Hope

December 12
Hope

If hope were a color
it would be green,

Signs of life appearing                
in expected places:
     the fresh buds of blossoming trees,
     a sea of corn in the summer

Life popping up
in unexpected places:
     blades of grass rising from a crack in the sidewalk,
     a butterfly-beckoning garden on an urban rooftop

Persistent life
in places of sorrow:
     the prayer vigil for a wounded child,
     laughter in the midst of death (you do not have the final word)

Signs of hope
Abundant, surprising, tenacious
Greening everywhere.

Where are signs of "greening" in people around me? Where are signs of "greening" in what seem to be bleak places? 
(For Claire and those who pray for her - and Walter and those who remember him)