PARADISE LOST
There’s a place,
a special place
to which I go.
To be alone,
at one with all around me.
A place where breeze caresses trees,
who whisper in return;
gently creaking, waking, stretching.
Paradise.
The first time I went to the lake it was like paradise. Hiding
at the end of a lane, beyond a crooked gate,
easily missed from the road. It was summer, it was warm
and the long, damp grass smelled inviting.
The grass grew frantically in perfect disarray,
the hair of a wild deity.
Free, roguish.
Trees bathed in warm light.
Bouncing, sparkling on the water, a thousand bright stars
dancing across the ripples.
Mesmerising in their impermanence.
She always loved the sparkles on the water.
Sitting, cross-legged, on the wooden jetty
she would watch their unrehearsed ballet in awe.
Smiling.
A small clearing, a fallen tree, a seat amongst the ferns.
Sunlight warms my aching soul.
Easing, soothing.
Eyes closed; birdsong.
The cold ache of pain slowly fades.
Memories begin to haze.
It’s going.
Not sure when, but going it is, we know that.
Sold for development?
Sold for parties to shoot? The birds.
Their colours: bright reds and blues and greens.
It’s unknown, the future, but certain.
We wait.
