• these are your hopes, these opalescent orbs,
    hope-bubbles that float and flutter and cast a glorious spectrum
    so beautiful, so mesmerizing, with a weightless grace that
    draws you in to want and love and need to hold
    but do not touch
    do not touch these hope-bubbles
    for they are delicate and lovely and to touch them
    would be the worst thing you could do.

    it's safer not to touch

    so stand back and watch them,
    watch them float and shimmer and enjoy them in their splendor,
    enjoy them as they dance in the sunlight
    enjoy them as they warp and change and morph and sway
    enjoy them, but do not touch

    it's safer not to touch

    watch and wait and
    time passes as you're hypnotized by these hope-bubbles
    and you've learned not to touch, but watch
    until one moment a wind blows past and lifts them up,
    up up up and out of sight
    lost in the sky, never to be seen again
    and you wonder,

    what if I'd touched?