You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2012.
As the bell tolled ten,
as I stood at the twilight cloister between knowledge and faith,
staring up at a sculpture of a victorious St. Michael
standing over a defeated Devil,
inspiration came to me then and echoed through the space,
and I found myself there-after standing on another level.
The ground beneath me was like a river,
the rain did not stop falling for a second;
for an instant, I began to shiver;
when the chimes ended, I thought I heard my own inner-voice
say something, as if it were trying to respond.
There was no lightning-bolt that struck nearby,
but nevertheless I saw a flash of light
which I interpreted as being insight-
cloud and rain was all that I could see in the sky,
and even though it was morning it felt more like night.
I was transfixed by the university, by the nearby fountain,
by the stone spheres that were on the path before me,
and by the imposing cathedral-
even in this light everything looked so beautiful.
I wanted so much to understand what I was feeling,
but my heart could not tell me;
I wanted so much to share this inner-light with someone else,
but there was no one to be seen.
I stood for a few more minutes in silence,
and then I felt my feet and my legs
regain the knowledge of their function
and propel me on my path again.
I don’t think that I will ever forget that moment
outside Coventry Cathedral and Coventry University, in the rain,
as the bell tolled ten.
At eleven minutes passed eleven o’clock I made a wish,
the wish is always the same:
that you and I would always be together,
like an endless summer day filled with love, light, and bliss.
I look at the stagering beauty of nature when I am alone,
and even though I am in-awe
I know that their is something and someone missing-
like the loss that you feel after only a second of pause
when you move away from someone you were just kissing-
I would miss you even if you were two feet away,
and that is why I have to read your words,
and see your beautiful face at the end of every day.
Hearts break every second
like a cocophony of broken lightbulbs on the ground;
my heart breaks every time I see you,
because I still feel so special
to be the poet of your inspiration who you found.
I never believed that the world is like it is
until I first saw the pout of your smile-
you are and you will always be my muse of every moment,
the judge of my heart when it feels on trial.
To me, love is not love if it doesn’t feel effortless;
like poetry, love writes itself
and comes easy when you let go of yourself
and no longer repress.
When I need you, I dream of you.
Love fills my heart when I see you
and you talk to me in words of poetry-
the power of the first word that you ever said to me,
even after all this time, hasn’t for a second begun to lessen;
I can never get enough of you, and I don’t ever want to,
and that is why I think about you,
and I make a wish about you
every day at eleven minutes passed eleven.
Watching you rise,
watching you become like the sun,
opening my eyes
everyday to new skies,
heights, and insights,
creating beautiful, poetic,
colours and patterns in my mind
like the Northern Lights.
I watch you and follow you
like a rainbow that never fades;
every time I delve deeper into your light
I am taken through a rich and blossoming forest,
until I arrive at a gorgeous open glade.
The most beautiful oasis to be found on Earth
is the one that we can all find within,
the most beautiful people
that we meet in our lives
are those who inspire us to imagine-
when we arrive at that perfect place,
when we finally meet that perfect person,
we feel bolder and brighter than the sun;
we feel invincible, like we are wearing metal skin.
My beautiful oasis is you.
You are so perfect to me,
because you are a great and gorgeous person,
whose heart could not be more bigger, nor more true.
What I love about you the most
is that you care about others, about life,
about the importance of going farther and being better-
everyone who meets you is forever charmed by you
like a beautiful bouquet of purple heather.
You are like the bow to my violin strings,
you are like the plectrum to my guitar;
you are so talented, stunning, and amazing,
you are in the ascendency to incredible opportunities
to show who and how unbelievable you are-
you will always mean more to me,
because you are a limitless and glowing
rising star.
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”-
the first words spoken by Neil Armstrong
when he became the first man to set foot on the Moon;
since I first heard those electrifying and spell-binding words
when I was a child
I have repeated them to myself from time to time,
so much so that those infamous words
have become more and more meaningful to me,
and they have become the words that are always on my mind.
What NASA, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins,
committed to achieving and achieved on July 21st, 1969,
were the first steps in a new age of human endeavour, accomplishment,
and optimism, that may still be progressing at the pace of a walk;
however what has happened as a result of the success
of the Apollo 11 mission and its crew can already be seen all over the world
in what has been a relatively short length of time.
Neil Armstrong embodied hope,
Neil Armstrong embodied adventure,
Neil Armstrong embodied the wonder of looking through a telescope,
Neil Armstrong embodied the best of all men and women-
that which makes us all look up at the sky and reach towards the future.
I wish I could have been alive to see the live televised broadcast
of the moment when Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon on a black and white TV-
the people that saw this extraordinary and super-human accomplishment
before their eyes must have been so overwhelmed,
they must have felt like they too were walking on the moon!
What a feeling of hope must have been in the air between everyone,
what a sight it must have been to see!
Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11,
from the moment that they were launched into space,
set into motion a new world that, to this day and forever,
will define the legacy of the entire Human race.
Space is not the final frontier,
space is but the first frontier in a universe of boundless possibilities-
that for every answer that we uncover about it
it brings up another ten more questions,
and for every galaxy that we discover
we find more planets orbiting around stars very similar to Earth
and our own sun.
Like most people that I admire,
I was never fortunate enough to actually meet Neil Armstrong;
but that did not impede me from being inspired by him,
it did not stop me from seeing myself in him,
and it has not stopped thousands, millions, of other people
from all around the world to follow in his footsteps-
as astronauts will continue to do so in the future
when they first set foot on Mars,
and they will no longer need to imagine
what it must have felt like to be him.
Neil Armstrong will never be forgotten,
his spirit still lives in the heart of us all,
and one day what he began with his first foot-step on the Moon
will carry humanity beyond our planet to the stars!
Where we will prosper, where we will evolve, and where we will shine!
One day, because of Neil Armstrong, because of our need to better ourselves,
humanity will achieve universal greatness-
because of our legacy, because of our first steps,
because of our giant leaps,
that were taken for us all by great heroes
for all mankind.
This morning, at daybreak,
as the tide came in and went out and came in again,
I wrote my name in the sand with a black stone,
in the place of a pen.
Writing my name so close to the beach’s end
I knew that it would not be long before the sea washed it away,
as if it had never been there-
but it is something that I have wanted to do for so long.
For every letter that I wrote
I could see that the tide was coming in faster with every passing second,
so I wrote every letter of every word as fast as I could-
it was like a race against time to write my name
there in the sun soaked sand, before it was washed away like a flood.
We all leave footprints, hand-prints,
names in the sands of time, as we travel through the world
from sunrise to sunset, from sunset to sunrise-
what we see of the world does not end with what we see with our eyes.
Most of what we do is temporary;
most of what happens to us surges and then settles, like ocean spray;
most of what we build within us is gone by the next day.
Some of the things that stand the test of time are invisible on first look,
and that is why they are untouched:
rock-faces, islands, channels, rivers-
when you look at them you can see natures signature in its sculpture,
and because of the perfection that you see,
you can tell that nature does not rush.
Our lives are sparks in a fire;
our interactions with each-other are like waves on a sea;
our fates are entwined together like holding hands;
our voices may be small in the chorus of the cosmos,
but I think that there is something wonderful and powerful
about something so simple as writing your name in the sand.
Yesterday, I walked to the top of a castle
and felt like a king as I looked out over the beautiful blue sea.
Today, I got out of bed, I got dressed,
I walked down the high-streets and roads
that I had never been down before,
and found myself walking down tunnels bored through solid-rock,
to squares of liberation and liberty.
Yesterday, I walked on the sea-floor of a harbour-
through tethered sailboats and fishing boats
that laid land-locked temporarily-
while the tide was out.
Today, I watched people start their day on this beautiful island:
commuting to work, going to school-
walking, running, talking, silent-
ready to begin their sun-blessed day,
seemingly without doubt.
Yesterday, I walked to the beach
and saw the effect of the ever-present Sun and Moon
on the Earth and on the ocean-
and as I took in the sea air into my lungs
I felt like a new man.
Today I watched life begin, continue, and change-
moving in every direction, and breaking the beat of a trance.
Yesterday, I felt the past touch me on the shoulder-
showing me and teaching me, yet again,
that what has passed does not mean that it now resides
in the realm of history.
Today I walked among the remnants of a great war-
one that changed the world forevermore-
and I feel more enlightened now than ever,
thanks to what I saw today,
and yesterdays journey of enlightenment-
which I am going to call from now on
my Gorey Story.
As the tide was going out in the morning,
I looked out to sea from where I was sitting
and I saw a white sailboat slowly making its way
silently in the distance,
sailing the horizon from right to left-
no one else looking out, or walking their dogs,
near the water seemed to notice it but me.
I wondered to myself who it was
that was sailing this beautiful boat
at this beautiful hour of golden washed ocean waves.
I wave out to sea at the distant passing sailor,
knowing that I could them but that they could not see me-
just as my way of saying good morning to them,
and hoping that they too, and I,
would have a wonderful day.
The Life, the Light, the Tears, of the Poet of the Sphere 