Rickie Louis: Favorites

Mar 14 Rickie Louis

Showkat shah

You ask everyone you know,
How long does it take to forget?
They answer in numbers, in measured time—
A year for every year you loved,
twice as long if it was true,
half if you replace her with another.
But they do not speak of the truth—
that love does not end,
it only changes its place within you.
It leaves the hands but not the soul,
steps out of sight but not out of existence.
You erase her number,
but she remains,
not in words, but in silence.
She lives in the space between heartbeats,
in the air before a name is spoken,
in the way your hands still know
the weight of her absence.
You tell yourself love must have an ending,
that what can be touched must also fade.
But love is not held in the palm—
It is the wind that moves through it.
It is the river that does not ask
if it may pass.
It is the flame that burns
even when the wick is gone.
You were at the age
where love felt like possession,
where you thought what was given
would always remain.
But love does not belong to us.
It visits, it teaches, it departs—
though , it never truly fades.
And perhaps, in another life,
you held on at the right moment.
Perhaps your hands were softer,
your heart more patient.
Perhaps she still wakes beside you,
her voice still shaping your mornings,
her laughter still filling the spaces
you now walk alone.
But in this life,
she is the wind you cannot catch,
the shadow you do not chase,
the presence that stays
even as you learn to let go.
And the half-life of love
is forever.

Mar 14 Rickie Louis

In This Dream

Mar 14 Rickie Louis

Clay Micallef

In This Dream

The sky is a stormy
kind of strange indigo
daffodils are reaching
out for attention
the mountains
crumble with a
matter of urgency
my dreams are a
puddle of mud and
sullen reflection
tears spill into an open
field of wild orchids
the gods are drunk
with the thunder
of excitement
I drift in and out of
dark dreaming I am
just a passenger in this
strange and awful place
sometimes when the
lights are low I often
wonder why do colours
fade away when you
need them the most …
Clay.M

Jan 15 Rickie Louis

Different Worlds

Jan 15 Rickie Louis

Sally A Bayan

Different Worlds

East...and west, are we?
north, and south?.....maybe...
we were nurtured with love,
our eyes and our minds opened
to different isms that helped shape our
values...we were brought up, bearing our
folks' customs, traditions. principles...
we have different faiths...some practice...some
don't...some, don't even subscribe, yet, survive.

we have dry and monsoon season...in
other parts, pleasant weather, cold winds,
and in some parts, snow.....turning to ice

we are  a mix of white skin, seeking for a tan,
and brown-skin, hiding from the sun;
one's night, is the other's day,
there are surfers among us, playing with the waves,
there at the cusp...gambling...daring fate...
there are those who hide from silent freezing winters,
finding warmth and comfort in long hot summers...

countless points of comparison,
yet, we've something beautiful in common,
a connection of feelings, of words...our poetry,
flowing like blood, through our veins...endlessly
feeding, fueling our hearts and minds, with classy,
themes....sometimes bold, mushy, or....sassy...
no set skeds...we do it even through adversity...

we write......

we tell about our escape from life's banalities,
mindscapes, landscapes immersed in frivolities

yet, we await the marvels of each  morning we wake,
remembering gratitude, in every breath we take...

years have passed us by,
still, plays this soft music that mollifies
and inspires......heard only by you and i
prodding us, through hours, of day or night

while you exist in your own part of the world,
as i, in my hot, humid cosmos, long for cold.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Sally

© Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan
    May, 19, 2019

(a love poem, edited...for all Hello Poetry writers)
(a repost from May 2019)

#sallyb #differentworlds

Jan 2024 Rickie Louis

Draft

Jan 2024 Rickie Louis

Teresa Magaña

Draft

How many drafts of our lives have we lived before this one?

How many versions of myself did I actually Love?

How many times could I sincerely say I know what Happiness is?

This life has been one of clarity and certainty
I know what Love is and isn’t, of myself and for others
I realize now that Happiness is not a constant, its just not possible
But the moments of cheer and smiles are what that feeling is supposed to be

I believe I’m in one of my final chapters
Perhaps even the epilogue

Whichever it may be, my soul is definitely much closer to peace

I’m looking forward to the final draft

#life #traveller #peace #happiness

Sep 2021 Rickie Louis

ADMIRED

Sep 2021 Rickie Louis

Raul Zamarripa III

ADMIRED

Every time I see you, I’m captivated by you,
Imagine an Orchid growing through thorns,
Amidst the briers and pains of this life,
A flower as lovely as you was born,

Know, your smile’s my reason to smile,
I’d endure many seasons, walk many miles
To be near you, if only for a short while,
My heart could bear the trial,

But what it can not do, or live through:
Searching for what it can not find,
My puzzled heart’s in a bind, it seems,
It can’t judge reality from the dream—

The dream: plant you in my heart’s garden,
Reality: you’ll flourish right where you are,
For you are a lovely Orchid,
To be admired solely from afar.