Hope & Resilience

Tomorrow Project Challenges

Hope is the thing with feathers illustration

Hope & Resilience


Over centuries, poetry has stepped in where uncertainty, chaos, injustice, and fear have taken root. Poetry lifts us up and moves us forward with determination. Explore these poems of hope and resilience. If you are inspired, share your own. [Art credit: Grace in Mr. Glazer's Class, YWP Archive]


From 'Poems of Hope and Resilience,' The Poetry Foundation

 

“Hope” Is The Thing With Feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
 
That perches in the soul -
 
And sings the tune without the words -
 
And never stops - at all -
 
 
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
 
And sore must be the storm -
 
That could abash the little Bird
 
That kept so many warm -
 
 
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
 
And on the strangest Sea -
 
Yet - never - in Extremity,
 
It asked a crumb - of me.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
 
With your bitter, twisted lies,
 
You may trod me in the very dirt
 
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
 
 
Does my sassiness upset you?
 
Why are you beset with gloom?
 
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
 
Pumping in my living room.
 
 
Just like moons and like suns,
 
With the certainty of tides,
 
Just like hopes springing high,
 
Still I'll rise.
 
 
Did you want to see me broken?
 
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
 
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
 
Weakened by my soulful cries? ...
 

 

Submissions

  • Hope

    We have planted our seeds in soft soil

    but then the droughts came

    and the soil hardened

    cracked

    turned on our seeds

    and what was once a garden is now a deathbed

    shriveled up

    seemingly hopeless

  • I Hope

    I hope that one day,

    I can make an impact,

    and change lives for the better.

    I hope that every little kid

    grows up with childlike hope,

    and never loses it.

    I hope that one day,

  • Even When

    If I can walk through the rain,

    I can run in the sun,

    even when it feels like the downpour

    will never stop.

    Because even if it doesn’t for a long time,

    umbrellas will be offered

    from hands I love to hold

  • One Day

    One day, we will live a life that is actually free

    One day, we will be able to be ourselves without being afraid

    One day, we will be able to speak our minds

    One day, we will decide our own futures

    But

  • Her Hope

    She’s little

    Not even 8

    But she has hope 

    Hope that shines

    Through her blue eyes

    Hope that dances

    Across her face

    Just like how she

    Dances in the rain

    Listening to Taylor Swift 

  • Why?

    Why?

     Why are we scared?

     Why is fear overwhelming our delicate bodies?

     Why are we letting it?

     Why can’t we instead of being scared 

    fight for others 

  • Lenses

    We need more joy in this world, 

    we need less of this depressing sense of life, 

    when everything around us is so beautiful. 

     

    But we only look through a gray lens to see it.