Thirty poems in thirty days: DAY 21

21/30

I wonder where hope is

Last I saw it was chasing a homeless teenage girl down some dirty back alleyway
begging her not to give up on it
It is lost somewhere
in mind but out of sight
hidden somewhere on the street corners where the man is turned down
over and over
over and over
again and again till he can't take rejection any longer
for him, it's not about food
he can get that at the shelter
it's not about love
because he gave up on that long ago
but no
it's simply the simple sign that somebody sees some semblance
of humanity in his broken eyes and offers him a smile
as if to say hey
you may not have laughed in a while
but joy, pure joy like that of a child
is present in everyday gifts like a smile
even if they seem few and far between

but nobody smiles.
in the complexities of our broken down built up
high rise complexes
he is perplexed to see that humanity has come so far
but fallen so fast
see
hope sits on the corner rock of building tops
surveying the steep drop with all the zeal of a street cop
ready to hop down and hit the ground running
to bring sun in and fun back
to the places where faces severely lack
sincerity
see hope sees no hope in diving down into town
for when it looks around, it sees nothing but hopeless cases
outlined on the weary lines of weathered faces
they are screaming
so silent as if to call out the deaf
but all hope sees is death
so all it does is wait.
from its perch at the peak of the city
waiting for a life to walk by that it considers worthy of saving
meanwhile, hope will sit
next to rooftop gargoyles who have long given up illusions of lost art
and have exchanged them for stone hearts
hope
will wait.
for that one homeless teenage girl to pass its way.