In the morning, as soon as I wake, I roll to the wide east window, grasp the sheer navy curtain, and open it a crack. I hope for sun. Or, at least, patches of blue among the clouds! This morning I lie back with a smile.
There is an Emily Dickinson poem that I know about hope, and it has stayed with me because she chose to use a bird as metaphor.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale –
is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the
little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I've heard it in the chillest
land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me. *
I attribute this singular memory to the year my dad affixed a birdfeeder to the north window of my bedroom. I was in the seventh grade. Through high school, I sat beside the window, at the old-fashioned desk, doing homework for hours—and birdwatching.
A re-reading of the full poem has given me a new way to think about hope, though. Dickinson sees the source of hope as a part of our individual soul that leaves the Oversoul and enters a womb at the time of our physical birth.
Lastly, this quote by Meher Baba* that, since learned, has guided me through every change of my life—always with hope!
It is infinitely better to hope for the best than to fear the worst.*
My realization is, "There is the learning in life that comes explicitly. Then, there is the learning that comes from a leap—that stops at different times of our lives—to bring seemingly disparate moments together in new understanding."
* The poem may be found at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314.
* Meher Baba is referred to as the God-Man whose soul had come in previous incarnations and eras as Zoroaster, Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammed, and this time as Meher Baba.
* https://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/literacy.html. para 6.