Hope

Hope is every beep from
the bed side monitor
telling you don't worry
you are alive

Hope is every warm
hand , grasping your
clammy one in theirs
willing you to live

Hope is the look
on your baby's face
when she sees you
looking like hell in icu

Hope is the fact that
people put aside
their lives to rush down to
be at your side

Hope is your spouse
who jumps up
at every groan and turn
and helps you

Hope is the sound
of temple bells
every morning
tolling out loud

Last yellow leaf

I opened my palm
and my breath settled down
as fleeting wispy
and fragile \as the cotton candy
before all of it blew away
i closed my fist
trapping half a breath
it shook my fist so
my heart jumped up at the sound
rattling against
my rib cage
willing to be unimprisoned
an invisible force jolted
my hand
needing my last breath
but I held tenaciously
on
like the last
yellowed leaf
of autumn
with a
green heart