Strength is Hope

Jason Gallagher

Written for the Night of the Rainbow, a benefit for the Springfield AIDS Resource Association, February 20, 1999

Where is the hope for the hopeless?

It's locked anyway

In the touch of a hand

The endlessness of a smile

Hope is not in countless symbols

In rainbows, or ribbons, or songs that are sung

Hope is to be found inside

And around

Like love its bitter cousin

Hope is never bitter just shy

It hides under the tragic mask of despain

Or behind the guise of sadness

Hope doesn't have a color

No texture

No taste

But it smells sweet I know

It feels like nothing you can explain

But it does feel like something

Maybe something like heaven

Just not as godly

Hope can be found in the past

The present

Or in the future in everyone's hand or

In a room like this