It could be argued that there is
no good way to say goodbye,
which is why some people
choose to never say goodbye -
but goodbyes are a natural aspect of life,
because everything one day comes to an end…
sometimes when you think you have said
your last goodbye to someone or to something,
because you think you will never see them again,
you ultimately find yourself somewhere
that you unexpectedly cross paths with
a person or a thing that you had
lost contact with a long time ago -
but, most of the time, moments
of reunion are brief and temporary for a reason…
the passage of time changes how people see one another,
and over time some people grow farther and father apart -
until, one day, two people who used to be
as close as could be turn into
becoming strangers to each other,
and the cracks that divide them deepen…
it can be something as big
and as hurtful as an affair,
or as small, but just as impactful,
as a look in someone’s eye,
or the fact that two people
can no longer communicate with one another,
that can bring a relationship to a point
when enough is enough
and both parties agree that
what they once had is over -
and perhaps had been for some time…
there are many things that can
put a strain on any relationship -
finances, security, or something else
that can be harder to define;
however, when trust has been lost by two people
there is no going back
and there is no hope of finding a solution
for the problem that has been found
which has slowly led to things becoming worse
and irreversible for many reasons…
knowing when to say goodbye is not easy,
nor can you ever predict when it will be necessary
for you to try leave someone behind;
but there does come a time
when the best time to do what must be done
is somewhat decided for you
and waiting for you to embrace it
and do with it what you will without any fuss…
I have never liked saying goodbye,
but the older I get the more I feel
that some people take other people
more and more for granted
and so naturally that the phrase “I’m sorry”
is no longer a part of their vocabulary -
so, when that happens, my advice is
not to fight the inevitable,
and politely say “thank you for your time”
before saying a silent “adios”.
poetry
My Poem “The Waiting Room”
Every now and again,
each and every one of us
find ourselves somewhere
having to wait to do something,
somewhere we have to wait to see someone,
and every time we do there are always
certain things that we come to expect to find:
other people who are also waiting;
perhaps some music playing in the background;
some refreshments;
some reading material;
as well as a clock to tell us
how long we have to wait
and how long we have been waiting,
which always seems to move slower
than we want it to…
every now and again,
each and every one us
find ourselves somewhere,
alongside people we don’t know,
who we talk to, and who talk to us,
when the silence between us
becomes too unbearable -
most of the time in an attempt
to make “small talk”
and to fill the void that is present
throughout every experience
of having to pass the time of anticipation
within the walls of a waiting room.
My Poem “Sounds and Voices”
There are some sounds
and there are some voices
that for some reason
always stand out
above all others…
there are some sounds
and there are some voices that,
when we hear them,
are immediately able to transport us
within our minds to a particular place
and to a particular time…
there are some sounds
and there are some voices
that are like music to our ears,
because we can hear within
some sounds and some voices
something akin to magic -
because what we hear
can make us feel something
that we might not have felt before,
or remind us of what we once felt
at a point in our lives that seems
a long time ago, and far away from
where we now finds ourselves…
there are some sounds
and there are some voices
that are so unique and so timeless
that any imitation of them
could never hope to capture
why some sounds and some voices
will resonate in the same way
that they always will.
Composers have their own way of composing…
musicians have their preferred instrument
and their favourite style of playing…
singers have their own way of singing…
actors have their own method
when they are acting…
artists have their own process
when they are creating…
writers have their own reasons
why they write what they write,
as well as when and where they write -
and most of the time their ideas about
what they write about
seem to come to them
as if from out of nowhere,
as well as being a combination of
both the familiar and the new,
as if being repeated, remixed,
and remade from a different point of view.
Some sounds and some voices
stay with us all our lives…
some sounds and some voices never change,
even as we grow older…
some sounds and some voices
last longer than others
because they have something about them
that says more about their source
that can be definitively described…
some sounds and some voices
we return to time and again
because they fill us with joy,
happiness, hope, echoes of memories,
love, and experiences,
as well as recollections
of times of sadness, loss, grief,
and wishes that we could
return to somewhere,
to once again be with someone,
because we would give anything
to have more time to say
what we wish we had said
when we had the time to say it,
because there are some sounds
and there are some voices
that we could never forget.
‘I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse’ By Mark Hastings – Chapter Seven: Everything is Illuminated
‘I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse’, Chapter Seven – “Everything is Illuminated”: the story of two best friends and soulmates, whose love for one another is tested to its limits, and whose one of a kind connection ultimately takes them both on a journey to somewhere beyond the horizon. However, nothing and no one can stop them both from fulfilling their life-long promise to one another: to meet each other at The Lighthouse.
‘I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse’ By Mark Hastings – Chapter Six: Let’s Take It From The Top
‘I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse’, Chapter Six – “Let’s Take It From The Top”: the story of two best friends and soulmates, whose love for one another is tested to its limits, and whose one of a kind connection ultimately takes them both on a journey to somewhere beyond the horizon. However, nothing and no one can stop them both from fulfilling their life-long promise to one another: to meet each other at The Lighthouse.
I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse – Out Now!
My new book ‘I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse’ is out now and available to purchase from Amazon in hardback, in paperback, and as an ebook for Kindle: https://amzn.eu/d/belWXTy
I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse is the story of two best friends and soulmates, whose love for one another is tested to its limits, and whose one of a kind connection ultimately takes them both on a journey to somewhere beyond the horizon. However, nothing and no one can stop them both from fulfilling their life-long promise to one another: to meet each other at The Lighthouse.
Watch me talking about I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse on YouTube:
And listen to me talk about I’ll Meet You At The Lighthouse on a Special Publication Day episode of my podcast, Mark The Poet – The Podcast, in which I talk about the origins of my new book, its characters, and some of the themes that run through it from beginning to end:
My Poem “The Music of The Midnight”
I can still remember driving together,
while listening to the music of The Midnight,
down the dark highways
illuminated only by the halo of the Full Moon
and the glow of the streetlights…
I can still remember how happy I felt,
I can still remember never wanting
our time together to end;
but then, before I knew it, we arrived
at the moment that we both knew
was always going to happen:
the moment when we would kiss each other
for the last time before we
both went our separate ways…
I can still remember the tears that I cried,
I can still remember wishing that what we had
could go on and never end -
but I had known from the moment that we met
that one day you and I would no longer be
lovers, nor would we be friends,
because that is exactly what you
told me from the start
but for some reason, back then,
I chose not to listen…
I can still remember thinking
that I would never see you again -
and all these years later it turns out I was right…
I can still remember seeing your face for the last time
before you disappeared from view
and returned to the shadows -
as if you had always only been a dream of mine
that was only meant to last for a short time…
I can still remember you telling me
that we were no more,
because you had already moved on from us…
I can still remember how calm you seemed -
as if what was happening had always been
the end result of some kind
of a plan or a game
that you had orchestrated, which,
in the end, you would be the only winner of,
because, even from the start,
you knew that you could manipulate
people in such a way that for you
there would never be a cost…
I can still remember going to bed,
but unable to sleep -
because all I could think about
was what went wrong,
the movie that we had gone to see that evening,
the doomed love that I still felt,
as well as the sound of our beating hearts
that once beat in time with one another,
but which now beat to a completely different rhythm -
and even to this day, I can still remember how sad
and how lost I felt after we said goodbye,
and how bittersweet the song that played
as we left each other forever sounded
as it ingrained itself into my soul
and became the soundtrack
of the music of the midnight.
My Poem “Big Days”
Over the course of our lives,
each and every one of us
have days of significance
that we know will have an impact on
us
and will influence us
in ways that we may not know
until a long time after the fact:
our first day of school;
the first time we fall in love;
our first day of college or university;
the first time our heart is broken;
our first day at our first job;
the first time we lose someone close to us;
our first day behind the wheel of our first car;
the first time we find someone
we want to spend the rest of our lives with;
the first time we look into the eyes of our first child
and we see the most perfect thing
that we have ever seen -
and after every instance that we find ourselves
at a moment that feels
special and life-changing,
there are never enough words
capable of expressing just how much
they mean to us…
as we grow and as we learn who we are,
what we want to do,
and where we want to be,
we all feel as if something
or someone is whispering in our ear
and telling us that the path
that we have embarked upon
will be full twist and turns,
ups and downs -
but along the way certain pieces
of the puzzle of our lives
will fall into place and reveal a hint to the secret,
as well as an answer to the question
that everybody finds themselves asking:
“Who am I? And where am I going?”
Over the course of our lives,
as weeks turn into months,
as months turn into years,
as we transition from youth to old age,
everybody experiences the sensation of time
speeding up, flashing before our eyes,
and almost leaving us all in a daze -
because there are so many things that happen,
there are so many first times
and there are so many last times
that we all have throughout our lives
that we never forget about,
because they remind us of who we are,
where we were, and how much of our lives
we have seen change
because of a series of important,
and always necessary, “big days”.
My Poem “Never Say Never”
Once a way has been forged,
once a passage has been traversed,
once steps have been taken
and breadcrumbs have been left,
once a feeling has been captured
and something special has been
preserved is some way -
like “lightning in a bottle” -
the world and people
are never the same again,
because the hand of God,
or the song of The Muse,
has made their intentions clear
that what has been set into motion
must happen and will happen no matter what…
once something has been created,
it’s energy cannot undone -
but what something was in the beginning can,
will, and does, change over time
until what something once was
has become something else,
even beyond the initial spark of its creator…
once you start something you know
from the get go is worth undertaking,
whatever something is meant to be
it will ultimately be -
whether that is a piece of art,
a story, a piece of furniture,
a meal, or perhaps a relationship,
if something is supposed to be
a certain way it will find a way
to influence its manifestation
and become a tangible part of the world…
once a person makes a decision to put pen to paper,
or choose to stop what they have been doing
and make a u-turn back through
where they have been before
but now with a new perspective,
then a new reality that never existed previously
always follows as a result -
like uncorking a bottle of champagne
and watching the force of the bubbles within
explode and stream like the engine of a jet…
once in a while, something unexpected happens
that turns out to be the catalyst
that causes the first of many pulses of light,
heat, inspiration, and intensity
that will only grow brighter, hotter,
bigger, and more overwhelming
the more that they are allowed to grow
beyond the place from which the seed
of what they were was planted,
before whatever something
becomes what it is fated to be…
once you start to think you will never do
what you used to do,
once you start to say that you will never
see someone ever again,
once you start to believe that something
is gone and unable to return to how it used to be,
once you start to wonder whether
you have really seen, heard, tasted,
and felt everything that you ever could,
the one that has one hand
on the steering wheel of the universe
and one foot hovering over both
the break and the accelerator
that dictates the velocity of
what is going to happen and when
will do what they do
and remind us all in big ways and in small ways
why it is always dangerous to
“never say never”.
Mark Hastings 