Deceptive Expectation

They wonder how it feels.
Hope has left and steals
the box Pandora held,
of colors she adored,
now with broken seals,
since curiosity spelled
             great woe.
             Flee! They go.
Those evils once stored.

What or who is Hope? A torment more!
Deceptive nature, no-one saw,
yet claim ye all
an expectation,
libations pour
and voices call
             to one who chooses to stay,
             no intent to make its way,
preferring devastation.

Of all the evils plaguing us,
we blame, we curse, we make a fuss.
Yet of the one we hold and praise?
Yes Hope! The cruelest one,
thus
prolongs the torment, settles haze
             to blind our sight
             to lose the fight,
because we hope. All is done!

©FG
1.12.25

The myth of Pandora’s Box has changed many times depending on who has told it. Box was introduced later and is a mistranslation of large storage jar. There is also debate as to who opened the jar and released the woes upon the world. It seems that Pandora gets the blame. Perhaps the gods wanted to test the first woman on Earth. Who really knows.

Deceptive Expectation is predominantly iambic. Verses vary in the number of feet but with the majority being iambs. There are variations ranging from one to five feet. There is a smattering of headless iambs, amphibrachs and anapests as one may expect in such verses. The poem consists of three nine-line stanzas according to the rime scheme a a b c a b d d c. The rime scheme sets a mood in which verses come, fade and return.

Metrical Analysis

Amphibrachs and anapests mirror each other in corresponding verse (c-rime) so as not to break the rhythm but are noticeable enough to differ from the iambic lines. Verse 5 of stanza 3 is purposely short as it heads the final four verses to cement the meaning of hope which is deceptive expectation.

Thĕy wōn | dĕr hōw | ĭt fe͞els.
~ Hōpe | hăs lēft | ănd stēals
thĕ bōx | Păndō | ră hēld,
ŏf cōlŏrs | shĕ ădōred,
~ nōw | wĭth brō | kĕn se͞als,
sĭnce cū | rĭōs | ĭty̆ spelled
             gre͞at wo͝e.
             ~ Fle͞e! | Thĕy gō.
Thŏse ē | vĭls ŏnce stōred.

~ Whāt | ŏr whō | ĭs Hōpe? | Ă tōr | mĕnt mōre!
Dĕcēp | tĭve nā | tŭre, nō | -ŏne sāw,
yĕt cla͞im | yĕ āll
ăn ēx| pĕctāti͝on,
lĭbā | ti͝ons po͞ur
ănd vo͞ic | ĕs call
             tŏ ōne | whŏ cho͞os | ĕs tŏ stāy,
             ~ nō | ĭntēnt | tŏ māke | ĭts wāy,
prĕfēr | rĭng dēv | ăstāti͝on.

Ŏf āll | thĕ ē | vĭls plā | guĭng ūs,
wĕ blāme, | wĕ cūrse, | wĕ māke | ă fūss.
Yĕt ōf | thĕ ōne | wĕ hōld | ănd pra͞ise?
Yĕs Hōpe! | Thĕ crū | ĕlĕst ōne,
~ thūs
prŏlōngs | thĕ tōr | mĕnt, sēt | tlĕs haze
             tŏ blīnd | o͝ur sīght
             tŏ lōse | thĕ fīght,
bĕca͞use | wĕ hōpe. | Ăll ĭs dōne!