A family of birds now nests within this dead tree And though groping I see hope as though reality Rests in exquisite equipoise above any noise Of subjectivity for many like one who sees Hope in the objectivity of life in dead trees One sees along the way anyone who hopes today There were leaves where there are feathers now and this is how Hope always rises to surprise hopeful eyes somehow I see a tree in me that does not die Because its leaves are evergreen and day By leaf by day it grows along the way Hope knows it grows but knows you may not see The evergreen unseen was seen nearby Resting in the equipoise of nesting life in death One once dead more hopeful for each heartbeat every breath Hope gives me hope forgives me living through me to be Open to the meaning of the in between thereby Hopeful since to be or not seems to be up to me It was because of hope I chose to live and not die Hope is when you bet your life on love then see it through Hope is how I think of now when I do what I do Unseen though evergreen hope is the tree Of life that grows reality in me Going to bloom someday hope then is why Enough when I mean to be evergreen Blooming when the unseen then will be seen From then to now and then again hope is knowing why And if not why then why not when asked the other way As my reason going through the seasons as I go Hope is all I ever knew but all I hope to know Hope like I had hoped to see tomorrow yesterday I have seen today the way I love when hope comes true Like for me hopefully living as I love to see A family of birds now nests within this dead tree Like a bird ascending so transcending Along the way unseen the evergreen Survives the winter to enter the spring Now as what was growing within me when I hoped knowing how it could bloom again Hope is the evergreen soon to be seen When it blooms then you will see what I mean +Steven Curtis Lance Copyright MMXIV