There is (Is there) Hope

We strive for something greater, yet the change for good we seek is to be undone at the very next turn. Look upwards. There remain stars in the night sky, bright against the dark, but they too are undone by time, little more than a fading reminder of what once was. And they too are beyond our mortal reach, for we are mortal, and that is our gift and our curse.

There are lovers walking hand in hand, a warm, gentle embrace on a cold eve, a glimpse of what it is to love and be loved. And there are sharp tongues and cruel words, a rift too wide and treacherous to bridge, too long in the making to close, though where it began is all but forgotten. Yet anger, resentment, and hate persist.

There is heart and spirit that shine brightly and with great force, though they can be blackened and broken by the relentlessness of our own nature.

There is hope. Always hope. It clings, almost desperately, to our minds, when our minds find the darker places of fear and despair. But hope holds on to each of us, as we hold on to hope, searching for that flicker of light that brings us to something greater. 

That light, like a star in the night sky. Ever present, but unreachable. For that light is but a reminder of what was.

And there are children in the playground, with eyes full of joy and wonder. Look at them. And weep for them. 

What did we do? What have we done? And what will we do again and again and again.