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My Poem “Road Trip”
Life is complicated... sometimes there is no way to know what way is the right way and what is the wrong way to proceed... sometimes truly life-changing decisions are made in the moment based on timing and instinct - that is why, sometimes, getting away from almost everything and almost everyone, somewhere different, is exactly what we all need. Even machines sometimes need a "time out" to reset... even animals sometimes need to go for a walk not knowing where they are going, nor what they are going to find... even people who like to "Live in the Fast Lane" would confess that sometimes even they have to get some rest... even people who love being surrounded by technology and fully-integrated into what is going on in culture and society like it when they can turn everything off and make the most of the most precious thing in the universe: time. Every journey is influenced by what you do, where you go, and, most importantly, who you choose to travel with... some people we only walk in parallel with for a short time before our paths diverge once again and there is an unmistakable and inevitable drift... whether it is annual family gatherings and reunions, or a last-minute thought to do something you have never done before, we all are better for any and every experience that we can share with those who we cannot wait to be around and who we miss more than anything when they have to leave. Sometimes you can't beat packing a bag, getting in a vehicle with someone who might know well - but who you might not get the opportunity to spend as much time with as you would like - tuning the radio to a station that always plays songs that always seem to be able to read your mind and tap into the rhythm of your heart, and talk about the most random of things like only those who enjoy spending time with one another can, and head off towards the sunrise or into the sunset on an unforgettable road trip.
My Poem ‘School Friends’
Throughout the years
that we spend in attendance at school,
we have certain friends
with whom we hang-out
and sit down to have our lunch with –
however, when we fast-forward
to the present day and to the life
that we are now live,
how many of those same people,
those same friends,
do we all still know,
still talk to, or ever sit down
to have a meal with?
If I were to make a wild-guess,
based on my own experience,
then I would say not one,
or very few at-all-
which, to me, is a sad thing to think about
when you think back and your remember
some of the enjoyable and the fun times
that you might have shared
with your best school-friends.
It is natural for people
who once spent a great deal
of their time together
to slowly drift-apart
and become distant with one-another,
sometimes in every sense of the word…
life, like time, like a river,
runs in one direction –
the choices that we make
can see us doing things
that when we were children
we would have only thought of as
things that were beyond our wildest-dreams:
diving with sharks deep below the waves of the sea…
having adventures in rain-forests…
seeing the spectacular Northern-Lights…
or, perhaps, packing-up all your belongings
and making a new home on the other-side of the world?
We all grow up with people…
we all meet people over the course of our lives…
we all think that when we are a child
that the fun times will never come to an end…
we all had good days and bad days
when we were at school…
we all have memories from when we were kids
of memorable mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights –
but, unfortunately, sometimes we all have to grow up,
grow from within, and we all have to make a leap
into an unknown world –
however, even though we all must move on in life,
find new things, and meet new people,
that does not mean that we should ever
have to forget who we went to school with…
who, no matter where they are now,
we will always remember them
as being our one of a kind
school friends.
Mark The Poet 