‘On the breath of a hope to be shared’

by The Cowl Editor on February 8, 2018


Poetry


Two people with a blanket
Photo courtesy of kiketele.com

by Jonathan Coppe ’18

 

Is joy more real when it is shared?

I seek a soul to share my joy,

To wrap in zeal for life and bathe in love

Of every precious thing that pulls

My cheeks into a smile.

To see her smile too—and not for me!—

for finding something more to love,

within the hollow earth,

Oh what a gift to give, to spread

My tiny share of joy!

For I know what I seek:

A heart that’s like my heart and so completes

The rhythm of the song that my heart beats.

 

But where might such a one be found?

Each person all their own, so fierce, so fraught,

The heart will not yield up to joy,

We all remain apart.

 

In sorrow like a bank of fog I came to you,

With lids dropped low, in sagging step, with heavy breath.

How strange a single night could open up my hope,

A morning in your bed remold the very earth

And color all its vast expanse

In rosy red and heron blue.