Hope Kills

[Cassie Hughes]

Hope Kills

Bright light burns away the ink ingested
after years of wishing dreams could be reality.
Hardened arteries begin to thaw whilst heartbeat
Stutters out staccato rhythms to a brand new tune.
Breath is baited.
Once, twice, the world inhales and spins upon
an axis not so fixed as once upon a time.
A new course is set,
a new horizon beckons,
and colours paint themselves with joyful hues
upon this canvas, slightly foxed around the edges,
smothering all trace of bygone tint.
A new portrait emerges.

Pigments swirl and glisten in the brilliance of a
life awakened once again to hope’s embrace.
Pulse begins to dance with melodies unheeded
for so long it stumbles over steps once blithely trod.
Heart ensorcelled,
flies above the clouds to gambol, joyous in the
rainbow bands that sparkle under loves fair light.
Faith is rekindled,
doubts are sloughed away,
the music soars, arpeggios and descants ride
on thermal tides to daub and splatter gloss
in celebration before plunging down to earth.
The air thickens with thunder.

Lightning strikes once more against the odds
and with it comes the understanding long presumed.
In life there is no joy, no picture perfect ending
with which scars to bind against infection’s heated tracks.
Crimson ribbons,
swirl amid the blackened notes on manuscript
wrenched screaming from composer’s clutching hands.
Leaving a void,
into which flows despair.
So darkness covers all, befouling everything within the frame
that mounted once a shining beacon, smearing

muddy chords which cling and drown the soul.
The coda rings a last sustain…