Voices

Voices now gone but ne’er forgotten,

Words left seething in my mind.

Whispers of rumours, innuendo,

Murmurs of trouble, loss and care.

Tunes of songs we once were singing,

Lyrics with words not understood.

Speeches of monotones so dreary,

Sermons told o’er and o’er again.

Shouts of bitter accusation,

Cries of pain and sorrow too.

Screams of terror in the night time,

Sobs of grief too deep to bear.

Echoes of phrases unforgiven,

Calls from distant hills of home.

Voices of children never heard now,

Voices of families left behind.

Mark J. Humber 10 September 2006

Only some readers will understand the terrible meaning of this poem.

A Moment in Time

There was a moment in time-

Just one of many.

But a special one, when time stood still.

Did the birds ceased to sing,

Or the traffic stop its endless rumble?

I know not.

In the snow of Istanbul,

Just one kneeprint,

Amongst a thousand thousand footprints.

Did the wind still blow upon my cheek,

Or the snow fall on my uplifted face?

I know not

There was just one heart:

Just one so precious,

That I’d give everything to win.

How did I find you there - so far away?

Because I searched, or because you were meant for me?

I know not.

I spoke some words in a foreign tongue.

Just two, that's all.

“Zanam mishee” – will you be mine?

Did the angels dance in heaven,

Or God who joined us smile down from his throne?

I know not.

Just this one thing I know:

That of all that I have ever loved,

And every impulse that has touched my soul,

I have never loved so much.

And that one moment stands for me, unique,

Although a thousand others pass,

For all eternity.

30th March 2005

Nice poem? Well the sad thing is that I married her, and she left me on Jan 3rd the following year. I don't know where she is now.  And you know, I really loved her and treated her so kindly.  I will always wonder if she really loved me.  She really seemed as if she did, and I want to believe it.  But did she just want to come to a better country, and was I just a safe way to do it?  Could she merely pretend so well - as my friends try to tell me?  Perhaps I will never know the answers.  The only thing I know is that my God knows, as all of my friends know, that I tried my best and was always true and kind to her.   And I hope that one day God will give me another 'moment in time' when I can be truly happy in sharing my love with another - a moment that may never die.  

Our Hearts have Touched

I see you there beneath the stars,

Your features dimly lit by moonlight.

Or in the brightness rays of noon,

The sun shines on your brow so bright

And your reflection shimmering there,

In every crystal pool I see;

And through the swaying grasses’ waves,

Swept by the wind, you come to me.

But yet, I’ve not yet seen you face-to-face-

I’ve never touched your gentle hand,

Or felt the breath from your sweet lips,

Or walked with you in a common land.

No, I’ve never held you in my arms,

Or felt your heartbeat close to mine.

Your kiss has never blessed my lips,

With sweetness as the finest wine.

And yet, I love you so much dear,

I’ve felt your love reach out to me.

Thought you may be so far away,

Across the endless miles of sea.

I feel our hearts have touched in heaven,

And joined to sing love’s symphony.

Two hearts just destined to be joined-

Two souls, united eternally.

27^th December 2004

This was the hope for a love that was brutally crushed. She was in Turkey, I in Australia. After I had married her and she left me, I sent it to her again with this note: "I want you to know I truly loved you.  Now, I wish you no ill-will but I trust that God will keep you in His hand.  Maybe one day we will meet again, but I doubt it.  Good luck, and goodbye."

Create a Blessing

The morning comes – anticipation.

Perhaps there'll be a change,

Some inspiration,

Some source of joy.

A visitor,

An unpredicted spectacle,

Just something new

That was not here just yesterday.

Because it is Today-

The day that is forever Now!

This day, I can reach out my hand.

And change something for good.

Or reach into another's life,

And plant some beauty, share some joy.

Today I can create a brand new blessing,

But it is up to me.

Mark Humber. 28th October 2004.

If You Could See What I Can See.

If you could see what I can see,

If you saw with my eyes-

All that waits just there for you,

The natural sight defies…

If you could taste what I can taste,

The sweetest flavour known-

And keep that essence evermore

To be in memory sown…

If you could smell what I can smell,

The odour, sweet - of life.

Or draw into your nostrils oft,

Aromas of delight…

If you could hear what I can hear,

The voice of gentlest tone-

That calls with epilogues of love,

And warms the deepest soul…

If you could feel what I can feel,

So deep within your heart-

And feel the greatest love of all

From which you'd never part…

20th Dec 2004

Sometimes when one read the words one wrote years before, one feels one may have lost 

something.  At least I do now when I read this...

There was a last verse to this.  I did not post it - it is the answer to the 'If' question.  I leave it to 

the reader to answer.

To Truly Live

A day will come when I must say goodbye-

Not just to some passing acquaintance,

But to all I know see and fulfil:

To pleasure- felt with joy, and sorrow known with pain,

And so pass on to leave all that was life.

In that strange moment that exists,

Only as a line- between this life and death.

No more substantial than the ocean’s surface:

A huge expanse existing only as the end of atmosphere,

No realer than the instant when the night turns into day.

But if I linger on the threshold of transition

And have the chance to recollect, reflect:

Would I look back and say that I have truly lived,

And licked out every trace from the receptacle of life,

And from its pitcher drained each golden drop?

How will I know if I have truly lived?

By feeling that my appetite is quelled-

That I have tasted of the best of life’s delights?

Or that when I have departed, all that’s changed for good

Is not changed only in the one who has passed on.

Oh, to leave here in some new lives an epitaph-

A trace of joy planted in some empty heart.

Or in the music of some other lives to see

The influence of the master that was I,

So I might never waste the gifts He gave to me.

Mark Humber  16/04/04

Dare to Live Your Dream.

Before me was a vast inviting Universe

Encompassing a vision greater than the eye could see.

So filled with all I longed to know, do or possess-

With things of beauty, facets of a fuller life;

Some objects worldly, some divine,

Then danger-fraught, now steeped with languid solace too-

With joy through sorrow, comfort easing pain.

All this I boldly dared to dream

Dare to live your dream.

Open up your clouded eyes,

Listen to the music of a richer life

Stop to smell the flowers while you may,

And boldly dare to live your dream.

I struggled up a rough uneven stony track

And each step hurt my aching feet and tore my bleeding soul,

Until I reach the pinnacle and sat alone.

And then my ears began to hear, my eyes to see.

I looked down from the top and smiled

Into the glorious firmament of blue

And walked back down until I reached the common path

I’d  never noticed was so smooth.

Dare to live your dream.

Open up your clouded eyes,

Listen to the music of a richer life

Stop to smell the flowers while you may,

And boldly dare to live your dream.

Mark Humber 

There is a story to this one too...

One day, I was feeling rather depressed about my failed marriage.  All of my good intentions had come to nothing, and here I was - on my own again.  I decided to go down to the Cataract Gorge near where I lived in Tasmania on my own and walk around to try to clear my head. It is a most beautiful place. It was the middle of summer, and I was dressed in shorts and tank-top with no shoes on my feet and I was in self-punishment mode - the further I walked, the more rough the track became as the poem depicts, until eventually there was no track at all.  I climbed to the top of the tall hill and sat amongst the trees and bushes to nurse my hurt and pain alone.  But as I sat there, I reached a deeper or heightened consciousness.  I became aware of the beautiful view so far below me as I had never seen it before.  I started to hear the sound of every insect around me, every movement of the bushes.  Then I noticed peacock feathers around me.  I had come to their secret roost and they were sitting in the trees around me.  They sat quietly and seemed to empathise with the rest of nature with my personal agony.  It was a magic experience.  I gathered up the feathers and keep them on my wall wherever I go – a reminder of this experience.