I used to think that I could hope,
For hope evokes a lengthy sigh,
Inject it like some creamy dope
And feel it seeping to a high.

But now I know that hope is lost,
I lost it as it stupefies.
Addicted to cascading cost,
I shrivel as it slowly dies.

Peter Reading, English poet, was born today in 1946.

Bob Hope, American actor and performer, died on this day in 2003.