love
My Poem “Adrift”
I don't know what happened...
I don't know how whatever happened happened...
I don't know when whatever happened happened, exactly;
however what I do know is that where I am now
feels more than a little familiar -
which is probably why I do not feel
as discombobulated as I might have done
if I were somebody else, or anybody else.
I have somehow, over time,
become accustomed to change,
to having to adapt to things on the fly,
and to thinking on my feet...
I have somehow trained myself
to just go with the flow
and not be shocked by anything that I hear,
nor by anything that I see...
I have somehow got used to
being someone who has no fear
of where I might find myself,
because I believe -
as I have always believed -
that wherever the path of life takes you
you find yourself where you need to be
and where you are meant to be for a reason...
I have somehow, multiple times, found myself
at a place, at a time, with certain people
who I thought I would always be with,
and then -
as if I have suddenly been whipped away
by the winds of a cyclone -
I find myself, once again,
far away from where I originally began
and walking the road before me alone.
What can any of us do
when the world around us feels as if
it has become inverted and as if
up is down and down is up?
What can any of us do
when we find ourselves
unable to return to a previous stage of life
because we have long-since moved on from it?
What can any of us do
when we know we have lost someone who we loved,
but who we were not meant to stay alongside -
because something was always going to make us realise
that what we shared would not always be enough?
What can any of us do
when what we thought we knew
about the way life is supposed to be
is questioned and tested,
and ultimately, one day, repeatedly,
we all find ourselves somewhere new,
with someone new, after making ourselves believe
that we would never again return
to where we were and we would never again
do what we did before -
but no one and no thing in this life
can ever truly stay adrift.
The Pathfinder: The Dandelion Universe
My Poem “Silent/Listen”
Wherever we are,
whatever we are doing,
the world around us
is constantly in motion -
as are everyone and everything...
wherever you are, whatever time it is,
everyone should take the time
to close their eyes
and attempt to take a step back
from all the sights that can be seen
and from all the sounds that can be heard
so that they can create a new vision
of how they perceive the world
by using their remaining senses.
When you close your eyes,
it almost feels like you are floating in space...
when you are alone,
especially at the instant
when you awaken,
it almost feels as if
you have woken up from one life
and are now living in another -
different, however similar,
from the one you know...
when you try to create
an image within your mind
of someone and something
you have not seen for some time,
it can be like trying to put together
the pieces of a puzzle
with only the glow of candlelight,
or like trying to remember a person's name
by only seeing flashes of their face.
Wherever, whatever, or to whomever
we always return to
whenever we feel drawn
to something, to someone,
or to somewhere within,
somehow we always find
what we are looking for -
not what we are told to find...
it is only when we are given
the gift to be able to focus
on what and who
matters the most to us
that we can sometimes feel
a connection with something
other than ourselves -
something that feels as if
it is always there and always has been.
Wherever we are,
and whatever we all
have to go through in this life,
we are all capable of doing
something extraordinary:
seeing what something is,
or what someone looks like,
by using our thoughts,
our feelings, our experiences,
and our memories to fill in the gaps
of what we don't know
with what we do know -
it's something that
we all do all the time;
however, it is only by seeking
moments of stillness and solace -
when all is quiet and almost silent -
that we can all learn more
about ourselves and more about
what life asks of all of us,
but only if we truly stop and listen.
The Pathfinder: Eclipse
The Pathfinder: Solo
The Pathfinder: Snowman’s Paradise
My Poem “The Stuff of Dreams”
Everybody wants to go back...
some people want to go back
to the 1980s, or perhaps to the 1960s -
to a time when things, in retrospect,
seemed better than now...
whether it is the music,
the television, the movies,
or the fact that the world
felt more hopeful and optimistic,
people who grew up at a particular time -
before the internet,
before anyone who is anyone
could be famous
whether they are talented or not.
Everybody who looks back
at a time when technology was in its infancy,
when if you wanted to talk to someone
you either had to call them on the phone
or see them face to face,
remembers how simple, and yet wonderful,
the world seemed to be...
some people long for the first time
that they saw something,
for the first time that they heard something,
for the first time that they learned something,
for the first time that they felt something -
because the first of anything
influences everything that comes after.
Everybody wants to repeat the best of times
and forget about the worst of times,
but the world is not as black and white
as our television screens
used to make us believe it was -
because when seen beyond
even the marvel of technicolor
the clarity of real life
shows us all details that are too
complex to ever be captured.
Everybody occasionally hides
what they wish had never happened,
what they wish they hadn't done,
and what they would choose to undo
if they had a time machine of silver or blue -
but what people forget
is that if you were to change the past
then you would unravel
what made what was what it was:
the source of love, inspiration,
beauty, simplicity, poetry,
and hidden complexity that it will always be.
To go back would be fun,
but there are some things that matter more
because they are unrepeatable -
which is why the future is more important
and compelling to contemplate and hope to see,
because what could be, not what was,
is the true stuff of dreams.
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