Hope

I am moved to share this poem, especially in light of today being election day and my awareness that there will be millions who unknowingly vote against the caring of the children, one another, and this precious Earth we all share. And yet, there remains the fog that weaves its peaceful web through autumn leaves out my window this morning... reminders of beauty. And hope. Blessed be... Molly

Hope

It hovers in dark corners

before the lights are turned on,

it shakes sleep from its eyes

and drops from mushroom gills,

it explodes in the starry heads

of dandelions turned sages,

it sticks to the wings of green angels

that sail from the tops of maples.

It sprouts in each occluded eye

of the many-eyed potato,

it lives in each earthworm segment

surviving cruelty,

it is the motion that runs the tail of a dog,

it is the mouth that inflates the lungs

of the child that has just been born.

It is the singular gift

we cannot destroy in ourselves,

the argument that refutes death,

the genius that invents the future,

all we know of God.

It is the serum which makes us swear

not to betray one another;

it is in this poem, trying to speak.

~ Lisel Mueller ~

(Alive Together: New and Selected Poems)

Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/Hope.html