Reclaiming Hope

Desolation

Expansive plains littered with lost lives, tin and bricks scattered, stranded

Homes shaped of what was tossed away by others, human and object indiscernible

Weathered faces with cracks and crinkles, splotches of colours and scars

Arrogant, bombastic banners and buildings boom: imposed by slave drivers in blood-covered suits

Rumbles of empty stomachs reverberate raucously in skeletal frames

And yet, a flicker

Light

Jubilant eruptions with holey-grins as children gallivant through rubble and debris

Uncontainable contentment in the peace of a grandmother watching over them

All-consuming passion filling defiant daughters abandoned by disinterested dear-ones

How is it possible?

Hope? Here?

Humanity

Rich resource of life and abundance trapped in bias and prejudice

False perceptions, fake love and forbidden interaction forcing it away

Foolish ones! Fear not! Face yourself!

The hope you seek is buried under the lies of those who seek to keep you under

The hope you seek has been formed under the crushing weight you set on other people

The hope you seek is in them, it is in you: God ingrained, God-inspired, God-breathed

Open your arms! Release your greed! Fill yourself anew!

Hope burns when your brother is embraced, your sister supported, your elders upheld.

Reclaim your people! Reclaim them: your home, your hope.