Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers. -Emily Dickinson

We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. -Pope Francis

Feathers can fly you or fail you.

Anchors can ground you or drown you.

So hope must be the thread

woven through the unspoken desire

to soar or land, to sail or harbor,

to feel a longing,

to hear your soul’s whisper

making your heart beat faster,

to be human.

Nothing comes from nothing,

nothing ever could.

That thread of hope

weaving its way forward

from the present to the future

unspools from whatever size

spindle of gratitude we wind

from our past —

to be human.