art credit: the hope tree, by ashvin harrison

—

she looked older, tired, worn down, but trying

dark eyeliner, hair an unnatural black, a gold barrette

standing at the register

waiting as i approached

buying paper for an art project

noticing colors and prints on the papers

she pointed at them, saying:

“if you mix this blue with this flowered print, it looks exactly like the inside of the locket that i had when i was a little girl. it was shaped like a heart, my mother gave it to me, it had both of our pictures in it. is was really something. it didn’t make it through the fire though. i think someone came and took it after that happened. they didn’t know how important it was. i’ve had my dreams squashed before, but i still have hope.”

she shared all of that with me, a random stranger, in a 2 minute encounter. something about her was achingly sad, yet i also felt admiration for her refusal to surrender to a life that may have never been easy, still holding out hope for a better day, yet to come. amazing person.

—

“hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.”

 -mignon mclaughlin