she will not
be silenced,
she will weave
her song
gently and persistently,
through counterpoint
and harmony
she draws
her golden thread
of light and life
raising our songs
refreshing our hearts,
enlivening our praises,
deepening our prayers
turning our laments
and sighs
towards new
Spirit breathed possibilities...
she will not be silenced,
she is not silent
to those with ears
to hear her voice...
"Hope" (1886) was painted by Victorian painter George Frederic Watts (1817-1904). It portrays a woman with bandaged eyes and broken dreams. She is sitting on top of a world that seems pitted against her, unable to see ahead, to look forward, but clutching in her hands a harp with all its strings broken save one. That one string of hope she strikes triumphantly, as she leans into the lyre and sends
