Hopes

This morning I read a blog post by Dr. Kelly Flanagan on Cheap, Crappy Hope (Part 1 of 3).   It is here: drkellyflanagan.com.  The story he tells of his son*s hearing is particularly lovely.  I like his writing and his reflections.  There is truth in them.  Our hopes are indeed framed by our experiences and what we have named as normal or expected.  When we find our hopes and expectations are only the bottom limit: what a revelation!

Emily said it well

In three stanzas.

Hope is the thing with feathers.

It never stops singing.

Pretty much our hopes are small,

Always too small,

Even when we*ve glimpsed

Bigger things:

Bald eagles

Soaring in circles

High over Lake Superior;

Those same majestic birds

Roosting in trees

Along the Mississippi,

The river everyone knows and names,

Except perhaps the Nile

Or the Amazon.

We think these

May be the biggest hopes possible.

They are visible

Known

Heard

Soaring

Roosting in trees.

These are the hopes

We have seen.

These are the hopes

We have heard

Those things with feathers

Singing

Soaring

Roosting in trees.

Even these feathered hopes

Thank you, Emily,

Are just

The bare beginning.