Hope is an artificial garden
Of perpetual bloom
Colored by rainbows
Cutting the gloom
Hope smells of lavender
With essence of plastic
Transforming nightmares
To moments fantastic
Hope buries memories
In peat moss and soil
Promising sunshine
Beyond the storm’s toil
So follow the flowers
Until you’re able to cope
Imagine their scent
To generate false hope
When we got off the boat in Victoria, BC, I was blown away by the beauty of these painted flowers. They lined the parking lot at the cruise terminal in beautiful, bold colors. I have had this poem sitting, partially written, on my computer for months. I wasn’t sure how to end it. There have been so many stories of lost hope lately that I decided to shift the conversation from one of false hope being a negative to the idea that sometimes we need hope cling to, even if it’s not fully real. I wish us all a sense of hope when the world feels hopeless.
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