trust not to hope
hope will have you believing in things
that have no hope of coming true
and despair is not the absence of hope
no, despair is hope so thin and frail and fragile
hope so deadly, so fell, so fraught with peril
a thread of hope so sharp, so razor-thin
cutting deeply, jaggedly, viciously

rather, trust to luck
trust to possibilities
to the random oscillating probabilities
where lie hidden inevitabilities
where lies your track through this maze of maybes and perhapses
and time makes chance into fate
randomness into destiny

trust to change
no man is an island
but even islands crumble into mud
slide into the sea
only to rise up again in a tumult of earth’s fury
of magma bursting forth into the sky
that even sunlight’s colors are waver in that blast

seas become deserts
deserts become fertile plains
mountains come tumbling down in heaps
valleys fold upward, inwards, thrusting ever skyward
this is true alchemy
matter becomes light
becomes the wellspring of life
(for we are all, each and everyone, made out of stardust
blasted into space from millions of light years away)
becomes the harbinger of death
(of nuclear holocaust
and the deadly winter to follow)

trust to the past
what is done is done
and cannot be undone
set down in unquenchable light
streaming to all the sides of the universe
men will lie and twist facts to suit their purpose and write it down in a book
but these are only parlor tricks,
sleight-of-hand
tricks of light
illusion

but the truth will out
and ghosts cannot be silent
you believe what you want to believe
not because they fooled you
but because you’ve chosen to walk through the world with your eyes closed
your ears shut
your hands tucked into your pockets
holding no one
no thing
alone and apart
no love or affection

oh, the truth will out
no words can unshatter a heart
no false hope can unspill blood
and what is gone is gone
(and let its absence set you free)

trust to the future
and know that it will unfold
the great trajectories have always been out of your hands
we can but shape each tiny element within our grasp
with meticulous care
measuring millimeters
counting out milligrams
these small things
the relics of dust motes
of mayflies and tadpoles
and yet it will continue to matter
as much as the single raindrop falling to the earth
a single current of wind bearing a single fragment of pollen
a single photon bouncing and scattering upon the sky
caught as a single flash of blue in the corner of your eye

trust always in the present
each breath is a promise kept
no, a gift given
in this here
in this now
there will always be joy
remember that you are alive
and everything else is extra
survival is no simple thing
your presence here today is a testament
that you have fought with the shadows
and the darkness
and you have prevailed

Nietschze (and Kanye West)
may not have gotten it completely right
what doesn’t kill you
makes you who you are
and even the darkness can be turned to good purpose
and pain is only a price
and nothing is forever

It is the simple things that will give you greatest joy
you’ve made it this far
how can you say you have not triumphed?