Epilogue
School fools with kindness.
Bless worry with wisdom.
Burn yearns for chaos.
That is my religion.
Whatever you do
or wherever you go,
you’re never too far
from the place you’ll always know.
Thank you, Crawford.
Thank you, Brooke’s Rowe.
For making me into the man,
This great family has come to know.
Every house, regardless of its grandeur,
has a place there where excess is stored.
Every heart, regardless of its four walls,
has a place there where pain is stored.
Let go of your secondhand goods.
Let go of your backdoor fears.
Let go of it all.
Love is a motherfucker.
Love is hard.
Some love hard.
Others are hard to love.
I used to love Love
as if love was a person
that you fall in love with.
That was until I learned
Not to be in love with Love.
Love loves nobody back, not even love itself.
What is your labor of love?
What would you do for free
or minimal guarantee?
Are you an artist by trade
or a public figure on display?
A musician? Teacher? A healer of wounds?
What is your 24/7 after your 9-to-5?
“Bye” and “Goodbye” are different.
Bye means see you later,
Goodbye means I can do without you.
When a heart breaks
it shatters into a thousand pieces of you
and you go flying everywhere.
Nothing in this world compares to “No Matter What” love.
No Matter What love is better than regular love.
Imagine being loved no matter what.
No state or province too far.
Regardless of who you think you are.
So, if ever you choose to love in this lifetime,
love no matter what.
The peace in my lake
Can fill an ocean.
But the pieces in your ocean
Can’t fill my lake
Most are everyday
Some are once in a while.
Few are often.
But only one
is ever once in a lifetime.
Lord save me.
I’m a sea of lost dreams
Swept away by the waves of time.
Guide me along unassured sands.
Crack my sealed glass bottle.
Free the charred scroll inside of me
so that I can locate the “X” to the treasure
awaiting me in heaven.
Love is being your best self
for somebody else.
Not being your best self
for only yourself.
Love is selfless and unfair.
About the author
Nathan Jarelle is an author, poet, and first responder from the Washington, D.C. metro region. He attended Fairmont Heights High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland which was once built as an all-black school during the 1950s. It was beyond Fairmont’s walls where Jarelle first developed his taste for drama and literature. Upon graduation in 2001, he studied information technology at Lincoln Technical Institute in Columbia, Maryland. Right after, he returned to literature and graduated from the University of Maryland University College where he majored in English. He went on to earn a spot on the Dean’s List. Jarelle’s favorite literary work of all-time is Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” In 2005, Jarelle began his career as a freelance author, publishing for various internet websites as a sport’s columnist. In 2009, he began his career as a first responder.
Along the way, he published several underground eBooks, one of which galvanized the attention of the Washington Post and television show Good Morning D.C. In April of 2016, his short eBook, Stroke of Luck, a timeless love story providing stroke awareness in young adults, went viral. In 2019, his debut novel, Beyond Poetry, first broke ground. “Stop waiting to be discovered. Discover yourself,” he explained in a recent interview. “The time to start is today. The future is right now.”
To keep up with Nathan Jarelle, please visit his website at www.natejayreads.com. For business inquiries, questions, comments or testimonials send an email to [email protected] or at P.O. Box 3004, 14605 Elm Street, Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772.
Beyond Poetry Page 25
