As I stride hard

Stomping in grief

I stop short

Foot suspended mid-air

My quick eye has caught

Through film of sweat,

as it were,

A thin crack on the side-walk

With sign of life

pushing through.



Just when all hope was lost

I thought,

As I had given and given

With nary an answering sign



Just when my soul was starved

My brain of exhaustion dead

My mind dry of inspiration

My body limp with trying



Just as I was disintegrating

Marching into the self-created

Oblivion I'd let myself fall into

on wings of tenuous, fond hope

Just as the wax on

my Icarus' wings were melting

my Mercurial wings wilting

On my sandals

Just as I spiralled down

Into abyss of despair and rue



Just when I realized

it was not promise that held me up

It was my expectations -

that a tenuous false light did shine

The fault was mine

Never thine.

Castles in the air

No real foundations there...



Just when the dark was closing in

The tenacious light did shine

Trumpets blared

Cymbals crashed

Drumrolls rumbled.



Just as egg cracks

to release new life

The concrete crack

Revealed a tiny sapling let

A garish green sign

That all was well.



I bent, and scooped up my hope

To nourish and to cherish.