Hope has most meaning when

Despair sees hope depart.

Elixir needs for storing

A hollow in the heart.

 

Despair is a street that ends

In a strangled cul de sac.

Hope travels a long but fruitful road,

Unfazed by ruin and wrack.

 

Despair most inhabits minds

That do not look beyond

To hope that burgeons recalcitrant

In the stagnant pond.

 

Hope is one with life itself

That Despair to Despair brings

With tireless songs of love in strife

Among a million underlings

 

Hope is a salmon that never stops

Swimming up the stream;

Despair is a maddened insomniac

Who never has a dream.

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