This house on stilts is a metaphor of the hopes of its inhabitants.

Like its skinny posts that quiver with every gust of a strong wind - their hopes are tremulous, trembling...

like its sparse thatched roof and thin bamboo walls - their hopes are flimsy, fragile...

like the wet sand it stands upon – their hopes are shaky, unfounded...

like its rudimentary structure – their hopes remain perpetually inchoate...

like its makeshift existence, simply in abeyance of the next storm to tear it apart and wash the splinters ashore  
– their hopes remain forever suspended, 
painfully anticipating the next desolate event to shred it into pieces and dash them to the ground...

-Jennifer Melendez-Penaflor