Hope, which lay at the bottom of the box, remained. Allegorical painting by George Frederic Watts, 1886

"Where there is despair, [let me sow] hope." – Prayer of St Francis 

Oh God, there is such despair in the world.
Desp-AIR, taking the wind out of our sails, the bounce from our steps,
The rhythm from our souls.
Airless we gasp for something to breath …
Let us breath in hope, Oh God of hope.
Let us, then, breathe it out into the world where we all …
Share the air >>>>>
And out of despair, repair our own resolve to live …
One more day,
And then another and another until …
You take away our breath and …
Breathless, we stand before you.
This is our hope eternal,
Eternal God.
Amen.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all. – Emily Dickinson

.Engraving of Pandora trying to close the box that she had opened out of curiosity.

At left, the evils of the world taunt her as they escape. The engraving is based on a painting by F. S. Church.

Pandora is depicted as exercising hope, but it is false and unrealistic hope.

Our true hope may not seem any more realistic than hers, but it is real, verified by the experience of those who have lived in it, prayed for it, and relied upon it.

It is true hope and lasting hope.