the galaxy
My Poem “Everything that will ever be”
When I was a child
I had a poster on my bedroom wall
of the planets of the solar system –
our local galactic neighbourhood
which consists of some rocky, some icy,
some gaseous, some barren, some hostile,
spheres, worlds of every kind,
of every size, of every colour,
of every temperature –
and that was what first introduced me
to celestial names like “Mercury”, “Mars”,
“Saturn”, “Jupiter”,
and the ring of all manner
of rock and ice that lies
and encircles us on the outer-fringes
of our backyard of space,
that is barely effected by the gravity
of the sun at the centre of our solar-system,
called “The Kuiper Belt”:
names that I had never heard before,
but which have since not left
the vocabulary of my imagination.
Space… the unknown…
the discovery of all
the wonders of the galaxy, the universe,
has always been a draw for me…
when I was a child I used to watch
fictional space adventures on television –
within the episodes of “Star Trek”
and in science-fiction movies
such as “Star Wars” –
that fueled my dreams
and compelled my mind
into thinking about the possibilities
that hopefully await humanity in the future,
what we will achieve,
and the reaches of interstellar space
that we will explore at some time
in the near to distant future.
There has always been something
about the sight of the stars,
when each and every
one us look above at the night-sky,
that resonates with something
inside of us – something profound
that speaks to something
within every strand of our human DNA,
our consciousness,
our heart, our soul –
and which captures us
and takes us away
with the gravity waves that
that drive the giant leaps
of art, science, humanity,
and every once in a while
secrets and truths seep into
the mind of someone who seeks
to know the meaning of life –
such as the answer to the question
of how/whether the universe began
and if it will one have an end –
and inspire people of all ages
to never stop searching, digging,
and uncovering the vast
multilayered, multifaceted,
multidimensional universe
of infinity that we are a part of:
the multicolored garden
of experimentation and evolution
that is everything that has ever been
and everything that will ever be.
My Poem ‘Beautiful Extremes’
There is more happening
every nanosecond in the universe
than we could ever conceive
in a lifetime of imagining:
there is life emerging, evolving,
taking their first steps,
communicating, aspiring,
inventing, and understanding,
brand new concepts,
leaving the atmosphere of their planet,
seeking, meeting, interacting,
inspiring, believing,
knowing that they are not
the only intelligent life in their galaxy,
on a planet orbiting around a star,
existing with a purpose,
dreaming about other beings of life and light,
who are as inconceivable to us,
because we are in the dark about them
and who they are, as they are about us –
however, no matter how different we are from each other,
and no matter how we choose to express ourselves
in our own individual ways,
one thing unites everyone and everything in the universe,
and to all but who will be there at the end of all things,
and who will see the last few seconds
before everything starts again,
the knowledge of what it is that binds us all
will for now, and most likely for a few eons to come,
remain a tantalizing, compelling, inspiring,
driving, enlightening, fascinating, exciting, mystery.
The nature of planet Earth teaches us
that life will find a way to exist and thrive
in great extremes of environment,
even in a vacuum, even in a toxic soup,
even somewhere where the temperature is so low
and so past absolute zero that most things would die,
and even somewhere where a living thing
would spontaneously-combust
because the temperature is beyond
that of the hottest fire;
why things work out for some, but not for others,
is a constant cosmic question
that does not have a simple definitive answer,
because everything revolves around circumstance
and timing, and everything finding its match –
however, the meaning of life can be found
when you find the balance between what you have
and what you desire.
Believing in what we cannot see,
imagining what is impossible to imagine,
witnessing and remembering the light of what has been,
reading and interpreting the world and it’s moments
and years, like epic words and verses of poetry,
finding infinite connection, experiencing perfection,
holding in your hands, imagining in your mind,
feeling in your soul and in your heart,
that which is made in a place, and at a time,
is a miracle of beautiful extremes.
My Poem ‘Star Stuff’
As the stars of the dark fade,
and the most important star in our lives rises;
as the sky’s light slowly and silently
becomes golden, beautiful, and a gorgeous masterpiece
that has been newly-made –
there is no sound, but the birds singing in their nests
and flying in the sky, and an air of calm,
and a sense of content happiness,
that to the many who are awake and taking in the same moment,
bring joy and smiles to their faces.
Our sun is like an old friend that we hear from every day;
our sun is like a guardian that wants to energize us,
and protect us, but also wants us to run with it,
and be free under its gaze and glare,
to get out there and play;
our sun makes life possible everywhere on Earth;
our sun welcomes every child on our planet,
and has done so, and will continue to,
and be the light that every baby, boy, girl,
adult of all ages, races towards,
as they did at the moment of their birth.
The sun beats within all of our hearts,
a piece of our star in our soul
is what intensifies our emotions;
when we all feel love and longing,
it is the living core of the sun
connecting to us and speaking to us,
and making us feel like it always does;
the sun is a fiery sphere that makes everything clear,
that is so close and yet so far –
but still keeps that world blessed, warm,
illuminated, and in motion.
We are all a beautiful, intricate, constellation,
and our thoughts and memories are a galaxy of moments
of light that make us who we are;
our story began not just at the moment we arrived in the world,
bu when the universe itself came into being
and exploded spectacularly into life,
and every day we all carry within us
something that was there, and lives on,
from the beginning of everything,
and each one of us is made up of and are,
and will continue to be,
the spark of rebirth and the stuff of stars.
Mark The Poet 