Hope awakens
Where fear is sloughed off.
The scales of armor
Shed skin of cramped size,
As we grow into maturity
Year by year,
Decade by decade.

Fear awakens
Where love is crushed,
Like the leg of a bear
In a trap of man.
As adrenaline takes over
From so much agony
She chews it off
And bleeds to death
Before sickness sets in.

Love awakens
Where anger is transformed,
The phobia of the “other than”
Becomes the open heart of reception.
Of whales and their pod,
Solidarity of peace,
Tenderness toward calves,
Propelling toward feasts,
Towards warmth.

Anger awakens
Where reason dies.
Blind hatred
Like a caged pit bull,
Too long beaten,
Too long dead inside,
Too long lashing out,
From once so innocent and doe-eyed,
A manmade madness,
Begging for death as release.

Reason awakens
Where delusion is questioned
And dragons become myths over time.
Where peace is achieved
And common purpose is advanced.
Where a world becomes one against the fire
Of skyward weapons,
And leadership shuns greed,
Not hoarding gold.

A cosmos
Where hope awakens,
Banishing fear.