In Our Own Paradise

In Our Own Paradise

for my belovèd husband, my sweet Ron

So, what if the sidewalks were painted yellow?
Something horribly bright might happen:
A ball of brine might replace the moon—
Yet we would still find our favorite table
At any café in any town we choose to visit.

You would still smile every time
You remember where we have been
Each year as we have followed the map—
Unfettered, unafraid, roving in Joy.
Shining mugs clinging to our Solace.

Scoffers have long been repudiated.
We have snuffed all their guesses
That we would part bitter and repentant.
You have remained my better hero,
And I have become your solid half.

I take flight in words to remind you
Of your quiet beauty, and the stars remind us
That we were long aligned to follow a shared destiny.
We have crafted on earth as near a heaven
As is allowed by this dual-powered Maya delusion.

Our home allows us to breathe, stretch, and be still,
Embracing the boundary that holds us
In the evanescent glory that the larger world tries
So hard to conceal in pettiness and selfish riots,
That work so hard at tarnishing with its lies.

From the pocked past, we have grown smooth edges.
Each a different spiritual identity, united yet unique,
We go about our days in harmony and balance,
Practicing spirit as the world traffics in mud-clod ways,
Stewing in caves of ignorance and deceit.

Forsaking the past has become a blessing
And even if we must recall certain evil acts
Practiced against us, our ark points toward Eternity,
Where we will abide in the land beyond dreams—
Yet, for now, in-but-not-of this valley of sorrows.

We are perfecting skills, leaving this Maya dream behind us;
Thus, we have learned to breathe in our own paradise.

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