Life and Hope
Hope springs eternal in each human breast
Providing a purpose to the living
Whether that life is lived with zest
Or simply for the pleasure of giving
Wherever there is hope there is life
And wherever there is life there is hope
In what may seem like a world of strife
People, amazingly, find some way to cope
Hope is that which makes man strive
Through expectation of a life superior
It is that which makes all societies thrive
And renders the present, for them, inferior
Knowing that nothing in life is static
We move towards a fatal finality
Expressed by the spiritual as a state ecstatic
Or by non-believers as funereal reality
As the expectant couple hopes for life
When the time has come to make that decision
The logic of becoming husband and wife
Needs no greater, nor more subtle, precision
There is no such thing as the “self-made man”
We all have need of timely opportunity
There is no preferred or pre-ordained plan
Except that which is granted by one’s own community
Some might say that one can be one’s own master
That there is no limit to man’s achievement
We are only required to move a little faster
Than those who await their own bereavement
Is there always hope in in the torment of competition?
In a world of losers and winners
Equality of opportunity is cited in repetition
Yet the triumphant are seldom seen as sinners
So, let us find profit in the hope of others
Their lives, enriched, give us greater wealth
They need not be our sisters or brothers
Nor struggle in a service to sustain our health
Pursuit of happiness is no zero-sum game
Their contentment should never generate sadness
Their mirth is rarely a reason for blame
Their joy can’t diminish our gladness
We must be thankful to the souls unknown
To those to whom we can give no name
To the innocent men by the west wind blown
They came in hope – not in fear or shame
It is they who have shown perseverance
Our diversity is no slippery slope
Let’s grant fellow beings a deeper reverence
And hope through life and life through hope
…………………………….Dedicated to the victims of the Windrush scandal