Hope

begins -
a single seed sown
by the hand of the Creator
within the birth of a soul;
nurtured, nourished
until it flourishes,
a single blossom
amidst the most arid, barren landscape;
tentative, then bolder
as the blossom unfolds
revealing the colors of dreams
revelling in what may be.

despair -
at its most tumultuous -
leaves it lying
uprooted, trampled,
broken, poisoned,
dying;
but the adversary fails.
The seed cheats death,
refuses to acknowledge the presence
of such a dark and shadowy entity,
reaching instead for the light,
the sun the air the sky the heavens,
rebirthing itself
into a lovelier, livelier blossom.

It is reborn
and grows -
not once in a lifetime
but several thousand times
in the course of one day
if not the course of one moment.

It lives,
testimony to the spirit human,
the spirit Divine.