Hope Must Be Found

Inspired by Patty Crane’s “Poem for a New Year”

I open my eyes and 

begin the hunt

Hands out, listening

Only silence reaches back and strokes

That exposed part of my spine 

And suddenly 

I am afraid

Stiff with panic only parents know

She’s probably sneaking by the sofa

Or giggling behind the drapes

Or maybe, just maybe

Someone else has found her first

And hide and seek has become secondary

Locations and ditches with dead bodies

And maybe she’s somewhere gasping

With a knee on her neck

But no-- she’s probably just

Behind this door or

Underneath this bed and 

I am bad at looking and she 

Better at hiding