PARADISE

We wandered in the sand by the sloping, frothy ocean,
Pondering on naught but freedom and devotion,
In the afternoon sun which resembled ancient Greece,
Exalted beyond all comparison.
Apollo has been amassed by The Holy Church,
And among the glistening, ivory colonnade,
The scented winds release
A serenading perfume upon the willows and the birch,
Where the dappled shadows fade,
Possessing ambers, china blues and jade.
We walked still further to behold Doric columns which stood
Among squares of terra cotta statues and the boundless wood,
And we kissed amid the daisies, fragrant with the spring.
We heard the triumphant voices of many angels sing,
As you capriciously took my masculine hand,
And led me to the fields which play beneath the cloudless sky.
A breeze scattered gold upon the lakes of the land,
As we kissed once more, and fell into a sigh.
Then the night ascended with its marigold reeds,
And we wandered further into the moonlight,
Barefoot upon the dew of the bright, eternal meads.
There radiant winds carried you're perfume,
As we roved among the colonnades of white,
In harmony with every bloom,
We beheld the spirit of Iris,
And tasted her rainbows beneath the boughs of a marvelous cypress.
Tan, infinity more glorious than the myths of Zeus,
Christ appeared as a soothing boon.
In that splendid, astonishing, Ossianic moon
He blessed our love, and leaving your tresses loose,
A summery zephyr parted your mane.
We wandered nude on the beach in the silver rain,
Beside the massive, swelling, azure blue brine.
We sipped each delicious, intoxicating wine
Which flowed mellifluously from the streams,
Through the glistening, starry, amber sands.
Then tall, ornate Corinthian towers,
Situated among the spacious bowers,
Redolently crafted by God's unspeakable hands,
And gilded with ineffable wreaths of art,
Led our minds to dreams
Of a troubadour's song.
How we loved in those gardens with all our heart!
Then we fell into a symphony, languorous and long,
Of ecstatic beatitude, of a pearl-bedecked beauty,
Which illuminated every orb fantastically,
Until diamonds rose from the rapturous ocean,
To scarlet skies where the blossoming dawn
Fed us every scarlet potion.
And as we lay upon the emerald lawn,
In the great, green garden, in that wondrous dawn
Which arrived yellowish and gold and ivory white,
With the sun behind it - to the sun's delight.
You're lips became as wine, delicious to behold,
As they inhaled the stars and the sunlight's gold,
Our passion rose like a furious fire,
In that good, majestic, mighty and bold
Sun of the morning's bright desire.
And you're sunlit, sable, liquid eyes
Gazed up at the blue, paradisal skies,
Overwhelmed with gratitude, ecstasy and bliss,
As a sanctified breeze swayed the sighing cypress.
We beheld The Blessed Trinity and fell into the Father's kiss.
And our spirits ascended above the wide palms,
Of the wavering, emerald tree,
To the golden realm of David's psalms,
To the wedding feast above the sea.
And we passed through veils,
Brighter than all suns, in a radiant, blue glory,
Where the Holy Virgin hails
Her Omnipotent Son, with regal praises of an alabaster sanctity.
And at the height of heaven The Father took our hands,
As His Son bound us in eternal bands,
And His Spirit roved around us gleefully,
Pouring me into you,
And you into me.
Now we behold our mansion by the gleaming yew.
O, my lover, come with me!
Let us drink from the carafe this Kingdom's wine,
In the ballroom, in the study,
In the courtyard strewn with the carmine rose,
In the cloister with its glittering vine.
And when your dusky eyes shall close,
In that tower which overlooks the shore,
In the sacred night
I shall kiss you evermore,
There where you lie
In our chamber where the light
Shall nevermore die.
Come, my love, my lover, my dearest friend -
Our happiness is our perpetual end,
The infinite our delight!

JOHN LARS ZWERENZ