Hope On My Side

I write this poem at a moment when I find myself staring at failure in a significant endeavour that I had undertaken few days back. My allies are gone, the blueprints are blown by the ceiling fan and scattered ruthlessly on the ground, my hands do not find a desire to pick them up. My mouth is dry but I don't feel thirsty, I am supposed to be irritated at the cacophony of the busy evening traffic, but I don't hear anything except the beating of my heart which reassures me of my existence. My once strong dreams are feebly giving way to the ruthless reality. I am left alone, in despair, revisiting all those grand schemes I had devised touching the subject. Suddenly I find everything unbearable. I cannot sit any more, it's so difficult.  I cannot keep looking at anything anymore for more than five seconds. I am filled with suffocation under the vastness of the dusky heavens.. 

Something reminds of similar experiences in the past (There have been quite a few). I try to recall what measures I took to survive..... I remember ...It comes back to me.

I drag the key board and start typing, just in case, anybody out there might be in need of these words, like me.

Often I marvel at the beauty of Hope,
Am visited by it mostly in times tough,
I wonder at how it prepares us to face,
The insurmountable & impossible with grace;

One precious gift among numerous filth,
Bequeathed by Him to His children beneath,
To remind us about His ways,
And to deliver us from painful days

It fills me with the verve to run
Even when there's a hill high up to the sun,
Lets me hold back my fears,
In the darkest hour all the mist it clears;

It stops our tears from running down,
When misery engulfs us from all around
That a better day we shall surely see
That at a better place we shall one day be

When they tell us that daylight is far
And when everything drowns in the sound of war
We hope that sun' ll be in time for dawn
And flower of peace'll blossom in rage's lawn

In frantic moments in absence of solace
We turn to Hope for keeping up pace
We run with Hope and none else
Even when we see no end to reach & rest

When the storm was blowing everything away
When the fire was swallowing all in its way
We waited under our roofs till they alter course
What kept us going was Hope's dose

When hanging his head, the healer said 'No'
And left us stunned under destiny's blow
We ran to Hope and cried our plea,
And I remember having heard it speak to me

Telling me "Everything will be alright"
When all I could see was despair & fright
Everytime I felt them cluttering around
Hope would have me optimism bound

When I was branded a liar
Even when friends kept a distance fair
I looked at solitude
And hoped I'll win back brotherhood

Slapped hard by times harsh,
Biting the dust watched everything crash
Though I cursed the lines of my palm,
While shivering in panic I found Hope's warmth

Though she promised otherwise, she was gone one day,
I screamed and shouted when near me she no more lay
I walked forsaken boulevards, committed to sorrow
It was Hope that'd kept me waiting when she returned 'tomorrow '

We all have stories of Hope's deed
Being our friend in times of need
Makes me think what we'd be
Without Hope; If it were to leave

This poem hails the power and greatness of Hope which, I have no doubt, has been felt by all of us at some point  in time in our lives. To have Hope at our side no matter how adversely the odds are stacked against us. Whatever the outcome, the preceding moments spent in Hope give us tremendous strength to at least endure through the painful voyages of life.


                                                                                                              Anupam