Where There Is Hope There Is Life

It is on days like these,
When I can’t see the rising temperatures
Through the smoke of the burning trees,
When I ask myself if I’m being naïve

In clinging to hope
In hoping for change
In changing myself
If I’m all alone.

Just another bad day, I say.
The winds will shift, the skies will clear
And minds will clear
And there might yet be time.

So I call upon the courage of my ancestors
And I call upon the wisdom of the wild things.
And pray that there’s something I can say

That will keep them from shutting their doors
Keep them from shuttering their windows
And crawling into their coffins,
With a heart still full of life
But a mind full of death.

All is not lost
Where there is hope there is life,
Where there is hope there is life.

Hope is not denial
Hope is defiance.
Hope is the wisdom
That does not find wisdom in despair.

Hope does not look for a light
It is the lit candle which others seek.
Light as many others while you can
So that when yours goes out,
There will be someone to give you back your light.