High Hopes

Over the past week, I’ve found myself looking skyward more often than usual. Between writing, photography, and preparing a recent radio article, air, light, and freedom have kept weaving through my thoughts.
Then, after all the planning and concentration had passed, this poem arrived unannounced. Inspired by a dragonfly dancing beneath a bright spring sky, High Hopes felt less like a piece I wrote and more like an exhale after a long creative stretch.

High Hopes


I’m whirring and whizzing around
beneath a gentle blue shroud
between the wispy white clouds,
and Earth’s swampy ground.

The sun’s radiant rays are catching my eye,
dazzling enough to make me joyfully cry.
My wings are glossily glimmering
as I zoom and dance from tree to tree,
sprightly laughing and wishing
the whole world could feel my glee,
and wistfully inherit and occupy
all the freedom which surrounds me.





After completing this poem and reflecting on an unexpectedly creative few days, this song arrived from my brother at exactly the right moment. Sometimes the universe knows the closing line before we do.

“High hopes written,
spring sunlight captured,
the dragonfly released,
and now… breathe.“



Ivor Steven ©  October 2026