A Small Hope Poem by Fiona Burgess

When did our shadows learn to cry?
Their fears and worries
No longer set aside
Like gleaming moons in winter skies
They dreamed of peace
And that dream died, shattered
The frost of war that grips their world
Binding, freezing wishes
That were never given a chance to be true
Their sun once burned fierce and golden
Now a dying ember on a smokey horizon
Dulled and perishing in the onslaught
The children of our shades
Never knowing the love of freedom
Clasped in the iron-cast hands of turmoil
Nightmares that flare and light briefly in the dark
The horrors that fill their sunlit days
And yet their hopes survive
Just one small hope to ease the anguish
To sustain through strife and terror
Lives on in their hearts and souls, just one small hope
Never to be lost or sold
Never to be traded for a life
A candle in the window of a storm driven night
Just one small hope.