“Tomorrow’s World” is a poem taken from Mark’s 2025 poetry collection ‘The Storyteller‘ – now available to purchase in hardback and as an ebook from Amazon.
Listen on Apple Podcasts and read a transcript.
tomorrow
My Poem “Tomorrow’s World”
A new day, a new month, a new year
always heralds the arrival of a new generation
of new faces and new voices
that always bring new ideas and new perspectives
into the mix of art, music, culture, fashion,
entertainment, science, technology, and innovation
that the world is already familiar with and is known for -
but no one can know how the path of coexistence
will influence and change things and people
in ways that are hard to predict the outcome of…
as some things and some people grow
in popularity and in prominence
there are always, at first, subtle signs
that point towards a difference between two eras,
and before long a fusion of multiple states of being begins…
change is always a learning process,
and sometimes an opportunity to refocus
and what matters to you and where
you want to progress towards.
Change can be unpredictable,
and sometimes unsettling -
but as long as you keep a hold of who you are
and what you believe is your true calling in life
then the new world unveiling itself before you
will continue to welcome the inclusion
of your individual contributions…
whenever a puzzle is broken down
into its separate components,
at first, it can be hard to see the final picture
being represented -
however every detail, every shape, every colour
of everything eventually becomes more
and more recognisable and obviously
made to fit alongside one another,
but sometimes you have to push through
the barrier of frustration that can sometimes rise around you
and continue to persevere until you reach a point
where and when you realise that something new,
something interesting, something exciting,
something that has been waiting to emerge
is taking shape within your mind.
Light exists within darkness,
darkness exists within light -
because that is the way of the universe:
order and chaos, existing in a perpetual cycle
of mutual understanding that one cannot ultimately dominate the other
but both ultimately rely upon each other
for their very survival…
destruction and creation
are two sides of the same coin
that when tossed into the air
could ultimately decide the fate of countless lives…
differences of opinions, clashes of personalities,
explosions of emotions, people of power,
weapons of war have been integral to reshaping
what life will look like for future generations
since the beginning of time,
and every so often we all have to stop
and remind ourselves of who we are
and what we are capable of if we all choose
to work together instead of against one another -
because I have always believed that good things
can come from doing the right thing
at the right time and for the right reasons,
as long as no one forgets
that the people and the things of the past
and the people and the things of the present
are what make the reality of the future
that will be tomorrow’s world.
My Poem “There is no tomorrow”
It is good to dream,
and it is good to be a dreamer...
it is good to believe,
and it is good to be a believer...
it is good to send out a message of hope
into the universe without knowing
if you will ever receive a reply...
it is good to make a list of things
you want to do and places
you want to visit before you can't...
we all wish that some things
could be different and that we could
somehow go back and change what happened;
however, we are not meant
to have the power of a god,
we are not meant to live beyond
the last day of our destined journey,
we are not meant to know everything -
but each and every one of us,
right this second, have something
that we have in common:
an opportunity to choose
where we will go next, why, and how.
The past is fixed, indellible,
and what happened before is what it is...
the present is where we find ourselves now -
and everybody knows that
there is something important they want to do,
there is somewhere that they want to be,
and, usually, it is doing something else
and being somewhere else
than where they are...
the future does not exist until it does -
and, for most people, the future
is so far away and so illusive
that they do not realise
they have arrived there
until they take a look around
and see how much things
and people have changed...
every day we are alive
we are travelling into the world to come -
and as we get older
each day seems to
pass us by faster and faster,
as if we have all unwittingly
always be the participants within a race.
In life, we all lose more than we gain;
but it is over the course of our life
that we get to experience
and witness moments like no other,
and there is no better time
than today, and right away,
to do what you want to do,
to go where you want to go,
and to be with whoever
wants to be with you -
because when it comes to
making a choice that will
effect your life forever
the present is all that matters,
because there is no tomorrow.
My Poem “Survivors”
I feel like I have been torn to pieces and put back together again... I feel like I have loved so hard, for so long, but now I am convinced that all the love that I once felt is gone. I have always been a dreamer and an unwavering optimist; but now I see only one path before me: the same one as that of the sun, and one day, too, I will have shined my last, and I will finally be free of all pain. I have felt many connections over my life, but almost all of the people with whom I have shared so much have long since gone their own way and anything once felt has been lost. This is what happens, this is what has happened, this is what I never anticipated, this is what I never could have predicted; but as times change so too are people remade - especially when they find themselves at a crossroads, scarred by life, and not willing to repeat the same cycle that they have been struggling to live through over and over, seemingly without end. What should we do, What would we do, What can we do to feel something, anything, like we once felt before? But there is no way back. There is no way to start anew. There is no way to know what would have happened if different choices had been made - especially when each and every day feels simultaneously like the first and the last. There is no way other than to reach for tomorrow, and hope that what we find will once again remind us of where we came from and why we are still alive. There is always a way forward, even after something akin to the "End of the World" - but, if you want to give the version of you who rises out of the ashes of what came before something that they will keep with them in the new world of the future that awaits them, you could do no better than to gift a thought of hope and a promise that everything will be OK as long as they choose to embrace, and do not fear, the burden that is sometimes felt by those of us who would class ourselves as survivors.
My Poem “Overlap”
Every day overlaps with the last…
every day everybody’s thoughts
overlap with their memories of the past…
every day people realize that there
are things that are harder to distance
themselves from because of the tangle
of lose threads that continue to dangle
from the fray of where we have been…
every day the stories of people
far and wide become connected
to one another as if by fate
in ways that can sometimes feel like a dream…
every day in this world people from
the past, the present, and the future
meet and metaphysically shake hands,
because some things, like music,
cross time and space and find
mutual friends who they feel understand them…
every day everybody wades deep
into the ocean of life and consciousness –
especially while they are asleep,
and everybody can find themselves
stuck in a whirlpool from which
it can be hard to break free…
every day as we get older
every day feels like it is here, there,
and then gone again in a flash…
every day is new and unique –
however, more often than not,
the events of yesterday, today,
and tomorrow will always
find a way to invariably overlap.
My Poem ‘Children of Tomorrow’
Children always adapt to change quicker;
learning new things to a child is always easier;
children are always asking questions
in search of answers –
sometimes even from strangers;
there is no one as braver as a child,
because to them there is no such thing as danger.
Even though I am slowly growing up
I still share the same fascination
and the same keen interest in the world
and in people as I did when I was a boy;
I can still remember who I was –
what I saw, what I thought,
what I heard, what I felt –
and when I hear a child of today
ask the same questions as I did
when I was younger it fills me with joy.
A city is like a playground to a child;
to a child all the different people
and everyone’s amazing eccentricities
are both wonderful and confusing
at varying times of a given hour;
a city is like being on a great adventure,
when a child is with their parents
and guardians, and to them
it is like being out in the wild;
to a child in a city
every skyscraper is like a magical tower.
The sights and sounds of the world
echo louder and are more profound to a child
than to the ears of an adult;
as we grow older our minds and our hearts
become filled with so many memories,
feelings, and emotions that sometimes
only serve to distract you
from seeing the wonders of the world;
adults are constantly comparing,
where as children never stop seeing,
imagining, and dreaming.
Children know what it means to be alive,
and they never waste a moment to let it show;
a child knows things that some adults have forgotten
and unfortunately no longer understand and know;
children – in body, mind, and spirit –
constantly crave to be on the go;
oh what I wouldn’t give to be a child of today
and one of the lucky children of tomorrow!
My Poem ‘One of those days’
Today is one of those days
when wherever you look
the sun is in your eyes;
today is one of those days
when you want to walk
barefoot in the park
on the soft green grass;
today is one of those days
when nature comes alive for everyone
and anybody can bask
in the beauty of the world;
today is one of those days
when things happen that are beyond words;
today is one of those days
when people are having picnics;
today is one of those days
when the colours of the flowers
and the intense blue of the sky
glows as if they were exemplifying
the meaning of nature;
today is one of those days
that is perfect for a scoop or two of ice-cream;
today is one of those days
when children feel in their element;
today is one of those days
which feels like it is a dream;
today is one of those days
which feels like a constant banquet
to all your senses;
today is one of those days when everyone
should be outside in the sun;
today is one of those days
that is perfect for having all kinds of fun;
today is one of those days
when you can sit down and write,
paint, read, and listen to the world
and feel content;
today is one of those days
that is meant to be shared
because it is one of those days
that reminds everybody what is truly important;
today is one of those days
when I look around and I remember
memories of similar days
that looked as beautiful as today;
today is one of those days
which are precious to me in so many ways;
today is one of those days
when I feel intoxicated
by the energy of the sun’s rays;
today is one of those days…
My Poem ‘Happy Birthday!’
Every day of every month of every year,
today, yesterday, tomorrow, last week, next week,
before you know it, it is someone’s birthday,
it will be your birthday;
today may even be the birthday of someone you know;
today might even be your birthday,
and I might be the first person to wish you
a happy birthday – unfortunately not in person
as I would always prefer doing,
but in the form of this poem;
and as my gift to you, I happily give you this poem,
and a few reasons why you are amazing,
and just my kind of person;
and I want to show you this,
and allow you to understand why you are very important
in so many ways, in my way.
You found this poem, you found me,
for a reason, most importantly
so that I could wish you a happy birthday –
but you also came to this place and this time
and were fated to be here,
listening to me talking to you,
reading what I want to say to you,
long before I even began writing this rhyme.
You and I share something in common, many of us do;
we all have the gift of sharing
more in common with a few,
and people who you may not know personally,
but in a way they know themselves
so they also know a part of you too;
you and I both have a day when people who know us,
who like us, who remember us,
who value our existence and our presence,
choose to think of us, and do something for us,
that is precious, and it may be something
that they want eagerly to do and to say;
we all, we both, may never meet –
however, it would please me no end,
and it would make me eternally happy,
to think that one day, today,
someone, you who are reading this poem
that I wrote for you,
whether today is the anniversary of your birth, or not,
are reading this poem,
and I would like to wish you,
especially if today is your day,
from me, a very happy birthday!
Mark The Poet 