Tuesday 31 January 2012

Hope


 Hope stands at the altar,
The mic ready to carry his voice to the world’s people.
He is powerful; and frail,
A dark face against a dark suit.

You may not recognise Hope in this form,
But he is her none-the-less.
Spes and Elpis having played their part,
She simply has a different, darker, face.

Her harp, now a voice,
Slow and steady; self-assured,
Like the rising of the sun,
Hinting at the possibility of a beautiful new day.

But, Hope's enemies are as always present,
Greed and war, hate and ignorance.
The question, now as ever,
Can Hope overcome these foes?

This is the dilemma,
For Hope always brings with her, fear.
Fear that says, what if he fails,
That says, beautiful words but where are the actions

I fear, for I Hope,
And if Hope fails me,
It will hurt all the more,
For I had the audacity to Hope in the first place


Go an inkling who this poem is about, or no idea at all? You'll have to watch the video below to see!

I wrote this poem while in China working as a journalist and covering the election of a new president of an important country, who I thought personified Hope.

Hope: "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best", the feeling that all our dreams are possible, that the world can be a better place where all are truly valued, that mankind could actually live in peace free from fear and prejudice.

The great image of another face of Hope above from the great blog Behind the Lines: Poetry, War, & Peacemaking



Below is a video of President Obama answering questions during the inaugural Ask the President 2012 Google+ hookup where everyday people could ask questions important to them:





Great little qoute:
“If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time,” Marcel Proust.

7 comments:

  1. cool poem. interesting insight that hope brings fear...

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  2. Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it.

    Yeah it was a strange thing for me to realise as well, that my hope brought the fear. Had I not hoped that Obama would bring real change, I wouldn't have feared that he might fail.

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  3. A comment from the person who made the first picture:

    "Philip Metres has left a new comment on the post "Hope for Peace in the Middle East":

    Thanks DQ, and I'm glad that it brought you to new words! "

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  4. nice..like this much...for its truth...hope does bring fear, because it is a risk and does hurt when it does not come through, but then again what if we give it up....i think that the greater risk...

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  5. yeah...i get this...
    I fear, for I Hope,
    And if Hope fails me,
    It will hurt all the more... if we have lost hope, we don't fear any more cause we've given up..but then with the hope also comes the fear that we hoped in vain...good stuff d.

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  6. I also like the parallel you draw between hope and fear. But if we never take a chance, we will never move forward. Nice poetry.

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  7. Well crafted and I like the line you draw between hope and fear. Glad I visited today.

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