Hope
‘Manacled to the mountain
We dance in circles:
Sister, Brother, Mother all
dressed in rainbow colors,
moving to the music
in our heads,
Bending but never breaking our pace.
“Sacred is the prayer that asks for nothing.”
Spirits swirl to a hidden rhythm
making patterns in the new sand.
no instrument in sight
our souls soar.
“Blessed is the man who dances to music
of his own making.”
Turning ash gray earth,
digging a new foundation,
sowing seeds building empires,
twisting dreams into
solid reality.
“Exalted is the tribe that moves as one.”
Though not a word is uttered,
not a signal given,
in perfect synch
we dance a 39
square circle space
where all we have are
mumbling mountains…
and rainbow dreams.’
– 'Hope', poem by Chadd Cumberbatch. In Cumberbatch, Chadd: Ya Ya Surfeit. Fabwan, 2010.

Montserrat's northeast coast in the sun. Credit: Robert Field.