Hope is ...

During our residential last week we had a lot of fun, but we also shared and heard about difficult subjects and were reminded that the political climate can feel hostile, disheartening and overwhelming. We wanted people to go away inspired and full of ideas of how to speak out and to stand in solidarity with people seeking sanctuary. Doing so is important, but not always easy; and looking after ourselves and one another is crucial. Awareness of the struggles and challenges is essential: but so is holding on to the hope.

So instead of spending our final session considering campaign actions or writing to our MPs, we thought and shared about hope and wrote poetry together.

Most of the poetry I share on my blog is written by me but this isn't, or not mostly. It is written by teachers and chaplains and young retreat centre volunteers and by people seeking sanctuary from all over the world. It is written by people who love words, and people who struggle with them, people who are full of hope and people clinging to hope by their finger nails. 

Today is World Poetry Day, and the beginning of Spring. There could be no better day to share this piece, written collaboratively on that day.

Hope is…

Hope is a mix of colours

Hope is green like new growth and signs of life in springtime

Hope is baby-blue like the beautiful sky filled with clouds before the sun shines

Or after a storm when the dark clouds have finally passed

Hope is sky blue, bright and without limits

Hope is yellow, like a field filled with buttercups and sunshine

Like the daffodils that remind us winter is near its end

Hope is dazzling yellow like the first rays of sunshine at the end of a long dark night,

Like the sun that each day rises again, announcing the beginning of a new day

Hope is yellow and promises to return to everyone’s life

Hope is orange like beautiful summer flowers

And like the sun setting on the past and rising on the new tomorrow

Hope is orange because when you can see the sunshine you have hope

Hope shines bright like coming out of a tunnel and seeing the light,

Hope is white like a lamp glaring and bright like a spotlight that shines through the dark, guiding and encouraging

And sometimes hope is black like the night sky scattered with stars

Hope is golden and shimmery, elusive but oh so precious

Soft, bright light like the day between the darkness

Hope is a brightly shining rainbow, an array of different colours

Hope is like a mountain range, steeply gradiented, but level at the top

firm underfoot, offering support;

Like a journey, hope is many-sided,

It has its ups and downs and guides your path

Hope is round and bright like an unending roundabout leading us to forever happiness, destroy lingering fright

Hope is malleable and strong,

It is the ocean, inescapable and powerful, a true force of nature

It is like fresh waters that everyone surely needs

Hope is wide and hard like the sun battling through a thunderstorm

Hope is shimmering and infinite like the stars in a dark night sky

Hope is soft and smooth like the calming effect of stroking the feathers of pigeon

It is cushioning yet firm like that old teddy bear that is hard to the touch but brings comfort inside

It is soft, warm and all-encompassing like a gentle embrace, never letting go

Hope is soft and gentle like a hand leading and helping us carry on

Hope is heart-shaped, soft and tender like meeting ones family again with love

Warm and fuzzy like a family meal where everyone belongs together as one

Hope is star-shaped, hard with a soft centre like a chocolate-covered caramel

Or soft but with a steely-hard core like fluffy candyfloss around its wooden stick

Hope is flexible and static like 6 and 9 depending on the angle you are viewing it

Hope is intangible but noticeable,

It is large and has no limits,

Unshaped and uncoloured like freedom.

Hope is fragile yet strong depending on so many things beyond my control

Hope is the generator of emotions and the basis of the charm of life

Hope is the sunlight that you can find in the day

and the moonlight in the night

Hope is a lighthouse

A light in the darkness

Hope is believing, is having faith

Hope is expectation, desire, and trust

Trust in the process

Hope is optimism

Hope is a consistent motivation

Hope is powerful

Hope is strength

Hope is not letting go

Hope is the key of life

Hope is a thread

Hope is an outstretched hand, a guiding companion

Hope is beautiful

Hope is ours to be shared

The second greatest gift one person can give to another, and the greatest is love

Hope is the only thing that shines, a point of light in everyone’s mind, among all the bad things, all the darkness

Hope is life

And hope is a lifeline

Hope is a journey to the future

Hope is