JOSÉ LUIS LÓPEZ

 

 

Painless Humanity

 

Imagine a humanity

that never felt pain.

No tears.

No grief.

No heartbreak.

No loss.

Would we recognize compassion

if we had never suffered?

Would kindness matter

if no one had ever been hurt?

Pain is an unwelcome teacher,

yet it teaches.

It humbles.

It awakens.

It reminds us

that we belong to one another.

A painless humanity

might be comfortable,

but it might also forget

how to care.

For it is often through wounds

that empathy is born,

and through struggle

that understanding grows.

Perhaps the goal

is not a world without pain,

but a world where pain

is met with compassion.

A humanity

that heals

rather than harms.

 

Onomatopoeia

 

Tick-tock,

the clock kept counting

everything I tried to forget.

Drip, drip,

fell the rain

against the window of memory.

Bang!

went the door

when yesterday finally left.

Whisper...

whisper...

said the wind,

carrying names

I no longer speak.

And deep inside,

thump... thump...

thump...

my heart continued,

stubborn as ever,

refusing to surrender

to silence.

 

JOSÉ LUIS LÓPEZ

 

JOSÉ LUIS LÓPEZ: Poet • Artist • Puerto Rico