The Corpse of Hope (Poem)

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