"A Hope That Feels So Distant"

I am walking through a forest blanketed in mist

The smells of decaying vegetation and decaying hopes

Permeates every pore of my body

The shallow light and thick mist impairs my sight

So I stumble and fondle my way

Where there is no path

The lifelessness of my surroundings reflects

My own state of mind

Then, under a fallen tree scurries a tiny blur of fur

A squirrel darts across my path reviving my mind

Awakening my senses to all of the life bursting and billowing in the mist

Pillbugs sift through the leaf litter

Earthworms wrestle in the compost

Tree frogs bounce to itty bitty water droplets

That have formed from the mist

Hopelessness blinded me to the 'still life' around me

In my desperation to hide from my sorrow

I desperately pushed away

The pull of joy in small moments and small places

Even miniscule droplets of water lapped up by tree frogs

Have joy in them

I must resist the compulsion to hide

I must accept that hope and joy are still within my grasp