Knuckle-deep.

Hope

is the fickle

thing

I carry unbuckled

in my chest

and tell

the girl about

because I don’t 

want her to 

know the hard parts

written in the dark.

But who am I to keep

her from crawling,

digging knuckle-deep

into the path

God’s carved out 

for her 

with His

sharp-ended

ray

of 

light?