The Corpse of Hope
by Tim Kavi
the old ones
took me up higher
on the mountain
and they showed me
a bag of remains
I said who is it?
they replied
the corpse of hope
I said: why do you show me this?
because it is long absent
from many hearts
in the world
missing from the ideas
and schemes of needy ones
trampled by the greedy ones
thrown away by the winds
of war and oppression
until it has about turned
to dust
bound up in an earthy bag
stirred up by a newcoming flag
and forgotten by many
in the highest places
they imagine they need not see it
and refuse to believe it
the new body of hope
those who cannot see
those lower ones
I replied how can those
lower see it
since it is up here?
easy, they replied me
hope has been hidden
by those in power
and repackaged as a lesser hope
one that is devoid of true power
some have called it
the promise of better times
or even the rights
to not be bothered
as long as you do not question
do not ask about
or wonder,
where has the true hope gone?
then all will be all right
and the wise ones said
but it is for greater
freedom, some have bled.
then the old ones
said to me, Can these bones live?
and I said only you know
bone to bone
flesh to flesh
the corpse of hope
lives again
becomes a great body
in the songs of protest
and the instruments of change
although those in power
do not freely give it
the body of hope
stirs in the masses that seem
below, hidden
to the asses that gleam
in the palaced abodes
above
until it shatters
the storied glass
windows and hallways
of oppression
while dancing in the streets
the newly empowered
people enjoy the hope
of a new tomorrow
while the others
long for the corpse of hope
and the familiar dusty bag
yet it is no longer found
in their possession.
for hope is a living breathed
out being
in the aftermath of which
there is no deceiving
for the corpse of hope
has been followed
by the dialectical
birth of social justice.
Poet's Afterword: On this day that many celebrate as
a day of resurrection, I long that hope too shall live. Another poem of protest.~~TK
