Paradise

In this neck of the woods
         not much is happening
there is a full moon
          partially eclipsed
by ragged clouds
         I can hear cars in the distance
and from time to time
         a train cuts through the silence
I suppose it must be said
         that we make our own paradise
just as we make the bed we lie on
         From my window I see
the dark shadows of trees
         hardly stirring at all
given that the air is still
         These trees are alive
and I know that many of them
         will outlive me
for a tree life is no big deal
          / storms aside /
its day-to-day is pretty routine
         growth comes in spurts
but it’s never going to be
         anything other than what it is
Under one of these trees
         foxes may gather
in the early hours
         conviviality is in their genes
just as it is in ours
         and all life depends
on the same things
         nourishment
sustenance of some sort
         energy that comes
from the stars
         stored in the cells
that we eat
         so often unthinkingly
Whether it is pride
         or simple ignorance
we are the only living
         creatures in the whole
universe that do not know
         our place and it’s perhaps
for this reason
         that we take so much
for granted
         and are so slow to act
when paradise
         our paradise
appears to slip
         from our grasp

John Lyons