When the night mist falls around you in a thick undying fog

And obscures the stars in heaven in a twisted monologue

When the hooting owl quiets and the wolf begins to howl

And you shiver to your core before night’s unsightly growl

Let hope hold you till sunrise

Till the dawn brings night’s demise

When the winter frost subdues you and you’re shaken to the core

Not a single ray of sunshine hints of summer’s months in store

And the blizzard shrieks its vengeance at the freezing mountain tops

Let the hope beneath the snow bloom like stubborn sweet Snowdrops

Let hope bud beneath the pain

Let it skip through pouring rain

Let it laugh with sparkling eyes

Let hope live, let hope rise

In loving memory of my grandmother Nadezhda Fedrovna Kondroshova (1927-2019). Her name meant hope in Russian.

Viktoria Nikola

2019