Hope

(on the occasion of my youngest daughter’s marriage)

Hope is the province of youth
For whom fate is yet unmet 
The future ill-defined, vague
Like lights in the fog on lowland streets
Counting the lamps to corners
Counting the corners to home

Hope is a malleable thing
Expanding and retreating
In the heat of time and effort –
Hope is the dividend
For promises made sincerely
For promises made and kept

Does there become a moment
In the face of doubt and darkness
When the turbulence of storms remit,
Fade, relinquish to the calm?
A moment of hope experienced 
A moment of destiny revealed

Let this be that moment
Let this be that life