My Own Search for Happiness

There’s something beautiful to me about stories where some guy goes on some kind of elaborate journey to find happiness.  I think it reminds me of my own journey.  I know at the beginning of it all I felt like it was going to be some epic thing….

My journey started with a simple concept.  Well…I say it was simple.  It all started with the search for love, who I am, what happiness was, and the escape from the madness that dwelled within me from being stuck in the dead end of dead ends.  At 21, I had already had two crazy brushes with love and one relationship where it was obvious that nothing was going to work out.  The pieces of my heart were not going to pick themselves up by themselves and nothing was ever going to be picked up within the confines of the life I was living.  So, I set off….

(poem) - A Dark and Dreary December Day

On a dark and dreary December day
When the cold rain fell from the unseen sky.
I dreamed I wasn’t dreaming darkly
While, in the distance, I heard a crow’s deathly cry.

Veiled by the mists surrounding me
These mists that even time had forgot
I strained with my blinded eyes against it all
Yet in the end, I saw it not.

A Realization, and a Regretful Goodbye

Many times in my life, I’ve stopped and wondered if I’m living a fantasy.  I don’t do it because things are going so well, I do it because I start realizing things aren’t going the way I thought they should.  The problem is that statement, do I get complacent with my life?  Do I take things for granted?  When I’m making out with my wife, and she pushes me away, is it really because the reasons she gives, or have I allowed the romance to die when I thought it was burning strong?

Sometime in my youth, I discovered that sex can be a beautiful proclamation of love between two people.  Yes, it can be everything else sex has become, but it can be so much more.  When I’m making love with my wife, I can feel her soul there with me, and it feels as if my soul is reaching for hers.  Sometimes I feel weightless, like I’m floating with her in a void of bliss.

(poem) - The Poetic Justice of Mankind

There’s something poetic
About the fall of mankind
No matter how it is portrayed
It’s artistic to my mind

In popularized myth
We destroy ourselves
Poetic justice
For the environmentally conscious

Unleashing terror after terror
Humanity falls into oblivion
If not filling the entire planet
With tons of carcinogen

Many eyes turn to the sky
Will destruction come from above?
That’s what many astronomers
Would definitely love

A chunk of rocking
Falling from space
Destroying the world
This entire place.

Some even fantasize
About an alien invasion
A higher technology
Come for colonization

All are interesting thoughts
But the oddest one of all
Is that we dream of this
Fantasizing destroying this planetary ball

I do not suppose it is odd
To wonder about our eventual doom
But putting it on the movie screen
Seems to make it all loom

Just over the horizon
Somewhere in the land of tomorrow
Lies our eventual end
That chills some to their marrow

All I know
Is what I’ve always known
You have to live today
Because tomorrow we might all be gone

Life is a beautiful
And amazing gift
Enjoy it all
Don’t let fear cause a rift

Because if a rift forms
Between enjoyment of today
Then something will be lost
And that is a sad thing to say.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

(poem) - Photographer's Vision

A click and a flash
A memory saved to a card
Seems so amazing
How technology has come so far

But when its turned
Into an art
It makes people stop
And simply take part



The idea that we can
Capture moments from this amazing life
Makes it all seem alittle more worth
All the damnable strife

And strife I’ve seen
Caused by the camera I hold
But it was all worth it
Because my pictures are so bold

I’ve always seen the beauty
Of the setting sun
But I never believed
I’d capture a breathtaking one

But I did
With my camera
And it takes my breath away
Let me tellya



I often believe
That I dream in color
Because my dreams are
More vivid than I can remember

Yet sometimes
Through the lens
I see something so spectacular
My soul feels a cleanse

Everyone sees art
In a different way
But I know what I saw
On that picture’s day

Because I look upon it
In my portfolio
Along with other shots
That made me exclaim, “Whoa!”

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

A Value to Love

How did I suddenly become so happy?  And how long will this last?  Most of my life has been this ball of craziness, running from places I hate, and that hate me, to places of extreme beauty.  I’ve lost so many things in this life, so many failures....  Its quite amazing to look back at it all and just marvel how it all fell apart so many times.

But things have to fall apart for you to rebuild something better.  Seems I’ve always been a master at picked up the pieces.  I’ve had so many people need my help through life, picking up their pieces.  So many friends have come and gone, so many times have I helped these friends with the fallout of something or other, only to have them go back through that revolving door.

(poem) - A Dream of Love (forgive me for the mushiness)

I once dreamed a dream
Where lovers united
I’m guessing it’s a common dream
Everyone wants love ignited

Yet this one was different
In a very odd way
They lived and loved forever
Day after day

There was no arguments
There was no pain
They went to sleep in each others arms
And awoke the same, again and again

Love,
By its nature
Is full of arguments
Because two people will bicker

But this dream continued
On through the night
And never did there arise
Any form of plight

A utopia of love
Between two people
Could there ever be
A more important temple?

It seems I have found
This odd ball thing
When my wife looks at me
My soul doth sing

She is my one and only
My home is in her arms
There is nothing at all
That sets off any alarms

Don’t let your dreams die
Any form of horrible death
Because you never know who might stop by
And give them life’s breath.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

The reason I create.

Have you ever had a dream that overwhelmed you?  I’m not talking about a nightmare, I’m talking about thoughts of a story that has swept you away, and after you came out of the dream, you just kept adding to it, or editing it, as you went through your day?  Ever see a story or a movie, and think to yourself that you could have done it better, or that it would have been better with certain tweaks?

Unfortunately, I am like this.  I say unfortunate, because sometimes I can’t enjoy certain stories because I see the plot holes, or something that’s just incorrect, or something that the author/director changed to fit what they needed to, even though they had set up something before that doesn’t justify it.  Okay, maybe that last one was a bit confusing due to pronouns.

A Passion in Beauty

There is so much beauty in this world.  But beauty is so subjective.  I definitely know where I find beauty, and I’ve found it in so many places.

Let me start by saying, I do not say the word ‘beauty’ lightly.  In today’s society, so many words are thrown around in so many different ways, that they all seem to lose their importance.  The definition of beauty states “deep satisfaction to the mind” or “high spiritual qualities are manifest.”  When I say beautiful, I don’t mean sexy, or even pretty, I mean moving to the soul.

I’ve found beauty in my fiance’s eyes, I’ve found it standing on the top of a mountain, with the vastness of the Earth far below me.  I find beauty laying in my hammock in the back yard, I’ve found it in a great book that has consumed my time.  But more importantly, I find beauty in passion used to create.

Outside of here.

Expanding one’s horizons is such a nice thing to do.  Its amazing to see what’s out there, even if its just reading about it.  Today I learned about some things in another country that I never knew existed.  I was simply amazed and shocked at things.

But then, I’ve been looking around at other countries for awhile.  There’s so much out there in this world.  History that has been kept from me, especially as I’m from the US and we’re taught that we’re the best and there’s nothing else worth seeing out there.  It’s a sad fact of life, living here.