HOPE IS--

An opening,
a new morning,
beginning so quietly
that its dawn is
barely perceptible.
But the new morning
God calls forth
comes as certainly
as the darkness of the night.
Darkness,
no matter how black,
cannot stave off Day
when God has ordained it.

Hope rises,
quietly,
gently,
slowly unfolding
in the long night
of despair.
God will not be mocked;
The faint glimmer
of light
cannot be
diminished.
It grows
with painstaking
slowness,
barely a whisper,
a breath,
yet steadily
growing,
glowing,
illuminating--
all of the treasures
our God
of goodness
has provided
in the dark.