My Poem ‘In their nature’

When I look around the world
and I see what is happening every day on our planet,
when I see the unstoppable, relentless, powerful,
and sometimes destructive, influence, and life-changing effect
of Earth’s nature on itself and on those who inhabit it;
I cannot believe my eyes,
I cannot fathom how it must feel to be incapable
of doing anything but hold on and watch
as everything you rely on and have ever known
is taken away from you in the blink of an eye-
it is a shock and a pain that no one could ever disguise.
Even I, from the safety and security of my home,
cannot help but be effected by the sight of those people
on my television who had everything,
but who now may be so close to having nothing but the gift of life.
Seeing such sadness and loss is overwhelming
and enough to make me want to cry.

Like most people, I sit, and watch,
and I feel helpless, because I cannot do anything
to change what I am seeing.
Like most people who feel the loss of anyone’s family member,
as if they were one of their own, my own,
I am mindful, and I look around at my own life,
and I thank my lucky stars for what I have and treasure-
and I immediately want to check on my own family and friends’
well-being.

Nature gives, and nature takes away,
but what we can never lose for good
is what keeps us standing every day.
Earth blesses us, and Earth teaches us.
Earth tells us everyday to value what is most important
and savour every second,
to take your time with anything that will stand the test of time,
and adapt as best as you can to the trials of nature,
because life should not be something
you should ever take for granted, wish away, or rush.

When I look around at my world,
and at the faces of the people who are important to me,
who I couldn’t live without in my life,
who make my life what it is, who I love,
care about, would die to protect, and who I adore,
I know that the best of them will always endure.
When I look around at the world and its people,
I am lost for words to describe the meaning of why things happen,
and I am in awe and breathless at people’s strength of will
and fortitude of spirit that is at the heart of their nature.

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My Poem ‘Memorial’

Ten years ago, I literally watched people die right before my eyes
and I couldn’t do a thing about it, I couldn’t save them-
on September 11th, 2001,
I, like billions of people all around the world,
watched almost three-thousand lights be extinguished in an instant,
the like of which we will never see again.
I could not believe what I was seeing at first-
I could not put into words the horror that I felt, the horror that I saw-
and then when the World Trade Center began to fall
I just remember putting my right hand to my chest,
as if I were having a heart attack,
and thinking that the entire world had gone mad,
that the whole world was now at war.
I will never get over what I saw on that Tuesday afternoon;
I will never understand why someone, anyone,
would freely choose to impact the world in such a deplorable way;
I will never again look at the stunning New York City skyline
and not think of that day.
If I could I would carry a picture of everyone who died on September 11th-
in New York City, at the Pentagon, on Flight 11, on Flight 175, on Flight 77,
and those who lost their lives heroically on Flight 93-
if I could I would look at every face, every day,
and send them and their family my love, and the gift of my poetry.
To those who died on September 11th, 2001,
this poem is for you.
To those who carry the memory and relive that Tuesday
whenever they look at themselves in the mirror,
this poem is for you.
To those who observed, who were touched,
who will never forget September 11th, 2001-
this poem is for you.

This poem is for you

My Poem ‘Seeing My Father Cry’

The first time I saw my father cry
was heart-breaking and world shattering to me-
I think I was about eight years old,
the night that our dog Jess died,
the night that everyone in our house came together
and cried with my Dad as we said goodbye to a part of our family.
Thinking back to that night is like trying to remember a dream,
but what is still real in my mind, and what has stayed with me,
is seeing my Dad overcome with so much sadness,
because it was something that I had never seen.
I cried on that night because Jess was my dog,
but the reason I cried and could not stop crying
was because to me my Dad was a God,
and seeing the most powerful
and one of the most influential people in my life powerless,
as he appeared,
it taught me from an early age that everything comes to an end
and that even the god that was my father had limits to his magic
that he was forced to adhere.

Whenever I see my father cry
I feel every tear of sadness, and joy, as if they were my own;
whenever I see my fathers tears well-up in front of his mesmerizing blue eyes,
I always take him by the hand and tell that he is not alone.
My Dad feels the world more so than anyone I have ever known,
my Dad is a lover and a genius of all things-
as would be more than apparent if you were to talk to him
and if you were lucky enough to visit him at his home.
There is nothing that hurt my heart more,
and there is nothing else that to this day brings more tears to my eyes,
than to see the powerhouse who is my Dad overcome with emotion,
and the sight of seeing my father cry.

My Poem ‘I Want to Believe’

The greatest sadness in my life
is that I have no one to share my world with me-
I have no one that I can wrap my arms around,
no one who I can kiss passionately,
no one to whom I can spend an entire afternoon reciting poetry.
Is that too much to ask for?
Is that a request akin to that of a miracle?
Maybe there is no one out there for me?
Maybe I am just not that special?

I don’t want to sound like I am not happy in my life:
I am loved, inspired, I have phenomenal and wonderful people around me
who make life worth living-
friends and family who I could not live without,
and who never stop giving;
but I long for the touch and the warmth of another-
the contact and the connection that can only be shared with a lover.

My time will come again,
someday soon I have faith that the stars will align
and I will meet “the one”-
the person for whom the web of my life was spun.
I am sure that the fates of love have a match for me
beyond any soul-mate that I could conceive,
who I am meant to be with the rest of my life-
at least that is what I want to believe.