by Nicole St. Denis

This piece originally ran in Read This!, a literary magazine written and edited by high school students from San Lorenzo High School, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old. This issue of Read This! was designed at 826 Valencia with the help of our tutors and volunteers.

To keep hope alive
You have to thrive and strive
And to never leave your pride
Always to keep it by your side
To never close your eyes
To forever open your mind
To leave love behind
Unless it’s worth your time
Cause love will deprive
Your hope if it doesn’t survive
And hope can never lie
If you never let it die
Walk with that hopeful stride
To let the doubt and hate subside
Cause the doubt will leave you fried
And it will leave you dried
Out, if you decide
That hope will not derive
From your heart and inside
And don’t you ever try and hide
The hope that seems to be live
Cause that hope that is alive
Should never leave your side.