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“Keep hope alive!” “Keep hope alive!”

Then there was the “audacity of hope.” Oh, yes. The “audacity of hope.”

You may, or probably, remember when those admonitions to not give up, to persevere, to hang in there, things will get better, were spoken. And by whom.

Which is my segue, of sorts, into a song. That’s right, a song. A beautiful song, both melody and lyrics, that expresses hope is possible, even in almost any circumstances.

Enough, too much, from me. Here is the song, which I think you’ll remember:

“Some say love it is a river that drowns the tender reed. Some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.

“Some say love it is a hunger an endless aching need. I say love it is a flower and you the only seed.

“It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It’s the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.

“It’s the one who won’t be taken who cannot seem to give, and the soul afraid of dyin’ that never learns to live.

“When the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.”

My Outer Banks quartet, “First Flight Four,” sang this song, as did my Washington quartet, “Men ‘n a Chord.” Bob Watson arranged it and sang with the “First Flight Four.” Of course, “The Rose” was made famous by Bette Midler.

There are so very many aspects of life, different, perhaps, as one ages, that necessitate, for want of a better word, a need to have hope.

Hope for your children’s needs, and desires. Hope for the future of your country (how true that is in these times).

Enough of this, as I’ve taken to rambling.

So, friends, let us remember, there is almost always a reason to have hope. Because “the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.”

Peace. APROPOS – ” Hope is the best possession. None are completely wretched but those who are without hope, and few are reduced so low as that.”

-William Hazlitt (1823)