They had bowl full of hope. Heaping portions of delicious hope in a beautiful ornate bowl. They savored the wonderful vision of hope with a gleaming eye.
Then the gods pissed in the bowl and flushed it. Sucks to be them.
Man, bonus points for literary style, Pappy! :-)
I'm reminded of the image of Lucy teeing up the football year after year for Charlie Brown, just to yank it away as he swings his leg to kick it. Just like the libs, Charlie gets his hopes up that each time will be "The One", only to go down in defeat.