See listing of Recent and Most Popular articles on the Home Page

Rhymes & Reasons

Category: Disaster / Topics: Faith • Hopes & Dreams • Tragedy

Hope Refuses to be Buried

by Greg Asimakoupoulos

Posted: January 24, 2010

What is missing from Haiti's landfills?

The estimates are staggering.
We try, but can't ignore
a tragedy that will not quit.
This hell on earth is horror.

We see those grave reminders
of the loss of human lives.
The landfills of the lifeless
we had prayed would yet survive.

Like trash within a garbage truck,
those corpses were stacked high
and driven to a local dump
where circling vultures fly.

It's inhumane. Unthinkable.
But what else could be done?
The stench of death hung in the air
beneath the Haitian sun.

Yet while they bury bodies,
hope refuses to comply.
It can't be ditched and left for dead.
Hope won't give up and die.

Hope germinates within the hearts
of those who can't escape
the fact that they are still alive
when with the dawn they wake.

Hope penetrates the sun-baked soil
of flattened lifelong dreams.
It pushes sun-ward from the earth.
It's stronger than it seems.

Hope is the seed of faith that grows
in all those who have gone
to give the hopeless ways and means
to cope and carry on.


Search all articles by Greg Asimakoupoulos

Greg Asimakoupoulos (pronounced AWESOME-uh-COPE-uh-less) is an ordained minister, published author and chaplain to a retirement community in the Pacfic Northwest. Greg maintains a blog called Rhymes and Reasons, which he graciously provides to SeniorLifestyle.

Greg's writings have now been assembled in book form. See the SeniorLifestyle Store.

• E-mail the author (moc.loa@veRemosewA*) • Author's website (personal or primary**)

* For web-based email, you may need to copy and paste the address yourself.

** opens in a new tab or window. Close it to return here.


Posted: January 24, 2010   Accessed 205 times

Go to the list of most recent Rhymes & Reasons Articles
Search Rhymes & Reasons (You can expand the search to the entire site)
Go to the list of Most Recent and Most Popular Articles across the site (Home Page)