Hope Invades by Joe Testa
Hope crept into my head
like an assassin,
slipping past walls a
lifetime in the making.
Taking root in barren ground
it began to work its magic;
delicately, subtlety, like pebble ripples
in a pond, nudging stubborn despair.
I understood the implication intuitively,
although the language was foreign to me.
Suddenly a clock was time bomb ticking,
challenging me towards fulfillment; better
than measuring wasted existence as it once had.
Uncertainty wrapped itself around the feeling
as new directions are always blind,
but there was no fear,
and I reveled in its absence.
Hope comforted me like a lover
and I gave in, offering naked trust in
return for the promise of a life
lived passionately.
***