Feathering Hope

Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the Thing of Feathers.”

The heart
Insistent on living a life
The mind
Vehemently assails.
Endless negotiations
Vexing iterations
Of what should
Or should not prevail.

She sings:

Remember the days
Of passionate courtship
The fruit of everyone’s dreams?
Love regales children
A house-turned-warm-home
What a rhapsody we could weave!
And what might you say
Of the poems we’ve written
Moments of bliss
And flowers we’ve picked?
Am I wrong to suggest
A new chapter exists
Shall we wither
Instead of persist?

He counters:

The injurious path
Down which you have led us
No mind should have to endure.
And must I remind you
Time and again
That the cure is but mine to procure?
Coaxed by flirtation
Crushed by temptation
Flogged by cessation
Is there nothing
At all, you’ll abjure?

In deference to his voice
Her alter-ego in verse
She endeavors in earnest
To listen, absorb, and parse.
Alas, through the sieve of reason
Her essence sorely departs.

Pragmatic, stoic, even heroic
The mind swiftly exhales
A whisper, worthy of the Gods
From rescued fragments
Of his fading companion.
No potion, no spell, no balm.

He purrs:

Turning the page
You are my sage
And we, forever entwined.
In my quest to impart knowledge
‘Tis quite clear to me now
To your spirit, I’ve become blind.

Forgive me, my muse and partner in life
Resume your venturous endeavor
Regale us with flight
Regale us with hope
For hope is the thing with feathers.

Photo by Alina, 2021