Hope Poem by Shikhandin Shikhandin

Pandora's curiosity didn't just do her in
It dug a cesspool for the whole human race
For what flew out
After the locust swarm of ills
Was not a ray of salvation
As that wretched woman supposed
But the worst scourge
Of all - hope!

Now cursed, and wasting
Away, hoping as today decays
And dies with the rise of tomorrow
We stand around
Whittling down our piece of time
Hoping and hoping
Before giving it all up for a while
Only to return after
Sandpapering off that
Bit of hangnail impatience
We hang on
Hoping some more

In effect we do nothing
But live in limbo
Dangling on that sticky thread
Of spider saliva
Half dead, half alive
Stunned with the hope
That someday we'll be
Saved

Hope's opium makes cowards of us all
For what with a single swipe
Could make an end of parody
Release and relieve
Must instead be prolonged
Must putrefy and ooze
Till maggots and flies
Consume…

(First Published in The Arabesque Review, Algeria)