"Hope"

“Hope” by Becky Jo Minsky (aka. Hull)
copyright 1987 

Amidst the Winter Of Our Discontent, 

A young girl wanders through the snow.
Lightly clad in thin garment, her arms and feet are bare.
Yet she does not feel the icy wind, she does not fear the cold.
She does not worry how she’ll fare, by the time that she grows old.
Her heart is PURE, her mind SERENE,
Her eyes SEE the BEAUTY in everything.
Her laughter ECHOES in the air . . .
Precocious girl . . .  Hope is such a playful child.

“Do not worry” Time tells her, “it will not always be so Cold.”
Someday the Spring will come again, so ENJOY the World as it is Today.
Build a snowman and if you wish . . .
Make snow-ice cream for a special dish.
Let’s have a Party, and invite your friends . . .
PLAY Winter Games that you cannot play,

When Spring comes to us again.

What a wonderful suggestion!!
Hope stands still, her PATIENCE REWARDED. . .
DELIGHTED when each perfect snowflake in the icy wind, 

Begins to dance around her.
They dust her gown in snow-swept swirls, 

Encrusting it with icy pearls, 
And sprinkle MAGIC in her hair to make her Winter Party gown.
Then Winter’s sun peeks down to the frozen Earth,
Through rare gaps in the banks of thick snow clouds,
As if to say “Let’s get this Party STARTED . . .
Gilding each bare branch with its pale light . . .
Hope gasps in SURPRISE,
Then blinks back Tears of Joy at the BRILLIANT SIGHT.
Bleak landscape now TRANSFORMED into
ENCHANTED FOREST SHINING BRIGHT.
Perfect playground for the Frost Giant’s Daughter
Who else is coming to the Party?

Now bedecked in her finest Winter gown,
Crowned with Anticipation,
Hope waits for her Winter Party guests to arrive.
Icy branches glisten in the sun, bare twigs sparkle in the light.
She marvels at the shrubs and trees, 

With all their branches bare of leaves.
Intricate sculptures one and all . . . now frozen fans of icy lace . . . 

Decorations for the Party.
Admiring the natural symmetry and grace,

Of the dormant trees and shrubs that “sleep”.
With a knowing smile upon her face,
Hope peeks into their “Dreams Of . . .”

When with garments of verdant green they’ll wear
Fragrant blossoms here and there.
Green growing things perfume the air.
With butterflies dancing round about, like flying iridescent jewels.

And from the rainbow-coloured blooms sip on the sweetest nectar.
So many bumbly bees hum so loud, the air is laden with the sound.  

As they zoom-zoom from flower to flower, 

Gathering golden pollen for Hive and Queen.

While brilliant-plumed birds flit through the leaf-clad trees,
Sing lilting songs to attract their mates . . .
About A New Generation
Whose Time Has Come.
Small furry creatures frolic about ‘neath the canopy of 

Springs’ Newest Gown . . .
In CELEBRATION . . .
For the Flower Queen has come at last.
Finally. . . the Long, Dark, Cold Winter is NOW PAST.

Hope does not heed the Winter wind.
She does not hear its mournful sighs.
She does not feel its icy bite.
She does not shiver in the Cold.
She does not dwell upon the Past.
She does not Regret what has Come and Gone.
She does not Fear that she’ll grow old.

Because her heart is full of LIGHT so BRIGHT,
Like a lantern it SHINES for ALL to BEHOLD.
With a LIGHT that WARMS her through and through.
No matter how Dark, no matter how Cold.
Formed by FAITH, and FORGED with PASSION.
A LIGHT that can’t be bought with gold.
Only SHARED from one heart to another . . .
IT MUST BE FREELY GIVEN.
SACRED FLAME, DIVINE SPARK, A LOVE SO STRONG. . .
It even MENDS the Broken Heart, that’s shattered beyond repair.

Hope does not feel the icy wind, she does not fear the Cold.
Because she KNOWS eventually, that Spring will come again someday.

Even when she grows old and grey.
She KNOWS each day is a Special Gift,
To be “unwrapped” with CARE and PLAYED WITH.
She KNOWS no matter How Bad Things May Get
Someday . . . Somehow . . . Spring WILL come again.
Because Mother told her so.

Becky Jo Minsky (aka. Hull)
copyright September 21, 2010

Years ago, when I was living in Colorado with my late husband Steve - my 2nd husband who was handicapped and terminally ill - I remember a year when every time I would call my mother up to “visit“ with her, she would be having a particularly hard time of it. Every time it was something different and bizarre... and always, always Trouble.

Me: "How are you Mom?"
Mom: "Not good. The hot water heater leaked and flooded the whole trailer. Took me days to clean up the mess and I had to throw a few things out."

Me: "How are you Mom?"
Mom: "Not good. I was driving to work (to Shawnee(?)) and a deer jumped out of nowhere and I couldn't avoid hitting it (killed the deer) and it did a lot of damage to my car. It was lucky I wasn't killed."

Me: "How are you Mom?"
Mom: "Not good. I slipped on the back steps on the ice and fell and broke my arm and lay there for about an hour or two in the freezing cold before your Uncle Gary came and found me and took me to the hospital."

   GEEEZ... I thought about the fact that Mom was having such a very hard year then and what I could possibly DO to HELP MAKE IT BETTER for her. Then I thought about how she always gave me HOPE when things were HARD for me and how she ENCOURAGED and believed in me when no one else did. That was when I decided to make a special painting just for her about Hope (she has the original painting). So actually, the image of Hope that I have portrayed is based on her. As I was growing up, my mother used to tell me that when she was a young girl, her hair was so blond, it was almost white. They used to call her a "cotton-top". She was born on December 9th, 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression. So I made Hope a "cotton-top" and the time is Winter... when everything is dormant. You can see a large shrub in the background... it has lost all of it leaves. Yet...there is that Rose (Mom... ROSEmary) blooming in the midst of Winter next to Hope... which of course is impossible.. yet with HOPE... nothing is impossible. With HOPE, we can endure the COLD and not be hurt by it (notice that Hope is wearing a thin summer gown, her arms are bare and she does not feel the COLD). With HOPE even a heart that is shattered beyond repair, can be MENDED (Hope holds the heart that she has MENDED and offers it back with a knowing smile.) It was my way of REMINDING Mother WHO SHE WAS... of one of her special "GIFTS" that she has brought with her into this World to SHARE with others to HELP MAKE it a BETTER WORLD FOR ALLl.

Becky Jo Minsky (aka. Hull)
21 September, 2010