Thursday

Hope



Hope in the Prison of Despair by Evelyn de Morgan


HOPE

By Theognis of Megara (6th century BC)


For human nature Hope remains alone
Of all the deities; the rest are flown.
Faith is departed; Truth and Honour are dead;
And all the Graces too; my friends, are fled.
The scanty specimens of living worth,
Dwindled to nothing, and extinct on earth.
Yet whilst I live and view the light of heaven,
Since hope remains and never has been driven
From the distracted world - the single scope
Of my devotion is to worship Hope,
When hecatombs are slain, and altars burn,
When all the deities adored in turn,
Let Hope be present; and with Hope, my friend,
Let every sacrifice commence and end.
Yet, Insolence, Injustice, every crime,
Rapine and Wrong, may prosper for a time;
Yet shall they travel on to swift decay,
Who tread the crooked path and hollow way


I came across this poem a little while ago. With it, I shall clear my mind of Nietzsche's voice, who declared hope to be "the most evil of evils because it prolongs man's torment". Who can live without hope? Not I. Without hope, we lose our humanity.