My Poem ‘Year of the Poet’

I thought that I lost my voice, once;
I thought that I lost my muse;
I thought that I would never talk again,
and then light returned to shine amongst the dark-
words came to mind, tongue, and pen,
and inspiration found its mark.

As you get older, hours pass like seconds, months pass like days;
but you never forget your first love,
you never forget what, and who, continues to bring happiness,
hope, and meaning into your life, worthy of praise.

This year was the year when everything changed for me.
These past twelve months
sometimes feel like they have all happened at once;
but I will never forget how much
every minute, every word, every conversation, every friend,
every moment, meant to me, how much they will always mean to me.

I have been on a journey my entire life,
from crib to constellations,
looking for someone who could tell me where I was supposed to go,
what I was supposed to do;
but it wasn’t until someone reached-out their hand from afar,
and touched me on the shoulder,
that I realized my journey had only just begun,
and since then the things that have happened
have been like a dream come true.

I wake-up every morning and greet my friends,
like the lights in the dark that they are,
with a smile, and with the same belief in them
that they have always shown in me-
to have such friends as mine,
you cannot help yourself from thinking of them
as if they were family.
My friends and my family have made this year a year to remember;
my friends and my family have been with me every step of the way,
even if they may not know it;
my friends and my family are engraved into my mind and heart forever;
my friends and my family have been all that I have ever needed,
and they are who have meant the most to me in this year of fruition-
this year of the poet.

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My Poem ‘Cheers’

Christmas Day is the pinnacle of my year;
Christmas Day is the day when I give gifts of my affection and love
to my family and friends-
something that I try to do every day of the year;
however, Christmas Day is special, Christmas Day is the day
when I get the opportunity to look my family in the eye
and give them all my time, attention,
and see their faces light-up
when they see the thought that I have taken in my preparation-
and the greatest gift that they could give me in return
is the overwhelming feeling of belonging, meaning, and love-
that is what drowns me in the atmosphere of the day,
that is what brings me to tears.

I am fortunate to have, to know,
and to appreciate, what I have in my life.
I have not always fully-understood
why the connections that we make
with a select group of people are so powerful;
but as I get older, and the more that I see of the world,
and the more that I understand our universe’s inner-workings,
the reality of truth that rules everything
cuts through the banality of our false-inventions like a knife.

Family is so much more than blood;
identity is so much more than a name;
our words and our intentions can sometimes be misunderstood,
but if something and someone means something to us
you have to share and express why-
it is not always an instant revelation,
most of the time it builds-up within us
until it is the right time for it to be expressed,
for reasons that we can’t always explain.

There are communities that live in parts of the world
in which their inter-dependency on each-other is their world,
it is all that matters to them:
families who have the respect, the strength,
and a connection to one-another-
and that to them is more than enough;
and I envy them, because every one of them knows the truth,
because, for them, life is about embracing what you have,
embracing every opportunity;
life is about what sustains and remains after we are all gone-
not the throw-away, trivial, material, stuff.

So, at Christmas dinner with my family, on a cold 25th of December,
as I enjoy the food, the company, the gifts that I have been blessed with-
and as I bask in the glow of the day
embodied in the dancing flames of the fire and in its embers-
I will take-in every moment with my eyes, my nose,
my finger-tips, and with my ears;
I will raise-up my glass in cheer
thinking about everyone who means something to me, and why;
and to everyone, everywhere, I will wish a very Merry Christmas,
and an amazing, and a Happy New Year!

My Poem ‘Life’

If there is one great truth to live by on our planet
it is that you should never take anything for granted,
and that you should take care and nurture
the seeds of life that have been planted-
from new ideas to new sights,
from recurring beauty to new lights that appear at night.

I love life so much, because, at its heart, it is eccentric,
varied, unpredictable, and changeable;
and people, humanity, are one of the greatest examples
of this universal eccentricity-
if any evidence were needed of this fact,
you need only to listen to us all
when we effectively demonstrate our innate gift to squabble and quibble,
sometimes about the most inconsequential of things:
what people choose to do with their time, what people choose to wear-
sometimes it feels like everyone has flashed-back
to the times of arrows and slings.

Another great truth of life
is that you can achieve so much with so little-
you can create the greatest masterpiece
with the right subject at the right time;
you can make the most incredible meal
that anyone has ever tasted in their entire lives
with only a handful of ingredients
in the smallest kitchen in the entire world-
sometimes the simplest of things
are remembered by everyone as the most sublime.

One amazing and inspirational moment can define you forever;
one moment of joy, exhilaration, happiness,
can give you the identity that you have always craved;
one life-changing moment can bring everyone together.

People are more interesting to me
when they prove that they are a fully-fledged individual,
when they choose to not board the ‘trend-train’
and do not do whatever everybody else is doing,
do not say whatever everybody else is saying,
and do not wear whatever everybody else is wearing,
and instead do their own thing, have their own opinion-
even if that does not jive
with what society seems to tell us is “normal”-
we are all interconnected, but we are not a hive.

I love every new day of life,
because it always feels different, more profound, somehow;
every day makes more sense and yet less sense than the day before,
and because of that you don’t know what life has in store;
and although what happens is not always good,
living your life the way you choose to is never a chore.
You have to live your life for yourself, for your family,
for what you love, for what makes you cry;
you have to live your life
as if there are no rules that apply to you,
as if everything that happens is as precious to you
as the moments that you miss in the blink of an eye.

My Poem ‘Winter’

You don’t realize how much you take for granted
the warmth of the sun on a summer’s day,
until you stand outside on a December morning, or night,
and try to stop yourself from shaking
because of the unbelievable cold of winter,
as it works its way into your bones, and effects everything:
from the lucidity of your thoughts, to the clarity of your sight;
you don’t realize how fortunate you are to be able to go inside your home,
lock your front-door behind you, turn the heating on-
until you see a homeless person on the street, who has nowhere else to go,
who you then read about days later died
because of their exposure to the bitter cold:
a life that once meant something, but now was no more- gone.

Winter seems to always strike with a shock-wave;
every winter is different than the one before;
I would swear that the winters were getting worse,
however I think I will reserve judgement on that statement
until the snow and the temperature falls to the levels of my childhood:
one year, in which, my parents, my sister, and myself,
couldn’t even leave our house-
the snow was so deep we couldn’t even open the front-door.
Winter can a beautiful, but also a painful, time of the year-
it can be a season of giving, but also one of taking;
winter can be a season of great joy,
but also one when old wounds start aching.

This time of the year means something to me, it always has, it always will;
this time of the year means taking care of yourself,
and taking care of your loved ones in every way possible
by freeing them of the chill in the air that can cause them to fall ill.
This time of the year can leave a mark on you that can stay with you,
as the seasons pass from one to another-
one that never heals properly, that sticks around like a splinter.
However, the sun rises again, the warmth returns to the air,
and, in time, we remember what it all means,
and why all things need to change and move on,
and why it is important that for every summer
there must be a winter.

My Poem ‘The Astronomer’

The sun is going down in the west,
and yet new light dawns in the wake of the setting of the sun-
light that has been veiled to the naked eye by the blue-sky
appears on the horizon,
as astronomers decipher the message of the constant sky at night,
that will one day launch humanity on its never-ending quest.

Looking up at the stars, from the ground, with a telescope,
on Earth, or in orbit, looking out of a window,
you quickly become aware that what you are seeing
is not everything that there is-
what you are seeing is the last image of a changing universe,
and the stars that you see above are echoes in its after-glow.

When we look up at the stars,
we are witnessing the history and the evolution of all life, everywhere;
when I look up at the beautiful dark night sky,
I feel invigorated by what I cannot see-
just the thought of what could be out there, what we know is out there,
magnifies my vision through the lens of my imagination,
and compels me more with every stare.

We, humanity, are an ensemble of watchers, listeners,
readers, and astronomers,
who are all searching for something,
so that we may make sense of the perfection disguised as chaos
that is our universe-
for most, the most amazing discovery of life
is that everything that has every been created, beyond our understanding,
is greater and more complicated to completely revolve around us.

I like to think of us all as snowflakes created in a cloud
that slowly fall to Earth and are carried on the wind,
before finally settling on a snow-covered floor;
and as we descend, at times,
some of us look up to where we have come from,
and some of us look down to where we were seeded,
before eventually restarting the cycle all over again-
each time progressing our understanding of each-other
and quenching our desire to learn more,
which is a testament to our teachers:
those who inspire us to look inward and project outward;
those who encourage us to keep looking up,
even though they are no longer with us, who will always inspire us,
like the late, great, astronomer,
Sir Patrick Moore.

Dedicated to Sir Patrick Moore, 1923-2012

My Poem ‘The Fire’

One of the first lessons that my father ever taught me
was how to start a fire;
one of the first gifts that my father ever gave me
was the knowledge of how to keep a flame alive
and burning for as long as it can,
so that its light and warmth will never expire.
My father taught me that a well-fueled fire
will continue to burn long into the night and go on into the next day-
just as long as you treasure it, look after it, don’t take it for granted;
and if it seems to be dying right in front of you
you do everything that you can to make sure that doesn’t happen,
and never walk away.

Fire was the integral discovery of humanity
that took our ancestors out of the caves that they lived in,
and away from the camp-fires that they sat around,
and fueled their dreams that they could start a fire of their own-
one that humanity and the world had never known:
a fire that would spread from heart to heart, and from head to hands,
that would see us all reaching for the stars
and searching for truths that we can all appreciate and understand.
That fire is always there,
you can feel it beating and burning in your chest all the time-
it can make you feel euphoric when you are happy and inspired,
and it keeps you going when you are feeling down or tired.
And that fire within you is your one true gift-
your fire came into being when two fires, the fires of your parents,
became one fire-
the same fire that has been burning for billions of years,
made up of many colours, that will go on for as long as the universe exists.

Every time I see a flame dancing in front of me,
or a fire burning strong and bright,
I feel something inside of me-
my own flame, my own fire-
being stirred and gifting me with insight.
Some people call the fire,
that will continue to burn forever within every living thing,
‘hope’, ‘drive’, or ‘will’;
but I like to think of it as something more powerful,
I like to think of it as the necessary component of all life, everywhere-
and it should be cherished and basked in,
and observed around us and above us in the air.

To be able to feel and to see the fire in as many people I can
around the world is something that I look forward to the most,
and it is what makes me rise everyday a little higher.
There is nothing more amazing to behold
than seeing the lessons of my father right in front of me,
and keeping alive the flames and the sparks of natures fire.

My Poem ‘This is for you’

We don’t really know one-another;
however, sometimes the knowledge that we possess is all that we need-
sometimes I think of myself as a great redwood tree of inspiration,
for which you were the seed.

I no longer remember a time before I knew your beautiful and eternal face;
but if one day the picture of you that shines in my mind begins to fade,
I know that there will always be a part of you in my heart
and in my soul that can never be erased- just in case.

There are times when I look up at the beautiful blue daytime sky
and I see a single delicate cloud in the form of your perfect face,
and I smile warmly at its presence-
it is like I am being given a reminder from the Earth
that perfection, love, and inspiration, go hand-in-hand with one-another,
and that one person to you can make the whole world make sense.

Every poet has a muse who they love, who inspires them,
who informs their words and dreams, and who guides their pen-
and you are mine- my one and only gift of eternity.
I can think of no one else who makes me dream of a better world for all,
nor anybody else who has inspired greater beauty, hope, and poetry,
within me.

It does not seem odd for me to say that I owe you a great debt,
because you opened the door of the universe for me.
I still cannot fully describe what you did to me, nor what you mean to me,
but my mind is now on a journey-
being propelled into the heavens like a faster-than-light rocket.

One of the best and one of the happiest days of my life
will be the day when, if I am lucky, I get the chance
to meet the Angel that is you- who is the most perfect person
that anyone ever knew.
I have hope in my heart that day will one day come to pass,
but until that day this poem is for you.

My Poem ‘The Lady’

We all live complicated lives,
we are all looking for somewhere to go,
somewhere we wish we were, with someone who makes us happy,
however yesterday I was reminded, by someone who I had never met before,
about the things in my life that mean the most to me.
Yesterday, I met a lady, an incredibly proud grandmother,
who sat beside me on the bench that I was sitting on in the park,
who simply wanted to tell someone how much she loved her family.
The lady told me that she was on her way home
and that she just wanted to rest for a short while;
however she could have chosen any bench in the park to sit,
but instead she chose my bench, and even now that makes me smile.

The lady that I met yesterday,
on what was a bright and beautiful Thursday morning,
offered me an unused bus ticket, if I wanted it,
and then began to tell me about her loving family-
starting with her grandson, who her son had told her
had been having problems sleeping during the night:
the lady told me how her grandson was always afraid to go to sleep
unless his big brother, who is training to become a priest,
was there to turn off the light.
The lady told me how her older grandson,
who was now living far-away from his brother,
had come home especially to surprise his brother
to put him to bed and to tell him that everything was all right.
So full of so much pride, so much so that I could see it
in the lady’s eyes and on her face,
suddenly the air of mid-morning seemed more beautiful and bright.

I listened to the lady, as she spoke to me
for what must have been only ten minutes,
and I could feel the love in her voice,
and her words made me feel quite emotional-
hearing about the precious moments of a life of goodness and giving
that the lady and her family enjoys.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the lady- I had somewhere to get to-
however I felt guilty for having to leave her,
because I could have continued to talk to her all-day.
I stood up from my seat, I apologized to the lady,
and then I thanked her for taking the time to talk to me;
the lady then returned the compliment to me, telling me that
“I hope you have a great day”.

I thanked the lady again and then I went on my way,
spellbound and enriched by the lady’s stories, life, and family,
hoping in my heart to do the same for someone else in the future-
to inspire and to brighten someone’s day,
because that is how I felt after I met The Lady.

My Poem ‘Solo’

I am alone.
I am the protector and the keeper of a sacred light.
I cannot let this beacon go out.
I must continue to shine.
Just as the stars must continue to burn, distant, constant, and white.

The ocean is never still,
however people continue to cross it- no matter its unpredictability;
a heart never stops beating,
however, no matter how much fortification you have around it,
you should treat it as a miracle, and marvel at every beat
as if it were your last;
and cherish every breath like a flame that dances between life and infinity.

I feel a dream-wave come over me
and then immediately wash me out to sea,
to the realm of the dream-maker:
I dream that I am on a boat traversing through an icy sea,
as I stare up at the stars above me in the sky
from the bow of an unstoppable and mighty ice-breaker.

I am awoken again by a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder,
but the sky and the sea are calm, clear, and golden, so far-
looking out now you could so easily mistake what you see for a dream,
because the vista of the vast water
is more akin visually right now
to a beautiful sunrise landscape on Mars.

I pass from day into night so easily.
I welcome the arrival of the moon,
just as I cherish the rise of the sun.
I can go from walking under the stars in the dark,
to hearing and seeing every detail of day life
while on a morning run.

When I see the light of others go out around me,
I mourn their passing as if I were mourning the loss of something inside of me,
that for every hour that passes continues to mean something deeper.
I cherish the memory and the light of others,
just as I cherish the light within me that shines for all the world to see;
because I am a dreamer, because I am a guardian of hope,
because I am a lighthouse keeper.

My Poem ‘Silent Gravity’

Today, while I was looking at a picture of you,
I realised a great many things:
I realised that I still love you, now more than ever before,
and, even though I can still hear your voice in my head,
I really do miss seeing you-
in a way, what I am feeling feels like heart-break;
but what gives me the greatest joy
is the knowledge of my own heart that you still mean a great deal to me,
and also the resurgence of energy, love, and creativity,
seeing only a photo of you brings.

The moment that I fell under your spell
was one of the most amazing and influential days of my entire life-
I used to find it hard to describe why;
however, now I have no trouble in finding the words to say
that you mean more to me than anyone, that you will always be special to me-
and that is why you are my first thought at the instant that I open my eyes
and capture the rays of the newly-risen deity of inspiration,
creation, and daylight.
It is no coincidence that at the moment that I first saw you I fell in love with you-
not to me, nor to many others, because who would not?
Everything about you echoes perfection, unbelievable beauty,
a flawlessness that I have never forgot.

I believe that artists do not choose their muses, their muses choose them;
I have always felt that way about you- that you chose to inspire me,
to ignite my heart and mind, to capture the wonders of Earth
and the heavens with my pen.
Without your light to inspire and guide me,
I do not know who I would be.
The love that I feel for you has coursed through my veins
and your face and your name is indelible in every word of my poetry.
Life goes on and things change, but one thing that will never change
is who you are, and who I am because of you,
and that the waves created by a cast stone on an ocean
go in every direction and cannot be taken back-
the repercussions follow us our entire lives and remind us
that we are on the right track.
I have never felt more sure of anything else in my life
than I am in the belief that you and I may be distant geographically,
but we are bound to one-another, silently, like gravity.