Hope

This parade is a charade
jaded by pride as relief.
It is temporary; transitory;
the celebration of joy
as a passion; not the recognition
of respect as reward earned
when learned; not the sustained
refrain of prosperity for people.

My life had been weakened by grief;
my years made feeble by tears and sorrow.
Strength had failed me because of affliction.
My bones had felt brittle from age.

I had been seen as a threat by my neighbors;
a source of sadness for family and friends;
an object to be reviled or pitied by enemies.

People avoided me when they saw me in the street.
I was deeply troubled by debt.
My eye was consumed by tears and fears;
my throat by dust and doubt.

I put my trust in your purpose.
Freedom is worth the risk.

I would have been forgotten
had I not presumed to speak of love.
I would have been cast aside;
Useless as a broken ***.

Those who live in the name of love are blessed.

The wind blows.
A lip quivers.
Whispers weave
around the cheers.

Fear pushes for panic
to oppose sedation for elation.

Anxiety returns like a rip tide.
Hope is imposed on desperation.
Doubt hounds the imposition.

Plutocracy is perusing the addition
of homicide to war and genocide;
to subtract from dissent.
What's one more crime? they chime.

Time is in our hands.
Rescue the future
from their plan;
from those who seek
to destroy opposition.

Shine with warmth upon others.
Let love be our salvation.