Hope

I have feared hope.

Always preparing to be interred,

I have treated hope

As the brother long deferred.

I have smothered hope,

Guarded him as a trickster

A monkey’s paw in gifts

And nothing is a fixture.

I have glimpsed hope,

And even now my spirit trembles.

I have seen the truth,

Which in no way resembles

My fearful musings,

Or the dread I keep looming

To flood or suppress

The hope that keeps blooming.