The spirit killeth, but the letter giveth life. <br />The week is dealt out like a hand <br />That children pick up card by card. <br />One keeps getting the same hand. <br />One keeps getting the same card. <br />But twice a day -- except on Saturday -- <br />The wheel stops, there is a crack in Time: <br />With a hiss of soles, a rattle of tin, <br />My own gray Daemon pauses on the stair, <br />My own bald Fortune lifts me by the hair. <br />Woe's me! woe's me! In Folly's mailbox <br />Still laughs the postcard, Hope: <br />Your uncle in Australia <br />Has died and you are Pope, <br />For many a soul has entertained <br />A Mailman unawares -- <br />And as you cry, Impossible, <br />A step is on the stairs. <br />One keeps getting the same dream <br />Delayed, marked "Payment Due," <br />The bill that one has paid <br />Delayed, marked "Payment Due" -- <br />Twice a day, in rotting mailbox, <br />The white grubs are new: <br />And Faith, once more, is mine <br />Faithfully, but Charity <br />Writes hopefully about a new <br />Asylum -- but Hope is as good as new. <br />Woe's me! woe's me! In Folly's mailbox <br />Still laughs the postcard, Hope: <br />Your uncle in Australia <br />Has died and you are Pope, <br />For many a soul has entertained <br />A mailman unawares -- <br />And as you cry, Impossible, <br />A step is on the stairs.<br /><br />Randall Jarrell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hope-3/
