Hope is the hand that holds a handful of dust

Hope is the hand that holds a handful of dust,

• Represents hope's temporary nature.
• Dust symbolizes passing
• The hand implies human control, but illogically something impossible to grasp

The hand that watches the setting sun.

• Hope witnesses ending
• Implies that hope bserves change rather than preventing it, which is a recurring Theme in this poem

She is a bird with a broken wing, She is a song that will not be sung.

• Emphasizes the unrealized potential of hope
• Music and birds typically represent freedom/expression
• The silence/inability to flight suggests hopes failure to do things.

The breath you hold when the race is run

• Captures hope as the last moment of possibility
• The held breath represents suspended animation
• Implies hope exists only in the space between action and defeat