The Way Love Moves

The simple beauties move our hearts to love, despite there distance.

The Way Love Moves

By

Carlos Lorenzo Estrada 

(Nature within Love)

A leaf blows ever lonely in the comfort of a wind

Inspires deep reflection within us to comprehend 

It dances quite majestically through unseen gentle hand

Guided by the force of nature before it falls to land 

A drop of rain reverberates through a puddle of a pond

Expands slowly in all directions before fading till it's gone

Yet its beauty often resonates in brevity of its life

It shimmers almost endlessly before it fades from sight 

A rainbow often paints the sky in hues of multitude 

in vast array of colors which fascinate in graceful view

But in its distant sculpted shape we often yearn to see

The ways of love that move us most are furthest; far, away...

Author's Note

A few days back I happened to spot a squirrel clutching a dried brown heart shaped leaf in its tiny hands and eating away on its edges. It was one of the most perfect beautiful moments I have ever seen. In a distance from me. And I knew if I tried to reach out and touch it I would ruin that moment of perfection. So I just stood there and watched feeling blessed to be a part of that shared moment in life. CLE

Reviews

[W. Barrett Munn]

As I have often expressed I dislike end rhyme and structure unless masterfully done—and I always like your work, CLE.
You most always create rhyme within syntax that is natural sounding and therefore like a cherry or whipped cream on a piece of cake.

Winston

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you kindly Winston. As a fan of your work it means a lot. I've only really started writing poetry since I became an active member here at the Cafe. Almost all my past writing was in short story genre. I just felt more comfortable writing tales of morality and deeply wise messages. This website made me evolve as a writer. Try something new and out of my comfort zone. To be perfectly honest I never thought much about poetry or its significance in the writing genre. But as I read the many artists here in this community I became inspired and wanted to try something that still is unfamiliar to me as a creative. I feel I gravitate to ryhme because of it beauty and challenge in both message and conceptual idea. I'm slowly learning the many other forms of poetry in my evolution as a poet. Even at 57 I'm never too old to learn something new, and profoundly beautiful as this art form is to me. In some ways I still have my training wheels on as I navigate these long prodigious roads in creativity and artistry. These past couple of years have been a journey for me as I work on my voice and aspirations as a poet. As I continue to challenge myself I am hopeful to touch upon other forms of poetry. I used to think I endeavored to write the perfect poem, but as I'm evolving in my art I am sensing I want to write the perfect me. Thank you my friend for sharing your thoughts with me. They help me grow as a poet.

[W. Barrett Munn]

We have much-like a ton-in common.
I only turned back to writing not all that long ago and turned also from prose to poetry.

Winston

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Hearing you reveal this means a lot to me, Winston. There are times I feel unsure about the quality of my work because of my learning process into poetry writing. I've always been effusive and descriptive in my prose and thought poetry would constrict and restrict that aspect of my ability in writing. Instead I'm learning a new type of freedom. One I did not think possible at my age. But I value it so very much because it's giving me more expressive freedom and enlightenment both in mind and heart. To know that I'm not alone on that path and that my peers whose art I admire travel similar roads helps me press ever forward. Thank you my friend for your kind words. I truly appreciate it. CLE

[Alla Antsis]

"But in its distant sculpted shape we often yearn to see..." beautifully said, Carlos!

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Alla for your kind comment about this piece. It was a joy to write this simply composed poem. Because it really touches upon the most important thing in life. To love. And never stop doing so. For it is all in these little things we take for granted.

[Alla Antsis]

yes, totally agree! How true!

[Amanda Reynolds]

I LOVE the way you connect love to a leaf and to nature in general... The seeming simplicity but complex realities of it all. I also really love your your author's note describing the inspiration for your writing. I love your poems but it's some of your notes that have really touched me- Thank you for sharing your writing and your thoughts!

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Amanda for taking the time to read these words. I so appreciate your kind comment and thoughts on my writing. I can't express enough the appreciation because each comment truly helps me evolve in my writing. There is a fear that lurks in us all when it comes to our artistry. Because it is so revealing of who we are individually. The hardest part is not always in the writing process but the revealing and sharing. Because communicating to an audience of peers and other talented writers can be a struggle. For we all want our art to be meaningful to another heart. We want it to resonate and leave an indelible impression within our audience. To remind them of the good parts of our humanity. At times we may live in a cruel world but that doesn't mean we all are bad or devoid of purpose. One thing. Just one simple act of kindness can change the world for another. Thank you again for your kindness to me. CLE

[Ladysue]

Carlos, nature is a mesmerizing. I smiled when I read your note. I could picture the scene. Nature inspires. So true how ways of love can move us.. Your poem is ever so beautifully written. :)

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you so much ladysue for sharing your kind comment with me on this piece. I'm guilty at many of not stopping and seeing the beauty of love and life around me. I take it for granted believing those moments are abundant in the future. They are not. Because like love life has brevity. We are only here in a blink of an eye. I say this contemplating those in my youth and later who are no longer alive. Those who no longer have such opportunities to see and live in the moment. Why was I blessed so? I will do so for them.

[FGFRANKLIN]

The transient nature of humanity, our life and death, belie the enduring and immortal quality of love. We see that nature wastes nothing but everything produces new life. The raindrops evaporate to bring more rain. The falling leaves fertilize the roots of the tree. Nothing ever really disappears but everything changes. We are all set to accept our human demise but are we prepared for immortality? I enjoyed your observations here, wonderfully wrought. F.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you kindly for sharing your thoughts with me on this piece. All wonderful points you have brought up. In the context of love I believe we are all students and only become graduates upon our final breath. I know not the mysteries of what await us afterwards. I can only hope to know. If love is immortal then so are we in a sense. Can we glimpse this eternal aspect within the moments we live? Without a doubt as you so wisely observe in your response. Everything has purpose and meaning. And what we create from love outlives us all. CLE

[FGFRANKLIN]

That last line is brilliant and astutely observed. "What we create from love outlives us all" Thank you for your reply to my comment because it gave me hope and joy. What better gifts have we to share with one another eh? Faith and love, to be sure but as I heard a Kevin Costner character observe once, "Good is good." Cheers, my friend, tips coffee, F.

[William Michael Reeves]

The drop of rain is never gone. It changes and moves just as you've written. Eventually becoming part of a rainbow. The leaf nourishes. Sometimes by decay. Sometimes directly as a snack. I didn't know squirrels ate leaves much. I can see why that caught your eye. Then the joy of seeing such a simple pleasure must have caught your heart. I might have to try a leaf, sounds like it would be crunchy and nutritious.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me on this poem. It was a moment of brevity. One that we including myself often take for granted. It inspires us to view the world greater than ourselves. We play a small yet sufficient part in nature. Many animals in this world can love, yet very few understand its meaning and can change from it. I feel that if we were just more intuned with these mesmerizing moments around us we would be a better species for it. That we would love each other more than we could ever hate.

[Shelley Warner]

I like the scenes that you paint, the leaf blowing here and there before settling on the ground, the rain drop landing in the water, and the squirrel (in your author's note) munching on the heart shaped leaf.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you kindly Shelley for your thoughts. I wrote this a while back during a rainy day. I was remembering that little squirrel eating away at his leaf without a care in the world that I was watching. Like I was nothing more to him than just a breeze or branch. A small part of nature watching him in this briefest moment of time.

[Shelley Warner]

Such a special moment in nature.

[Relic]

This should win an award. (like many of your poems). So free flowing and drenced in meaning,

Excellent poetry.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

You are too kind Relic, and I so appreciate your encouraging words. To me comments like yours are worth more than any amount of money or award can ever bring to me. Because what means the most to me is that someone took the time to read my work and found appreciation in its meaning and message. Thank you so much again for your words.

[Lawryie Mh-Lk]

I love your text. While reading I can see the images just like on a screen and it is so beautifully written and expressed!

I hope can write as well as you do. 🙂

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Believe me you do and can write much better than I. Never doubt in the art you have within you. And the profound and aspirational need to express it. Just like walking taking one step at a time the same is for the journey of writing. It takes one word at a time and a brave heart to say them. Especially when one feels not one is listening. We keep on writing. Until we find that one heart we change with our words. So keep on writing, expressing yourself, and evolving in your journey as a writer. CLE

[Lawryie Mh-Lk]

Thank you ❤️

[Stella Armour]

such beautiful, fleeting images are the ones that touch us deep inside our souls ..... something that no amount of wishing or money could buy...

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts Stella. I feel perhaps they resonate with us so much is because in essence they reflect the brevity of life itself. There are only so many of these moments that will capture our individual attention. Only so many breaths of life we will breathe. Only so many sunsets we will be graced to view. And only so many precious few moments we will have...to love. CLE

[Stella Armour]

we are the lucky ones who recognize these precious moments Carlos ..... many never see these little miracles all around them

[andrew mitchell]

Nicely done Carlos, a dedicated artist you are.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Andrew for your kind comment on this piece. I wasn't sure when I submitted it to the Cafe if it would resonate with anyone. Its ending seemed a bit pessimistic in that love is forever elusive to us. Though near our reach it can't to held for long or even at all. Yet its memory remains indelible and ours in an intimate way. It was my hope and perhaps hubris to capture that essence. CLE