Releasing Hope
There should be hope
The only thing left in the box,
Which means it lay with
All the evils for who knows
How long
I guess Pandora knows
And what were the evils?
Envy, sloth, gluttony?
Yet there’s nothing wrong in
Wanting, in ease, in eating
Maybe those evils were
Culture-specific
Mesopotamian, Egyptian
Greek
Maybe a foe
Such as Carthage
Or allies, such as
One city-state to another
Maybe it was treason
The treachery at Thermopylae
False promises that might
Surprise for being small
And murder
These are harder to analogize
Disloyalty, betraying one’s own
Taking lives
Unless hope might be
Dispensed without
Letting it go,
Then she should open the box
Once again
Let the creature rise
And take the Earth
Then the mission might be
Re-collecting evils, placing them
Back in the box
Maybe with an intern
From Olympus
(an intern team)
Who could
For and with them
Re-think the evils
Remember goodness before
The ruin
But then the gods
Would need to learn about
What is good against the pettiness that
Snapping or a wave
Can wreck for mortals
Mortals, too, once freed up some
Might receive reminders, too
Goodness and balance
Golden means on a silver path
The final thing
For the Athens school
For the Lyceum,
Let everyone in
To give the good a chance
Democratized
As was their theory, after all
C L Couch
Photo by David Becker on Unsplash
clcouch123 
August 10, 2020 at 6:08 am
ahhh. you brought us back to the pillars and wisdom of the ancient times through weaving a timeless topic – hope.
August 14, 2020 at 1:10 am
Thank you. If Pandora’s to be blamed for releasing evils–and she shouldn’t be–then she should also be given credit for serving as the keeper of hope.
August 16, 2020 at 10:13 am
that is so true, brother!
August 10, 2020 at 4:37 pm
Hope — without it we shall perish. You eloquent poem keeps the spark of hope alive. 🙏
August 14, 2020 at 1:11 am
Thank you, and you’re right. Hope is vital, spiritually and figuratively, for life.
August 11, 2020 at 4:14 pm
Eloquent and informative poetry, as always, Christopher. When all else fails we always have hope. Life seems to escalate between hope and despair. Is there a middle ground, The Golden Mean, between hope and despair. Perhaps it is just to plod along doing the best we can, no matter what life throws at us. I have been doing some reading on Stoicism, is that a middle path for us all. Alas. Passions always seem to get in the way. We are not robots after all. I have to admit that I mistrust people who exhibit extremes of character. I played squash, back in the day. I recall an event where a man entered the change room, whistling a happy tune and giving a cheery wave to everyone. He found a locker, opened his gym bag, and cursed to the heavens ” she forgot to pack my shorts”. He then ranted and raved and stalked out. He needed to find some middle ground and perhaps pack his own gym clothes. I always have a great time reading your inspirational poetry, Christopher.
August 14, 2020 at 1:15 am
Thank you so much, Len! And what was that guy about in the locker room? I’d like to be stoic, but we have too many parts that I worry stoicism doesn’t serve. I’d rather go for the Golden Mean, if that means moderating all of us. Otherwise, I agree–I don’t like the polarized elements of nearly anything: politics, personalities, ourselves. The worst things in my life have happened when I was polemicized or someone else was.