Good Hoping*

The cape of good hoping

I don most days.

 

Some days it doesn't fit me,

an odd thing in a cape,

which is a one-size-fits-all

kind of garment.

So on the days it doesn't fit

I feel myself a misfit.

No cape.

No good hoping.

 

Let's focus on those other days,

the ones when my cape envelops me in hope.

Good hoping is a form of prayer,

I think.

I send full-hearted good hopes

to those who are bewildered or bereft or ill

or simply overwhelmed by realizing

that it all will end—joy and grief alike--

and not at an hour of their choosing.

It will end, willy-nilly,

and that thought,

which inspires some to great deeds

or lofty ambition,

gives to others the shock of the real

from which they recover only in part.

 

So for them—and for us all—

I try on my Cape of Good Hoping

every day,

hoping for a good fit.

And if it fits—well, then I hope.

 

I hope it fits.

 

 

 

*Inspired by a line from James Loughton's "The Country of Hope"

 

 

Copyright 2009 Ann Tudor   

www.anntudor.ca
http://scenesfromthejourney.blogspot.com