Re-discovering Hope

They were asleep when IT arrived
pinching the forgotten
encroaching on their lives
creating spaces in streets
emptying seats and beds
IT stole many lives

The survivors
wounded and broken
became figment of their former selves
with nowhere to turn but inwards
to a space long forgotten
caked in decades of dust

In the barren existence
the survivors became
despondent desperate
isolated and lonely

Shackled and prostrate
faces, firmly pressed to the Earth
they felt the stirrings
of something long forgotten
something as old as time
struggling to the surface

Emerging slowly as bud sensing Spring
and gravitating towards the light
sensing a promise of warmth

Prostrate bodies stripped bare to the core
awkwardly shifted as they tried to unfold
tilting ever so slightly
towards the light and warmth
the gentlest of smiles gracing each lip
re-discovering Hope