they are a part of us,
just as we are a part of them,
and because their life-force
is literally in our blood;
the man who we look to
and imprint on from day one;
our Dad, our father,
our sun who shines down and smiles upon us
when we are feeling sad;
our life-giving, caring, amazing, creator
who for us there could be no other.

Birthdays, holidays, unmissable moments
that would not be the same
without that one special person;
first words, first voices, first steps
that may never have been
without the man who watched over us,
and who called to us,
and who encouraged us to never stop;
mornings, nights, early rises, bedtimes
that always would have been missing
something and someone important
if we had not have had them;
the constant giant
who we all looked to
as our all-powerful god.

My Dad loves his family,
and my family love my Dad;
if it were not for my Dad
I would not be the man that I am,
nor would I have had the extraordinary,
happy, love-filled life
that I have been blessed to have had;
my father and my mother
were always fated to meet each other
and to be together,
and while there is blood in my veins,
and air in my lungs,
I will always feel the spirit, the love,
and I will always speak the name
of the best man in my life,
who will be with me everyday…
and that man is my incredible, wonderful,
amazing, one of a kind, father.

My Poem ‘Hard Rain’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s never too late
to learn something new;
it’s never going to be the case
that you are going to know
everything about everyone;
it is at times when you are not
expecting anything to come to light
that you invariably learn something
you never knew;
it’s never too late to ask questions
and get answers that make your thoughts
just want to run and run.

Music has always been important to me,
and to my family, for as long as I can remember,
since long before I was even born;
music has always had the key
to unlock the door into our soul;
however, it wasn’t until just recently
that I learned from my Dad
that he had once been a ‘roadie’
in the 1970’s for a rock-band,
and I am still enthralled and in awe
because (yet again) my Dad has surprised me
with an interesting and inspiring insight into him
which I love to learn and hear stories
told to me about –
because, to me, it just makes my Dad even more cool.

Hearing my Dad tell me how he used to help
transport and set up the equipment
of the band ‘Hard Rain’ –
a group that I had never heard of before –
I was inspired within seconds;
hearing my Dad reflect and remember
times that he enjoyed, as always,
brought a smile to my face
and made me feel emotions
that no one else could possibly understand.

As a child, I remember us as a family
having musical instruments around us:
a recorder, a keyboard, an organ,
an electric-guitar, an acoustic-guitar,
that my Dad used to play and strum
a song and a tune exquisitely with –
even now, my Dad knows more songs
and can sing every word of his favourite band,
‘The Beatles’, and he knows the deep meaning
within those magical lyrics,
and he has been moved by them
on more than one occasion – as have I –
and each song, and each piece of music,
I know when I hear them now,
are nothing short of amazing and incredible poetry.

I have always wanted to play an instrument,
write a song, come up with a melody,
bring my words and my inner music to life,
so that the whole world can hear it;
I have always wanted to take my poetry
and make my imagination and words
shine like no other poet;
I have always wanted to give something
back to people, and the world,
for reasons that I can’t fully explain;
I have always been someone
with a great eye and a great ear,
and, to me, seeing and hearing
as much as can be seen and heard
is a gift we are all born with –
and if you are someone creative,
or if you are someone who just
wants to be a part of something in some way,
then I can honestly say
that I too am there with you
in that want to be touched and changed,
and to remain connected to,
what makes my heart beat so long and so thunderous
as the music of hard rain.

My Poem ‘The Good Fairy’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some people look so gorgeous,
you would think that they were
the living embodiment of a flower;
some people are so beautiful,
you may frequently mistake them
for a real-life angel;
some people bring joy and happiness
in someone else’s life
with a simple shining smile;
some people are like princesses
that you can see but can’t reach –
because they are somewhere
that you have to make a climb to get to them,
as if they were living their life
at the top of a tower;
some people are just simply and incredibly
phenomenal and magical;
some people, one person
can be the difference
and can be the true awe-inspiring example
of a light in the dark
so bright that they burn more intensely
and hotter than a phoenix’s tail.

I have always believed
that reality is more profound
and fantastic than fantasy;
I have always known the true meaning of a bond,
and how deep and how far
feelings and emotions can take us;
I have always believed
that I was being drawn because of destiny;
I have always known things in my heart
that I haven’t always been able
to find the words to say –
however, I have always believed
and I have always been shown
that when the time is right
everybody finds a way to make known
what their heart yearns to express.

Some people are an inspiration
every day in more ways than one;
one person will always be to you
your life-long shining star and burning sun;
some people are special for just being themselves,
and it is because they are so honest
and pure of heart that people love them
and are inspired by them
to write poems of poetry;
one person to each of us
is our true life companion, inspiration,
and our own personal guardian angel
and eternal good fairy.

My Poem ‘Energy’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The life-giving light
and heat of the sun
that fills us all with energy,
zest, and drive –
like a solar-powered battery;
the rush of adrenaline
that courses through our veins
and gives us the stamina
and the vigor to keep going;
the inspiration that writes itself
in verses of poetry;
the motivation that keeps
the constant creation of new ideas flowing.

Energy can be felt;
energy can be sensed;
energy can be our richest source of wealth;
energy cannot be fenced;
energy has a spirit;
energy never dies;
energy has no true limit;
energy is everywhere –
it is abundant first thing in the morning at sunrise,
it can be seen when snow is falling silently at night;
energy can turn into tears
and can be tasted when someone cries.

Love is the energy of the gods and the heavens;
light is the energy of the stars;
memory and magic is the energy that enchants
an entire life and gives nature
and the universe its essence;
imagination is the energy that allows us
to travel to different worlds
and imagine the human race one day
living on another planet,
perhaps even Mars.

Our thoughts create waves
in the ocean of energy
that connects every shore on Earth;
our emotions can change
our entire perspective of life;
our relationships with people and things
are constantly changing, evolving,
and are in different stages of rebirth –
even when the sun is in the sky,
it can sometimes be hard to realize
if it is in fact day or whether it is night.

Energy comes in many forms;
hope is the energy
that is always ringing my doorbell,
and knocking at my front-door;
the energy of purpose,
the feeling of belonging,
the source and the muse of the artist,
can grow to become as important
as the blood being pumped
by your heart around your body;
wherever you go, wherever you look,
whatever you instantly ‘just know’,
whatever you touch,
is a fountain, a volcano,
and is like a magnet
that is constantly drawing people and life to it,
that is like a lightning-rod
and a furnace of unbelievable
and incredible energy.

My Poem ‘The Ember days’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There are days in the year
when so many of us gather together;
there are days when we meet up
with our family and friends
and reminisce and tell stories,
as if we are all basking
in the glow of everything
while sitting around a camp-fire;
there are days when we happily
give gifts to each other;
there are days when we are held,
and we hold the thing
that truly matters in life,
and share love and feel love –
like holding, without fear of being burned,
a glowing red-hot ember.

There are days of the year
when the energy-level is extraordinary;
there are days when every hour
is a treat as sweet as chocolate;
there are days of the year
when you can look around
and truly take-in just how lucky you are,
and remember the glory days of your life-story;
there are days which are too important
to ever be forgotten.

There are days that are significant to us,
because the anniversary of a particular day –
where we were, with whom,
and what emotions were stirred
and what memories were eternally made;
there are days that can come to define our entire lives
in special and magical ways;
there are days when our internal spirit
rises up and overflows out of us
and we show a side of us
that leaves people in a daze;
there are days when words are just not enough
to say what you want to say.

Every day of our year
is about remembering the days
and the times that were,
and continuing traditions of connection
so that we may realize time and time again
that each and every one of us
only has one chance of making our lives
the way we want it to be;
days soon become months,
months soon become years –
however, our lives are timeless;
and even if every day isn’t light and bright,
filled with gifts, presents,
smiles, flowers, and candy,
there is always something there for us to take with us,
and there are always lights in the dark for us
to look at like the illuminations of a Christmas tree.

Never forget the people you have known;
never forget the people who would
never knowingly leave you alone;
never forget the happiness you felt
that continues to live on deep inside you
that you will take with you to the grave;
never forget the days of light and celebration
that will continue to blaze throughout your life,
and bring you back always to the ember days.

My Poem ‘Bernadette’

Mark Hastings Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Our mothers
are the reason why we are born;
my mum is the best
and the most wonderful of them all;
our mothers go through so much
to give us the gift of life;
my mum has never once
forgotten about her children,
and every day my mum is thinking
about those who she cares about the most –
morning, noon, and night.

Our mothers are one of a kind;
my mum cares so much,
and, like me, she always feels
what other people are feeling,
and always has someone else’s well-being
on her mind;
our mothers are a true inspiration to us;
my mum means more to me
than I could ever put into words –
but what I wish I could tell her more
is how much I love her, so much.

The connection that a child has with their parent
is life-long – no matter the time, or the distance;
mother and daughter, son and mother,
will always have an unbreakable bond.
I know my mum, and my mum knows me;
my mum was the one who took me to school when I was four;
my mum was the one who held my hand,
and told me that I would be ok, when I hurt my right knee;
my mum was, and my mum is,
the one who would be there for me after a fall –
and every day when she calls me,
I run to her just as I did
when I was still crawling as a baby
and just learning how to walk and talk.

My mum has spent her life
being the most caring person on Earth;
when my mum first met my dad,
it was a miracle of destiny and fate –
which led to the best thing
that ever have happened to me: my birth;
my mum is the most deserving person
of love, or thought, of understanding, and of respect;
my mum never asks anything from anybody,
but every day she serves up her beautiful heart,
and how amazing she is can be read all over her face.

Our mothers are whom,
if we are lucky to have them in our lives,
we will never forget;
and I want to immortalize my amazing mum
in the way of the poet –
so this poem, in name and in every way,
is dedicated to the best mother in the entire world:
my mum, Bernadette.