time

My Poem “Outlet”

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

Everyone has something inside of them…
everyone has something to share…
everyone has a source from which
they draw their power…
everyone has a need all their life
to explore further down the path
that leads to who knows where…
everyone has a flame
that they gravitate towards…
everyone has a time in their life
when they want to go backwards
at the same time they are going forwards…
everyone has a place – a cafe, a bar,
a room, a forum, a gathering,
that they worship, that makes them happy –
where they can go to relax and be themselves…
everyone has a favourite reality –
whether it is one of familiarity,
or one of fantasy –
where they can dream and imagine
living a completely different way of life
within the stories that can be found
stacked next to one another on a bookshelf…
everyone has to have an escape…
everyone has to have somewhere else –
even if that place is in their mind
where they can do what they want to do
and where they can say what they want to say…
everyone has to have a place, a time,
or a person, where, when, or to whom they can vent…
everyone – no matter who they are –
has to have an outlet.

Advertisements

“Yesterday/Today”

Mark Hastings me , , , , , , ,

“Yesterday/Today – this was me, and this is who I am today… Life changes people in so many ways – both good and bad… Life slowly takes away our innocence and over time we can become unrecognizable to ourselves – but, no matter how old we get, or what we go through in our lives, there always remains a part of us that will endure until the day we die.” – Me

My Poem “Crossroads”

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

Once a year
we all find ourselves here –
here, at the end of one year
and at the beginning of another –
where and when a transition occurs
within the blink of an eye,
as colorful explosions light up the sky
all around the world,
as people celebrate the start
of a new time in their lives…
the sun rises, the sun sets –
just as it has done countless times before –
however, just as the year changes
so does the world ever so slightly…
the stars still sparkle the same
at night as they’ve always done –
however, far away in the vastness of space,
past, present, and future intersect,
and new doors open between two sides…
music plays constantly throughout the cosmos
that when heard by those able to hear it
inspires poetry, art, scientific discovery,
wonder, and dreams that will paint
the landscape of what is to come
with echoes of colour of what came before…
there is no limit to where anyone can go
when they discover what is possible…
there is no end to what knowledge
can be attained when you open your mind
to a new world you never even knew existed…
there is a truth to be found
about the nature of the universe
by looking at the delicate petals
and inhaling the breathtaking perfume of a rose…
there is no knowing what awaits any of us
when we decide upon the path we choose to take
when we reach a waypoint in our life-long journey
when we find ourselves at a crossroads.

My Poem “Lights”

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

Lights above, lights below…
lights of love, lights that glow…
lights of Christmas, lights of life…
lights that shine like the moon at night…
lights of the generous, lights of the thoughtful,
lights of the giving, lights of the sharing,
lights of the kind, lights of the divine…
from the sun in the sky during the day
to the stars of the night that shine far away,
from the flames of a candle in a church
to the electric torches that we sometimes
have to turn to to guide our way,
from the night-light that gives comfort
to a child at night
to the sparkling lights of a Christmas tree –
lights surround us, lights invite us,
lights sustain us, lights define us…
our planet is a world of light –
even at night, or when seen from space,
the lights of humanity can be witnessed
at every hour of the day…
some lights shine all the time,
but the aura that they emit
cannot always be seen in all their splendor –
however, the more that you get to know
some lights more than others
you begin to understand why some lights,
why some people, never stop shining…
each of us is a ray of light
from a miracle source of creation
and our presence should never be taken for granted…
each and every one of us constantly receive gifts
throughout our lives of all the things
that we have all wished for and always wanted…
time is far too precious to let get away without a fight…
life is the gift we were all given
to make the most of while doing all the things
we discover about living that we like…
the time that we spend with the people who we love
is never enough, because every moment –
even one of silence, spent with someone special –
is truly once in a lifetime…
stars, streetlights, souls, songs, spirits, snowflakes –
from the dim to the bright, from the small to the big,
life would not be what it is without people,
and people would not be who they are
without their guiding lights.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

My Poem “Goes to my head”

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

The more that someone allows
the spirit of something to capture them,
the more that they embody
the properties of that spirit…
the more that someone becomes engulfed
in the wave of energy and emotion
that rises at a particular time of the year,
the more that they want to share
the joy that they feel with whomever they are with…
the more that someone succumbs to traditions
that mean something profound to them,
the more that they want to repeat
those same rituals time and time again…
the more that someone thinks about
how someone or something makes them feel,
the more that they do not ever
want to be away from the object of their affections –
and even the thought of being far away
can be enough to bring them to tears…
the more that someone strives to reach
a state of complete and utter happiness,
the more that someone will discover more
about what keeps their heart beating
and the thought of who and what
they love the most ticking…
the more that someone does something,
the more that someone can become addicted
to the way that special something
never stops making them feel –
sometimes something can fill a person
with such a glow that their heart and soul
can be seen shining like the tail of a firefly…
there are so many things that instantly
overcome me and make me forget
the last thing that I said:
inspiration, sunshine, music,
the beautiful face of my fiancé,
the knowledge of something new –
however, there is only one thing
that immediately gives me a rush of blood,
at the speed of light, that goes straight to my head,
and that thing is the feeling of love.

My Poem “Slow down time”

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

The kids are growing up fast…
time isn’t slowing down for anything…
children are graduating from school
and leaving a part of themselves in the past…
this is when children look forward
and when parents look back…
this is when everybody realizes
that nothing lasts forever,
and when parents wish that they could
relive all those moments with their kids
when they were younger…
it is both a happy time and a sad time…
it is both a time for optimism
and also a time when everybody
has to say their goodbyes…
no one is dying – but, in a way,
it is the end of an era and a time
in a person’s life that will never come again…
parents only want the best for their children,
and the best parents champion their children
in whatever they choose to throw themselves into
and want to excel themselves at –
but seeing their children grow up
and change before their eyes
naturally and uncomfortably
causes parents to feel great pain…
every child cannot wait to grow up,
fall in love, have kids, and settle down –
while most parents, though greatly supportive
for the most part of their child,
just wish that time would just slow down.

My Poem “The Dance that never ends”

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

It feels like a long time
since I was allowed to stop,
to sit, to look, to listen,
to read, to write, to take in the voices,
the songs, the sounds, the music of life
like I used to –
there is always something else to do,
there is always somewhere else to be,
there is always some staple of necessity
that always seems to get in my way
of being the dreamer I love to be
and gladly welcoming any and every
opportunity to engage in a wandering
of inspiration and discovery…
it feels like it has been a long time
since I took a walk through a woodland,
left my footprints in the wet sand of a beach,
or watched the sun rise while listening
to the many birds singing
in the bushes and in the trees
in chorus with one another at dawn –
it is moments like this, when my time is my own,
when I feel like a soldier that has just returned home
from a theater of war…
it feels like only yesterday that I felt
the world stop spinning,
when Melissa and I shared our first kiss
and it feels like only yesterday
that I saw her for the first time
and I fell madly in love
with every perfect inch of her beautiful face…
it feels like only yesterday
that I tossed my silver coin into that wishing-well
and I made my silent wish…
it feels like today is yesterday all over again
when my memories of quintessential moments of happiness
return to the surface of my consciousness,
that are so powerful that they can fool me
into thinking that they are happening right now,
and it is times that happened years ago
that even to this day still feel vivid and tangible,
that I live to remember, to return to,
and to feel as if they are happening
over and over again like a dance that never ends.