time

My Poem “38”

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

Today I am 38 years-old…
today, like every day,
every month, every year,
as I have got older,
I always look back over my shoulder –
even it is only for an instant –
and I take a good, long, look
at myself and I recall what I have done,
where I have been, and all that I have seen.

Ever since I was a child
I have always known how lucky I was
to have been born when, where,
and to whom I was born –
the home that I have always known,
and the parents who have never
stopped loving me and have
never stopped being proud of me…
today is my birthday,
and this year – more than any other,
I feel so lucky to have what I have,
and more importantly I feel so lucky to have
who I have in my life,
and I feel so lucky to share my life
with who I love the most in the entire world.

Every year, around this same time of the year,
I always wonder whether my life
would be better if I had made
different decisions and other choices
at certain points in my life –
and, every time I do,
I ultimately come back to the unshakable
and unwavering realization that I am
who I am meant to be
and my life is what it is meant to be;
however, that does not mean
that there aren’t things
that I wish I could change
with the snap of a finger if I had the power.

I know more about myself
than I knew five years ago…
I know so much more about life and people
than I did ten years ago…
I know more about my destiny and my life’s purpose
than I did twenty years ago;
however, I believe, even from the moment
that I was delivered into the light of this world,
that the path that I have been walking
all my life was already right in front of me,
and that along the way it only took
the strength of determination,
the courage, and the fearlessness
that I have been blessed with
by many people in my life
to contribute to my understanding
and my appreciation of what makes
a life lived to its potential so great,
and in life there are definitely times
when it is fun to just go with the flow
and see where it takes you –
because if you are lucky
then you might find yourself one day
far away from home and staring into the eyes
and within the embrace of an angel.

Life is short, and sometimes
you have to do things
and you have to experience things
before it is too late
and there is no time
left to do and to see
all of the amazing
and extraordinary things
that life has in store –
that is what I believe,
and that is what I know for sure,
and that is the culmination
of all of my knowledge
and all my experiences
that I have acquired
from every hour, every day,
every month, every year, prior to today,
when I turn 38 years-old.

My Poem “It’s all relative”

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

Life on Earth, time on Earth,
is individually relative to everybody
and everything alive on this planet…
the way that anybody or any thing
perceives and interacts with the world
is always dependent upon
who they are, what they are,
and where they come from…
Life on another planet,
the way that time is perceived
on another world orbiting around another star,
in another solar system,
in another part of the galaxy,
is always going to be different
in comparison to how we see things here…
Life in another galaxy,
when seen from the unique
vantage point of a radically different
celestial body, if someone were looking up
to their version of the night sky
with their own sense of sight
or through their version
of an intergalactic telescope,
would be the same as a microscopic
organism looking at a macroscopic form of life…
Life in another universe
might not be defined, nor bound,
by the same laws of nature as we have here on Earth –
so anything or anyone living
on their own version of a planet,
a moon, in their own version of a galaxy,
would be unlike anything
that we could ever quantify,
because more than likely
another universe would have their own
definitions of life, reality,
and what constitutes science…
Life for an omnipotent and omnipresent
divine being, such as God,
and the way that they would
undoubtedly observer and perceive
mortal beings with a limited life-span –
such as humanity – would be akin
to someone walking past
and looking through the glass
of an ant-farm, a maze, or an aquarium –
because life and existence
and the way that it is perceived,
interpreted, and analyzed
is always relative.

My Poem “The Presence of Purpose”

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

The sight of the sun
is sometimes deceptive –
first thing in the morning
when you see the sun shining
through your bedroom window
you might expect to walk out
your door into a world of warmth –
however, especially during
the period when winter
transitions into spring,
most of the time,
even though there is a blue sky
above you to marvel at,
the air is cold and you can see
your own breath rising
in front of your face,
and you have to brace yourself
for what you might encounter…
There is nothing greater
than a winter morning
that features the brightest sunlight,
the most breathtaking and beautiful of sunrises,
and when time changes
and the clocks go back
because that is when you see
the most spectacular sunsets –
tokens of memory
to an evening of dreams
that you will never forget…
Every new day of every new season
is never the same as the one
that came before…
Every sight, every sound, every voice
of every moment is unique –
even though it may appear to be
something that is being repeated…
Every moment contains echoes of the past
and foreshadowing of the future –
however, it is mostly only in times
of reflection when we see
crossroads of existence intersect…
Mornings like this – mornings that instantly
and constantly inspire dreamers
and artists – are the best…
Being grateful for all the times
of unbridled peace and joy
that you feel and experience is important,
because life is about living, breathing,
being present in a moment,
and about feeling the positive pull
of having a presence of purpose.

My Poem “Divine Intervention”

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

Sometimes things happen
that are true mysteries…
if the devil is in the details,
and if God works in mysterious ways,
then each of us are constantly
walking a path of choices and destiny…
sometimes things just pop up in front of you,
like a lucky penny, and you have to
make a course-correction,
and you have to do what you have to do
and you have got to see what you have got to see…
sometimes you return to places
that you never thought that you
would ever go back to
for reasons that you can’t control
and you cannot explain.

Sometimes in life you just need to have faith
and believe that something, or someone,
is watching over you –
protecting you, directing you, conducting you,
and pointing you in the direction
to where you need to be,
as if adhering to some kind of
inter-dimensional time-table…
things change, places change, people change –
there is always a time in your life
to find peace and reconciliation
with something that regularly
used to keep you up at night.

Thank God that things, places,
and people change – that is what I say;
because if life, the world, the universe,
did not revolve around the singularity of change
then where would any of us be?
There are so many moments of inspiration
that are really instances
of divine intervention in disguise.

My Poem “Broad Daylight”

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

From the moment that sunlight touches something,
from the instant of sunrise
when the first waves of energy
crest above the horizon,
from the first golden halo
that shines like that of an angel’s light –
every day, everybody witnesses a miracle,
a new beginning, an encore, a beacon of truth,
a light as old as the universe,
a super-star in every sense of the word,
that gives everything and everybody on this planet
a means and a reason to be
who and what they want to be…
the sun that shines above us
is more powerful and more influential
than we sometimes realize…
the sun is so potent,
and yet so destructive in so many ways,
that when we are outside and we are incorporating
its energy into our biology –
similarly to how a plant uses the sun
to convert its light into chemical energy
by way of photosynthesis –
we sometimes have to protect our skin
and shield our eyes to protect our vision.

During the hours of moonlight
colour is at a premium
and the limited sources of light
that can be found
often make everything appear
as if they were straight out of a
black and white film or a photograph…
from morning to evening,
even on a cloudy afternoon,
the light of day is bright
and perfectly exemplifies
the beauty of nature in all its glory,
and the colour spectrum of the universe
truly comes into its own
and is able to display
so many things in so many ways.

Light is a means of survival…
light gives birth to life,
and life gives birth to light…
some people can live in some places
where it is dark and find contentment
surrounded by distant stars –
but the best time and the only time
to truly experience the kaleidoscope of life
is when you open your eyes
and the world opens up to you,
when there is blue sky above you,
when there are dreams coming true,
and when there is an unending
overabundance of broad daylight.

My Poem “The Road So Far”

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

It’s impossible to completely understand
a world until you start to explore it…
it’s impossible to completely know
a person until you meet them face to face…
it’s impossible to completely understand
why people do what they do
until you attempt to walk in their shoes…
some people are born into a way of life,
while some people choose a way of life
because they have heard a call…
some people fall when they try to rise,
while some people rise when they believe
they are going to fall…
some people discover more about other people
towards the end of a person’s life
and some people feel like their lives
are beginning again when they sit down
and they listen to the stories
told by a previous generation…
some things in life we choose,
while some things are decided for us…
there always comes a time in a person’s life
when they come to a crossroads –
when they look up, when they look down,
when they look left, when they look right,
when they look forwards, when they look back –
when they remember, when they consider,
when they count their blessings,
when they wish they had more time
with people who have passed on,
and such a crossroads always occurs
when it comes to the end of one season
and the beginning of another…
even as a person grows older
they always hold on to some things,
to some experiences, and to some people
longer than others, because there are some
mementos of life that instantly make people
jump back in time in their mind
like some kind of inter-dimensional time-traveler…
the older that a person gets
the more that they are reminded of how fast
time moves and how fleeting life is –
and that is why it is always important
to listen to the sound of the beat of your own heart,
because life truly is a journey – in so many ways –
and filled every day with things
that cannot be found anywhere else in the universe
and on any other planet orbiting any other star,
and that is why it is important to stop
every once in a while, while traveling the miles
of your life-long journey,
and reflect upon the road so far.

My Poem “The 1975 Experience”

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

I feel so alive…
I am still riding high
upon a wave of sound,
energy, and light,
after watching, after listening,
to my favourite band, The 1975,
live for the first time…
the experience was amazing…
the show was mesmerizing…
the almost spiritual, simultaneous,
synchronous, visceral gift
of opening your heart, your mind,
your soul, your senses, your mouth,
taking in, letting out an incantation
of love in the form of music and song words
that you know is an unfiltered
communication of pure ecstasy –
and in my opinion there is no way
of replicating that feeling of connection,
that wave of emotions that you find yourself riding…
when we are in presence of similar souls to us,
when we hope and pray to be taken away on a journey
to another place, and we reach a state
of hypnotic and perfect bliss,
returning to the outside world,
walking through the darkness surrounded by stars,
into the cold air of the night,
is like waking up from a dream
that you find it hard to describe afterwards
because it was so enlivening…
coming down after flying so high is always hard…
getting up the next morning
after a transcendental experience
is like waking up with a hangover
after being intoxicated by a drug…
I have had moments of time in my life
that were so special to me that I will never
forget them until the day that I die:
meeting my one true love and asking her to marry me,
meeting my favourite author,
standing atop the Empire State Building
and taking in the extraordinary
360-degree view of New York City,
getting my first book of poetry published,
and so many more –
and now I can add my time listening
to The 1975 live and in concert to that list,
because just like when I try and recapture
the sensations of doing all of the amazing things
that I will always remember doing,
when I close my mind eyes I still feel like
I am when and where I once was:
one moment in my lovers arms
sitting on that wooden porch in Georgia
that I still remember so well,
and the next bathed in the light
and the sounds being witnessed and reciprocated by
my favourite band, The 1975, on a cold January night.

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.

“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 “Waypoint”

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.