“Riders” by Dale Innis on Midjourney
Please click Play to hear me recite this poem to the music from Buddah Bar Vol V
It’s 1am and I’m awake
thinking I wonder why you have not called;
it’s been a week
since the last time I heard your voice
and you said, “Hey Tita..how’s my girl?
I can barely walk and you faint
and fall on the floor.
It seems an impossibility
you will ever visit me again.
I had not seen your face for
30 years and then there you were
in my living room
sitting side by side again
holding hands after so much time
It just seemed so right.
Age has changed the lighting
and now what we have left
are just our memories
our dreams now and then
and a phone call once a week.
But once upon a time,
We were in our prime
when I met you at a dance.
You came to our table
and held out your hand
and pulled me close,
and in a tight two – step
like we had danced together forever
we moved across the room.
You were so handsome,
the iconic Latin cowboy
with surprising green eyes
and a white hat saying
all those words that just thrilled me.
Time drifts away from us
and I don’t look like me
and you don’t look like you.
But when we close our eyes
and just hold hands
we are those wild versions of ourselves
riding at full gallop in the rain
our cutaway black rain coats
with tails flying behind us.
I get a tear when I remember
that you and that me
young and full of passion
and life
and somehow that still stays inside
and I can barely walk and you
faint and fall dizzy to the floor
and neither of us will ever ride
again.
Oh I don’t know how long
I can keep on going
some of the best
are getting left behind
and now even memory starts to fail me.
Did I ride the roan and you the bay
or was it more the other way.
I loved you in those days and we were
such a handsome couple
ranching and riding, while the waves
crashed below us on the shore.
I get tears in my eyes when I remember
but I’m so grateful for those times
I would awake locked inside your arms
each break of day.
and for each glorious sunset
that caught us on the trail.
Of course I would do it all over again.
You know I would do it all over again.
Karima Hoisan
March 5, 2023
Costa Rica
Digital Rabbit Hole 