A NOTE TO THE READER
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to see her stroke his indigo feathers with her fingertip,
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HOPE,
A MYTH REAWAKENED
LILLIAN MOATS
Downers Grove
Illinois
THREE ARTS PRESS
1100 Maple Ave.
Downers Grove, IL 60515-4818
Text © Lillian Moats, 2014
Published 2015 by Three Arts Press. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication
(Provided by Quality Books, Inc)
Moats, Lillian.
Hope, a myth reawakened / Lillian Moats.
pages cm
LCCN 2015902533
ISBN 978-0-9669576-5-5
Ebook ISBN 978-0-9669576-6-2
1. Hope--Fiction. 2. Despair--Fiction.
3. Allegories. 4. Prose poems. I. Title.
| PS3569.O6523H67 2015 | 813'.54 |
| QBI15-600057 |
Edited by Pamela Livingston Gifford
Author photo by JP Somersaulter
Prepress by John Lord at Graphics Plus Inc.
Printed in USA on acid free archival quality paper by BookMobile
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
First Edition
Also by the Author:
The Letter from Death
Speak, Hands
Legacy of Shadows
The Gate of Dreams
Books and eBooks
are available from major booksellers
Distributed by Itasca Books, Minneapolis
ISBN 978-0-9669576-5-5 paperback
ISBN 9978-0-9669576-6-2 eBook
To family …
Michael and David and Chris
And “family” …
JP and Paula, Pamela and Pam
A NOTE OF INTRODUCTION
At this moment in history we find ourselves well beyond the consolation offered by the proverbial Chinese sentiment that we might live in “interesting times.” Ours is rather a time of terror, a time when natural systems and social systems are collapsing before our very eyes, a time when optimism has become a symptom of delusion. Hope is elusive, even in the best of times, but among the informed of our age it is nearly unimaginable. Yet we know deep down that there is no hope without Hope.
Lillian Moats aspires to reawaken in us a sense of hope in an age dominated by confusion, trepidation and despair. Her allegory seduces readers into serious reflections on the nature and sources of hope. The language herein is inviting, the insights are abundant, and the suspense is captivating. Perhaps you will detect, as I did, hints of Dante and Plato as the author engages Hope and Despair in constructive dialogue. This book is inspiring, and you are to be envied if you can find something better to do than to read it.
Loyal Rue
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Luther College
PREFACE
If you have picked up this little book and thumbed through a few pages, the arrangement of lines might prompt you to regard it as poetry; I don’t think of it as such. The format reflects the writing process I use to remind myself to be concise and attend to the rhythm of language. If I were reading aloud to you (which would be fun for me since I’m a one-to-one person) I would not pause to indicate line breaks as poets often do. So be my guest and read right through.
On a deeper plane, where did the idea of such a book come from? Most of us speak of hope frequently—cheerfully, nervously or fervently—and yet in our more somber moods we ask ourselves and each other, “Is there any hope?” I am one who has struggled hard with that question, especially in the last decade or so as I’ve become more painfully conscious of the condition of our world.
But perhaps my unease, and yours if you feel it, may be as old as humanity. This is what led me to turn to a classical myth and let my own allegorical extension of it reach into the present. The ancient Greeks expressed the conundrum of hope in the multiple and contradictory myths of a fateful “gift” from the gods to the first humans.
The gift was contained in a storage jar or urn. (In the Pandora myth it was translated as “box” centuries later). Did this gift from the gods contain evils as collective punishment, or blessings? Who let the contents escape? The first woman, cunning and curious, or a foolish man?
Hope is a central theme in these ancient myths, for in each rendition it is the only element not released from the jar. Scholars still debate whether hope’s perpetual containment conveys optimism or pessimism.
HOPE, a Myth Reawakened is an invitation to join me in an allegorical adventure, grappling with the age-old question that has taken on pressing relevance in our contemporary lives: Is there hope for the world?
Lillian Moats
2015
I. HOPE, FORLORN
Now that I’ve grown in understanding,
I will tell you my mother’s story:
hers was the longest solitary confinement
in the history of the world.
Held without charge, without recourse
to any system