♪What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in♫

Good times and bad times seem to come in waves around here. If you know the rest of the song (blog title), you will be able to tell what my good times are! However, it seems that only on the wings of sorrow can hope fly. This nagging depression that has been eating me shows no signs of lifting, but I am strangely happy. I have begun reading a book that will hopefully help bring some relief from this darkness, and I ran across a poem that I found rather fitting.

The poem goes alternately by the title "Lend Me Your Hope" or "Borrowed Hope". Under the title "Lend Me Your Hope", it appears as an anonymous author. However, after doing a little research, I found that "Borrowed Hope" was written by a remarkable woman by the name of Eloise Cole. She truly found ways to overcome adversity and conquer with a strong spirit.

Eloise Cole grew up in an adopted home after her birth parents abandoned her. However, her new home was very dysfunctional. In the '70s, she married a widower named Elwood Cole and helped to raise his four teenage children two of whom were very ill with a neuromuscular disease and were quadriplegic. One of the boys then suffered cardiac arrest and died. He was preceded in death by Eloise's father and followed 20 days after by her mother. Eloise worked as a Bereavement Specialist and became nationally renowned for her work in that field. In 2005, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and died four months later. She was reported to say that though her body had cancer, her spirit did not.

Borrowed Hope

 

Lend me your hope for awhile.
I seem to have mislaid mine.

Lost and hopeless feelings accompany me daily.
Pain and confusion are my companions.
I know not where to turn.
Looking ahead to the future times
does not bring forth images of renewed hope.
I see mirthless times, pain-filled days,
and more tragedy.

Lend me your hope for awhile,
I seem to have mislaid mine.

Hold my hand and hug me;
listen to all my ramblings.
I need to unleash the pain and let it tumble out.
Recovery seems so far distant;
the road to healing a long and lonely one.

Stand by me; offer me your presence.
Your ears and your love
acknowledge my pain. It is so real and ever present.
I am overwhelmed with sad and conflicting thoughts.

Lend me your hope for awhile,
A time will come when I will heal
and I will lend my renewed hope to others.

A Canadian singer/songwriter named Monica Joy put this poem to music under the title "Lend Me Your Hope". I found it quite compelling so I include the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcE1CzQhvl0