My Poem ‘Lightning Bug’

Dancing in the dark around the light,
on a hot Summer night,
creating a beautiful spectacle
as they dart around so fast,
a constellation of lightning bugs fly and glow
and make children and adults feel awestruck and alive
as they watch the magical light show.

I have always been fascinated by miracles of life
that have the gift to be able to generate their own natural light,
I have always thought of myself as a firefly or a lightning bug
attracted by and also unknowingly generating my own trail
for others to follow, like the electric breadcrumbs
of streetlights at midnight.

I often feel like a big kid,
because as I have got older
I have refused to give up on seeing the world
and marveling at the new, the phenomenal,
and the exciting, and I plan to continue
to see the good before I see the bad;
I will never take for granted what I have,
and I will try not to pine
for that which I didn’t need in the first place,
and never want for which I never had.

Even in the darkness,
at all hours of the day,
even at night under a full-moon,
life of every kind is awake
and showing the colours of its plume.
I have always thought that at magic hour of sunset
the world is in the throws of a transition
and change that can be seen as well as a felt-
I believe that certain animals and people
have a sense of this, and an instinct for it,
and that is what makes me think that all the stories
and myths about the supernatural
have more truth to them than we know fully,
and that it is no coincidence that so many stories
and tales take place around twilight.

I have always wanted to see
and I have always wanted to hold
an integral piece of nature’s magical puzzle in my hands,
and on more than one occasion I have held the precious delicacy
of a short-lived but exhilarating teacher of life
who has shown me, and who has tried to teach me,
that every fleeting moment is important-
as is the time you spend talking to and with family and friends.

Anything that you can share,
anything that you feel,
anything that you can hold and embrace tightly
can feel as great and as energizing as the light of the sun,
and as comforting as a hug.
The wonder of all life and infinite possibilities
can be seen and felt if you are lucky enough to see,
and if you are fortunate to be able to chase, catch, and hold,
a emanating and glowing lightning bug.

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My Poem ‘The Forgotten Bouquet’

Moving on.
Putting the past behind me.
Thinking about the future.
No regrets.
Feeling hopeful.
Feeling human.

The bouquet of flowers is still in the hotel room,
where it will forever stay.
The moment we left it there and walked away,
what we had was gone, what we built,
and once were able to keep afloat
and sail the waves of uncertainty
was lost at sea-
even though there was a time for us both
that we looked at each other and said we were sure.
What we had was doomed to fail from the first minute,
and it instantly spiraled out of our control,
until we both knew our future together was uncertain.

Everything was good, until it wasn’t.
We could say anything to each other, until we couldn’t.
I never wanted it to end this way, ever-
not in my darkest and intense of nightmares;
I never wanted to feel such pain, ever-
not in the darkest hours of my despair.

This is my way of moving forward.
This is my way of stranding the bad memories that I have,
forgetting about them, leaving them, and sailing away.
This is my way of being rid of the poison in my heart,
and being cured.
This is my way of closing the door for the last time,
and leaving behind forever the forgotten bouquet.

My Poem ‘Back to the Spark’

When we are a child we are afraid of the dark,
and even as some people grow older
they cannot sleep without a light to assure them and to guide them,
even if that light is but a spark.
I used to be afraid of the dark,
I used to drift off to sleep while mesmerized
by the glow of a light-bulb underneath my bedroom door,
I used to look into the shadows
and make myself believe that I could see a face,
I used to listen to every sound
and wonder what it was that was walking unseen over my floor.
And then, one day all the lights went out,
my bedroom and my entire house were now only being lit
my the majestic light of the moon-
I remember my Mum coming up to my room and telling me by candle-light
that “everything was going to be ok, the light will be back on soon”-
and the most amazing thing happened afterwards:
everything was ok, the power came back on,
and with the light, and at no time that night, since then, or now,
have I not believed, without fear, that everything is going to be all right,
its all just a question of when and how.

Lights go out everyday,
but they always return to life brighter than they were before-
day, or night, whether in the sky, or right beside us on Earth,
seen, or unseen, a spark is always there, that no one can ever obscure.

I have found great solace in darkness
broken only by the light of hope within my dreams;
I have felt powerful inspiration from the assured smile of a friend
telling me that everything is not always as it seems;
I have been in a sea of uncertainty,
diving below the surface, before coming face to face with a fast-moving shark-
unmoving, unafraid, and unlimited,
I raised my head to look at the glittering sunlight above,
I closed my eyes, and I went back to the spark.