hope

When an unending pound of thunder is all we hear,

When our faces wet from torrents of ceaseless rain

Droop like defeated flowers back towards their grave

When whispers creep from the deep

Fill the air with slivers of lies

And it seems the sun will never rise

Run east to that abandoned field

Press your bare feet into the cold, muddy ground

Listen in the silence for what no one’s uttered in a lifetime

Listen amidst the creeps from the deep, laughing it will never be found

For they have swallowed the word and will not give it back

Do not give in.

Again, do not give in.

 

Every day, run to that open field,

Dig your bare feet into the cold, muddy ground

Stand amidst the thunder, amidst the roar

Listen

Again, again

For it will not be found the first time

Nor the second, nor the third

But every day, listen!

You must not give in

To the voices that creep from the deep

Who laugh and tease and make you weep

Do not give in.

 

Go and listen

 

Listen for those you have loved,

And for the thought that there might be love again

And if not for you, then them.

Listen.

 

Listen for all that has died,

And for the thought that something might live again,

And if not you, then them.

Listen.

 

Listen for those who have lived in hell,

And for the thought that there might be a heaven again

And if not for you, then them.

Listen.

 

Listen for all that’s gone,

And for the thought that something might rise again

And if not for you, then them.

Listen.

 

Listen for all who have cried,

And for the thought that someone might smile again

And if not you, then them.

Listen.

 

Listen for those who have suffered injustice,

And for the thought that there might be justice again

And if not for you, then them.

Listen.

 

Listen and you will find that word

That all have forgotten and the depths have stolen

And none have uttered in a lifetime

It will rise from where your feet are planted

For it is written:

When you come undeterred

Amidst the thunder, amidst the roar

Forty days and forty nights

The depths must whisper it back

You will hear it rise from the deep,

Croaked out it out in the silence of your undeterred presence

And then you must take it and whisper it back to the earth

Then speak it, then sing, then shout it:

Until all around our voice reverberates

Every fibre of our beings, every fibre in the world

Silence those voices in the deep!

 

So do not give in

For you will find it in the silence in the field.  

It will rise in the quiet stillness where your feet are planted

In the dedicated practice of showing up.