You Promised To Stop Loving Poem by RIC BASTASA

and so you promised to stop loving
and in trying to ease that pain
you change your name
you shift some place else
you wear another mask
you take the side of silence
you choose the future
and shut your past

you cannot escape
the landscape of
loving

your heart still speaks the same voice
the same words

it still wears the same smile
the same eyes

and anywhere you go
his eyes still see you

his ears still hear the sameness
of you

and the world in its wisdom still
recognizes the beauty
within you

your pain your sorrow

the flower that blooms
even in the snow

the grass that remains green
even without the rain