THERE IS HOPE

there is hope in the Holy Bible.
there is hope in a loaded gun.
there is hope in a mother's embrace.
there is hope in a dirty slum.
there is hope in a bottle of gin.
there is hope when there is sin.
there is hope in each may flower.
there is hope in ill-gained dollars.

i wish for more hopeful days.
i hope that my mindset stays,
with thoughts that are for "the good".
not foul things that are in my "hood".
for if I stay with hope,
i just might evoke,
a life that's good and clean.
it won't be sick and mean.

these ways which deter my mind,
and give me a feckless spine,
are all conceived by men,
who falter and sin again,
without a damned concern
for the money and fame they earn.

there is no free without hope.
there's just the end of a rope,
or a life that wasn't lived,
with knowledge or will to forgive,
oneself or others who grin,
and seek the way of sin,
and pleasures of evil men,
who lose souls in the end.

I pray i stay on a path,
that keeps me nimble with craft,
to spin these madman's yarns,
and do so not to charm.
for hope is all i need.
it's just a tiny seed.
i nuture it right now.
it's planted with the plow,
of good intentions for men.
i've said enough.
the end.