Hope Springs Eternal

(I wote this after seeing an older man laboriously carrying water in a bucket and watering his small corn plants one-by-one. The field was large and the task seemed to me to be hopeless. But he was doing all that he had at his disposal to save his crop from drought.) Hope Springs Eternal By Elton Camp There is something about this man to inspire That he is doing what he can is much to admire He diligently turned and planted corn in his field With the hope that a bountiful crop it would yield He fertilized and carefully kept the weeds away As he cultivated his precious corn day by day The seeds soon sprouted and the plants grew But the needed rains proved to be far too few And though the prospects indeed look very bleak Buckets of water he wearily totes from the creek It may seem useless, but it’s all he knows to do But it’s a task so large he may never get through He pours water to this one, the next, then more As the farmer does his seemingly endless chore Back and forth to the creek he goes to fill his pail With the hope that better weather will soon prevail It would be easy to give up and angrily curse his fate To surrender all of his future to total despair and hate But to do a thing like that is not this good man’s way He chooses to continue to fight, work and often pray