And Hope Survived

A distant door slammed shut
In its nest a tiny sparrow quivered.
On a craggy mountain slope, in a hut small
A girl fearfully clung to a bedraggled doll.
Dread chimed through an orphan’s ears
Unrestrained fell a bereft mother’s tears.
A beggar gorged on the foul taste of his own breath
Slurping it down the dry corridors of his throat.
He burped prodigiously, and started to float
In a happy dream world of his own.
The clouds dipped low over the earth
Shaken by vicious atrocities
But unfazed, the trees sang peace ditties.
Somewhere unseen, in a drab desert,
A majestic peacock broke into stately dance
Ungainly feet beating
Beating to the notes of a mute song of justice
In a world heating to the fires of injustice.
And ah, hope survived.