hope

hope took a leave of absence January 2025
before long she went AWOL altogether.

hope was M.I.A.

hard to remember.
harder to feel.

hope slipped beneath the noise,
camouflaged in hate-speak,
intolerance, othering,
and all the isms—
our country’s shadow
and shame.

but then unexpectedly,
hope returned.

slipped in quietly, respectfully,
June 18th, Chicago, Illinois.

in bright, beautiful daylight.

in goodness.
in intelligence.

hope was renewed with words,
soothing us,
as if she had never left.

as if we had not spent months
looking high and low for her.

as if we had not forgotten
what hope felt like,
what it is like to bask in her light.

and for a moment,
after this long dark time of despair,

we remembered.

we remembered
what hope sounds like—

lifting the numbing fog,
lifting us, the heaviness of hate gone,
her words stitching us back together.

hearts full listening to the only Queen
this country has
deliver

hope.

love.

I’m keeping my courage by tapping the *send to everyone now* button….

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