Lost paradise

Lost paradise                                                                                 

A neglected garden knotted in thorns ... 

You lured me from the gate

with a promise of wine; the fragrance

of jasmine, roses and tuberose;

distant blue mountains,

buried veins of ruby and gold,

brightly plumed birds,

greeneries of herbs and spices.

O, I’m in open country now –

let the sun parch, rains soak, winds punish;

my vision is upon that jagged horizon.

No one to blame, not even myself;

no punishment to mete out or receive,

just settling down to the business at hand –

the long trek back

towards that towering

range of love, that high realm

of utter absolution.

O child of God, step beyond your guilt and return

to the lost paradise of your eternal Beloved.