A Poem and Thoughts About Hope - The Ebb and Flow of Joy

Hope is a wonderful state of mind. It infuses life with positivity and gives someone a new outlook on the world. Although the words “hope” and “wish” are often used in the same way, true hope is not the same as wishful thinking. Wishing involves a desire for a specific outcome that is often unrealistic and very unlikely to happen, such as the wish to win a large sum of money in a lottery. Having realistic hope doesn’t necessarily mean that everything in life will be wonderful, but it’s an expectation that something good can emerge or can be created from a situation.

For some lucky people hope is a continual presence, an old friend that never deserts them. For others hope seems to ebb and flow like the tide, growing and then subsiding for a while. Hope sometimes seems like a seedling that breaks through the soil after winter as the light returns. Like a growing seedling and its opening buds, true hope predicts a productive future. However, seeds are sometimes unable to germinate, or seedings may be crushed or suffocated by debris, too weak to push their way past obstacles. Just like a struggling plant, hope may be unable to emerge, or it may flicker and then vanish. Luckily, just as the earth receives new seeds full of potential, new and viable seeds of hope can be planted in our minds.

I found hope again today,
a tiny bud of joy,
that could perhaps unfurl
and grow delightedly,
or shrivel with a sigh
and sink to earth again,
dejected and forlorn.

I like to visit every day
to see how hope survives.
Sometimes I find a slender shoot
that struggles for the sun
and whispers secret happiness,
or surges up towards the light
with power and sympathy.

But then again hope disappears,
concealed by earth and dross,
or choked by spider web,
unable to expand,
battered by distress
and hidden by distrust,
alone and inaccessible.

You thought you’d dug it out
and crushed all life away.
But hope hides carefully
and sleeps through time and pain,
dreaming of release,
and then - I hope -
awakens wide and brilliantly.