Paradise

Paradise

What is there within me

    that longs for palm trees

    bent by trade winds

orchids blooming

    along tangled paths

rainbows arcing mountaintops

    and that flash of brilliance

    as sun sparks sea?

I have known awe

    in places far grander

I have known beaches

    canyons, bird calls 

    that wracked my soul

but when I close my eyes

    and imagine paradise

    

I imagine the two of us

drunk on the scent of white ginger

    racing down the mountainside

    and into the sea

laughing, always laughing

    and young

    forever young.