Wow - amazing writing! It seems to me you didn't put a single word wrong. Not that I'm anyone to say something is wrong, precisely. I just mean that each word seems to fall in the right place.

Very powerful, dramatic, emotive!

Beautiful, powerful imagery as usual, Matthew. Excellent work on this!

This poem is very strong in imagery and so completely allegorical, that it there is meaning to every word you use. The analogy of hope compared to a glimmer of light amongst a world that is already "so white" already, somehow juxtaposes itself very well, even though the two elements are very similar. I see as a struggle between the will of mind to hold onto hope when the world presents itself as a backdrop of disillusion that refuses to change.

My most favorite lines would have to be these:

"Yet, they will remain long after I am dust

But in their shadowed bows there is no spark,

What I seek does not flourish in such places

Steeped in darkness and damp with suffering they loom all around

Mocking my feeble form, so vulnerable to the cruel wind and biting cold"

There's just no other way this could be expressed so almost utterly flawlessly. It really left an impression on me.