Hope exhausted years ago
but I still try.
Heart thumps on doggedly
and wants to know
if nice surprises might in time arrive,
and mind likewise. I read
to keep a lookout
unbeknownst,
or make a wild surmise. I dream
the ground I plough and plant
might even now
sprout greenery I never saw before
and not, as I expect, remain
as rolling oceans do in falling snow.
Andrew Motion was the UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. His poetry collections and celebrated biographies of John Keats and Philip Larkin have received a number of prizes, including the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Whitbread Prize, and most recently the Ted Hughes Award. He was knighted for his services to poetry in 2009. His most recent collection of poetry is Waders, forthcoming later this month.