Through lenses cold and ground from mountain glass,
We watched the dying worlds of iron pass.
For generations, every spark we found
Was tethered to a bleeding, broken ground—
The sudden flash of silo doors undone,
The brief, horrific birthing of a sun,
Then ash that drifted like a heavy shroud
To lock a planet in a toxic cloud.
We turned our mirrors to the northern sky,
Expecting just another world to die,
To see Vaeloria’s final signature
Be etched in fire, black and premature.
We braced for the familiar, sudden glare
Of empires burning down their final air.
But what we found across the cosmic deep
Was not the final, static-riddled sleep.
The planet did not burn; it started glowing,
A quiet, silver respiration growing,
As if a willow made of starlight grew
And drank the poison till the sky turned blue.
No high radiation tore the night,
But pulses of a deep, organic light.
A lonely mind had stitched the broken spheres,
And washed away a century of fears.
We leaned into our sights, amazed to see
A world redeemed by a single tree.
How many poets
Have you inspired?
With your locked in beauty
And your color hard-wired
I guess it might be
Quite a few
As you tumble down
Flashing into view
My prayers are this
Perhaps every day
That you land on me
Then decide to stay
CV 14/9/26
Believe when the road is long,
Believe when the night is cold,
Believe when the world says no,
And your dreams seem hard to hold.
For faith can move a weary heart,
And hope can light the darkest way.
What seems impossible today
May become your joy someday.
So believe in what you carry,
Believe in the strength within.
The journey may be difficult,
But you were born to begin.
The winds blow bleak and torrential against my face.
I’m told it’s much to bear and my ship will be wrecked.
But, I see the wind and so strengthen my mainbrace
For me the wind has an unexpected effect.
I set my back strong to the wind and filled my sails.
Let it blow how it might, it will take me onward.
Before the brightness of the sun ev’rything pales.
In that valiant hope I set my true course dawnward.
“Remember me, O my God, for good.” — Nehemiah 13:31
May the lantern
of my memory
shine like bright gold
as hope of renewal
sustains me
from late summer
through winter’s end
Just so you're aware I'll tell you
It's you my heart will always choose
I still believe what we had was magical
And something too precious to lose
I cannot believe that we're done forever
Don't you desire what we were too
Ask yourself and your heart will answer
What we had is too angelic to be through
How is it you wonder I still love you
Even after all the hell we went through
There were bad times but remember the good
My heart longs for those moments with you
I miss you in ways I can't explain
A piece of me is missing without you here
My love is greater than I ever knew
What I couldn't see it before is now clear
I wish I had the chance to show you
And I truly hope someday that I will
If you decide you need our love again
I will be right here waiting loving you still
Rising, with the mist
Sunrise, how I’ve missed
Brilliant light, so alive
Morning song will survive
Birds fly across the skies
Muffled, breathless sighs
Reasons for warmth of dawn
Erasing shadows from the lawn
Oh, laughing sun, rising bright
Rescuing hearts from the night
It’s Sunday morning, this day
Will surely offer a chance to pray
For the joy, peace and love
That comes to us from God above
Always faithful, like the sun
Showing us that we’ve just begun
To see the wonders of our life
And feel the love healing strife
We’re surely given each new day
To lift our hands, praise and say
God is blessing our souls with grace
No matter how powerful the dark we face
Always, morning comes to reveal
God’s new hope our hearts can’t conceal
He is the Master who created all
Thanks to His gift, His gentle call
We know, this Sunday, as we pray
We’re full of thanks every Lord’s Day!
Line of inquiry:
“Neither desire nor aversion
Meditation our immersion
Conditioned beliefs discarded
Hymns we hum are our own version”
A child I was, when Nuns taught me in school;
so God was with me from an early age.
The catechism shaped for me each rule-
my soul's foundation at this tender stage,
to help unlock a door I would engage.
My reading about God was not the key-
but seeing what He is- enlightened me.
That feeling that He's near in all I do,
the balances of nature, my guarantee-
internal hymns of love, faith, hope, accrue.
I sing the hymn of Love through family,
and feel God's care is echoed from each heart.
I sing the Hymn of Faith, a tapestry
of sunset glow that leads to a fresh start,
and sing my Hymn of Hope on new day's chart.
Love, Faith, and Hope are His Amazing Grace-
my heart and soul, with God there, interface.
Before the midnight hour chimed
A white wolf crossed albescent snow
And saw me with its diamond eyes
Shining right into my soul
I miss the woods where Dad and I
Sat by the coppice of conifer trees
The warmth of the winter sun piqued my mind
Nature’s aroma wafting in the breeze
The years have eased the ache of loss
And let the Northwoods live once more
White snow, warm meals, and paths we crossed
Return like footsteps to my door
For every memory, I give thanks
For love, that time cannot unravel
And pray beyond these earthly banks
We’ll meet in Heaven by God’s gavel
To show His love,
Our God did send,
His one and only Son,
To save from sin,
We mortals hear, that,
"This is not the end."
Yes, We offend,
Our God above,
Yes, we were born in sin.
Please, God forgive,
We’ll make amends, since,
"This is not the end."
We travel through,
This life we wend,
With Son of Man as Friend.
We have no fear,
Since He is near, knowing,
“This is not the end.”
And we have learned,
Faith, Hope and Love,
Of all our fellow men,
Must be secured,
On these Life depends, for,
“This is not the end.”
This life on earth,
With such few years,
Know death it will attend.
Yet we have Faith,
And Hope is dear, that,
"This is not the end."
And when the veil,
On life descends,
And closes out our case,
We'll know for sure,
That Truth endured, and,
"It was not the end."
* * *
Darrell Simmerman © 2025
PoetrySoup Weekly Challenge
Theme: Memory
Emotion: Hope
Color: Gold
Season: Late Summer
Form: Free Verse
Object: Lantern
Verb: Remember
As the snow melts on the mountain
And a trickle began to fill the fountain
Filling the drained spring below
Then the river begins to flow
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
I remember when our love was young
Sometimes the lights would go out
We'd light the lantern to see how to walk
But never has it snowed this early before
That snow covered the gold poplar
All the leaves turned brown and fell
This shouldn't happen in late summer
But on this we couldn't dwell
Snow on the moutain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
Your hair was thin and white
Your hearing had disappeared
But you kept going and going
Until your health disappeared
Snow on the mountain
A fire in the hearth
Snow on the mountain
Losing you broke my heart
I know we'll meet again my love
Jesus is waiting for me to come home
That will be a great reunion
Happiness we'll all share
The last leg of the fight
The final round of quitting
How quaint to say the final quit
How ironic I must sprint to stop
Years of wildling down and retrying
Years of saying this time is different
However, this difference has a difference
However inane, God delivered a new purpose
Truly every round was different
Truly these chains became rope
Today I cut that rope
Today I free myself
The finale sadly doesn’t exist
The finale is never being out of the fight
I will walk tomorrow and the next day lighter
I will always stay at war but it will be just an amber
("High Timberline Merit Badge", 2011, original oil)
When I was young, I didn’t have much.
Which means I didn’t worry
About it being taken away.
Didn’t worry about robbers, private or public,
And didn’t care about changing the world.
That wasn’t the brand of hubris I was born with.
Now that I’m old and retired there is a lot to lose,
My life and family, savings, property and stuff.
So I pay more attention to those who preach
The doctrine of redistribution, hope and change.
It’s easy to get caught up in it all
Since it’s always in the news.
But it’s also easy to forget there's an easy way out,
A simple and sure way out of hoping
And worrying what change will come.
And that is to simply sit,
On your own private cushion, or better yet
Beside a dog.
But best of all, outside, amid the greens
Under the clouds in a sky of blue
And let the sounds and sights of nature
Give you all you need.
No need for hope or worry about changing a thing,
The world is doing just fine within you and without you.
(9/10/26)
Rain, rain, dear rain
Please come back again
Don't you hesitate or refrain
We are parched and drained.
Do fill us to the brim
Till the end of our whims
Either we'll learn to swim
Or get an honoured requiem.
Dark clouds we badly yearn
Hope, light will follow in turn
We await for our fate to churn
Help us put out fire in our urn.
When dreams all come crashing down,
I’ll just take the long way 'round,
When the light of hope turns to dark,
I’m more determined to hit my mark.
When let down and people sway,
I’ll just choose to stay away,
When disappointment hits again,
I just push on through the pain.
When hopes and dreams all fall through,
I’ll just start something new,
When feeling low, no hope in sight,
I’ll light a candle for a little light.
When the heart cracks one more time,
I’ll just write another rhyme,
When nighttime falls and I hear more lies,
I’ll wait till dawn and watch the sun rise.
When I think I can take no more,
I remind myself there’s lots to explore,
When the day becomes too much,
I’ll close my eyes and dream as such.
It’s a tug of war between shadows and light,
Feeling hopeless but I’m ready to fight,
Through the struggles and the pain,
I’ll rise up stronger, again and again.
When my soul begins to die,
This is when I know I’ll fly,
When it’s all said and done,
I will know I tried, and I won.
Hope Categories
Read wonderful hope poetry on the following sub-topics:
christmas, encouragement, faith, future, inspirational, life, losing, lost, resilience, strength,
and more.
Definition | What is Hope in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.
Related Poetry Forms
prospect, desire, confidence, anticipation, belief, faith, wish, aspiration, expectation, optimism, promise, ambition, goal, achievement, concern, expectancy, fortune, reverie, endurance, daydream, dependence, fancy, reliance, sanguineness, utopia