There are always reasons to hope. Time has taught us to hold on, keep moving forward, keep believing that the tide will turn, the sun will rise, the anger and the hatred, the greed and evil will fade away like sand reclaimed by the sea. Nothing is permanent – everything is moving in perpetual motion towards, and away from – only time does the inconceivable – lives in the past, the present, and the future.
In a world that, I admit, frightens me, I struggle to find reasons to believe in the possibility of a bright tomorrow, for my children, for my grandchildren, for my greatgrandchild. I struggle to find the light. I struggle to find things that will comfort me and then, one day, a video appeared on Instagram. It was a delightful Frenchman singing to cows. I’ve since discovered that he sings to all animals, lions, tigers, and bears, flamingoes and meerkat and hippos and, the most amazing thing – every animal he sings to is intensely interested in gently interacting with him, his guitar, and the music.
Plumes is a viral French singer-songwriter and animal advocate who travels the globe serenading animals with his signature pink guitar. His journey started when he played for cows on his grandmother’s farm. The cows “came running over and stayed to listen nearly an hour.” Plumes understood the magic of the moment – he had found a way to connect – one life form with another. https://www.instagram.com/plumesofficiel/?hl=en
I admit, I’m grasping at straws, hanging on to sunbeams and rainbows, seeking solace in the soft sounds of the breeze on fall evenings and the quiet transformation of the leaves from green to brown, gold, and red. I’m desperately seeking reasons to hold on to hope, but for now, this moment, one reason will do – thank you Plumes (Loris Assadian.)
HOLDING ON TO HOPE
(“Where words fail, music speaks.” – William Shakespeare)
Hold on
to hope
the way that butterflies
hold on
to milkweed
mauled by waves of wind
hold on believing what the
stars speak in
stellar illumination
messages appearing
like lightning bugs
unfrightening
night
You
who sing
to animals mend
something broken
bring me hopeful
to my knees
believe I tell myself
believe…
…trust
in the psyche of
yourself take notice
of the rhythm in us all
four-legged two
winged
or finned find ways to
scatter words like shells
on empty beaches believe in
sentience everything that
shares a breath that you
may breathe
you
my friend
a gift
define divinity
synthesize
music in
to deeds acknowledge
need defeat lies
hearts
know what silence
cannot teach us lush
the loam that tempts the seed
to grow
beyond
the wasted space
of weedy speeches
I can
I hope
absorb the moisture
of exhaustless
tears as a river
swills rain
endless in its
inhalation
wield chords of hope
with poetry
meld melodies of
words as simple as
“I am” “They are”
resurrect rhyme
inspiring as you the heart to reach
beyond the limits of the mind…
Epilogue
Symbiosis severs
the differences between
heaps harmony
confirms connection
tills the soil of solidarity
alluring
leaves to sprout
on trees
of reason
dares us to hope
to dream survive
this
unwholesome season…
Susan A. Katz (All rights reserved)



